Things that annoy me- in no particular order.

1. People who stuff paper into bottles or cans. I think this goes back to my bar waitress days. At least I know I share this feeling with other women who have waited tables. I'm not even going to mention the gross habit of putting cigarettes out on plates. Someone did that at my house once and I had to throw the plate in the trash.

2. Corporations like Alltel who charge you 2.99 a month for Texas Hold 'Em on your cell phone when it isn't there and when you call customer service the woman with a very southern accent tells you the only way to get rid of it is to take the phone to the store so they can remove it. So you take it to the store and the customer service person says she can't do anything because Texas Hold 'Em isn't on your phone.

3. People who let their dogs crap on my flower beds. I don't mind when they crap on the grass. I like dogs and know they have to go somewhere but when there is a big wide grassy boulevard, why would you let your dog meander across the sidewalk and up the hill to crap on my flowers? Last spring some thoughtless moron let his dog crap on my flowers at least a dozen times. This was no accident. I picked it all up in those bright orange bags the shopper comes in and let it lay right there where Fido dropped it. It looked like my yard had been carpet bombed.

4. Long menus on the telephone. I get distracted and have to hang up and start over. Can there be just one or two choices? Five or six with submenus is too much.

5. People who turn the corners of library books over because they're too lazy and self-absorbed to get a damn bookmark.

6. Limp and pale french fries. What is the point?

7. Antibacterial dishwashing soap. Isn't the act of washing the dishes enough? I need to disinfect them? This is some OCD person's idea of a good idea.

8. Scented toilet paper and garbage bags. What is the point? I saw a dog water dish once that pumped a constant supply of fresh water for the the dog. Our dog drinks from the toilet if he gets a chance so we're going to spend 50 dollars for fresh water for him? I don't think so.

9. Frozen food. Some pizza is ok, but most frozen food is putrid and I think there should be a law that people can't eat it in your work cafeteria in front of you. I bought a South Beach chicken dinner once that was so awful I threw it in the trash and then threw out the other one in the freezer. I swear it was made from the chicken butts.

10. When I'm on hold for thirty minutes with Mediacom about my bill. Someone finally answers and they want my address, my phone number, and then....the last four digits of my husband's social security number. I come unglued. Why in the hell do you want the last four digits of my husband's social security number? The very calm customer service agent tells me it's so they can confirm my identity. So I ask him who else would spend 30 minutes on hold to pay my *%#@*^%% bill? Well? Who would?

Ms. Crabbypants is going to bed now.

White-washing the fence

Only if you've spoken to me today do you know the cryptic meaning of this blog entry title. This is probably another reason why I'm fortunate to be a lowly coordinator...or a person working in peonage or debt bondage otherwise known as indentured servitude. No resentment about my career lot in life. LOL.

Regis and I spent all day yesterday getting the home office ready for his new opportunity. He entered the Cone of Silence today so things are approaching a state of readiness. They made the other woman park in the back and enter through a different door which seems to be taking the whole idea a little far but what do I know.

I'm either too jaded or too tired to write anything worth reading tonight so I'll stop. Or maybe I'm worried about Larry's weapons of mass destruction otherwise known as the WMJ.

P.S. Check out This Goat's Life today. Belle's in Alcatraz.

Saturday

Yesterday I took half a day off and drove Peter out to his new digs in Canby. He's living with his Grandma and studying wind technology starting in January. Until then, he's working at the hospital in the kitchen, delivering meals and washing dishes. It's all good changes for him so why was I so weepy on my way home? The Dwight Yoakum CD's? The gray November skies? The 5 am wake-up call? Missing my chicken already? He'll be fine, I know.

We're done with gluten-free. Regis bought some beer today so we'll see if it makes a difference in how he feels. Going beer free didn't make that much difference. Not enough to make it worth it anyway. That gluten-free beer is so nasty I think it could cause health problems by itself. We bought lottery tickets, too. Maybe it's our lucky day.

I started a new book called Turpentine. It's a hoot. The characters are great and the plot is compelling. Highly recommend. Here an excerpt from one review:

The year is 1871, and Edward Turrentine Bayard III, sick and restless, leaves his Connecticut home to recover out west. But when the private sanitarium in which he is to stay proves to be nothing more than a rickety outpost on the Nebraskan plains, he becomes a buffalo skinner. After returning to the East, Ned teams up with Phaegin, who earns her money rolling cigars, and Curly, a fourteen-year-old coal miner, but the newfound trio is wrongly accused of triggering a bomb at a labor rally, and they must flee. With a Pinkerton agent following their every move, the gang of winsome ne'er-do-wells engages in a circuitous escape that takes them through northern outposts into Indian country, past the slums of Chicago, and into the boundless Great Plains.

On my way back across the prairie, I stopped at Schmidt's in Nicollet. Customers were three-deep at the counter but I managed to buy steaks and German potato salad. Regis has turned into a master steak griller so it should be a great meal.

It was a nice drive across the prairie today. I love seeing the sky from horizon to horizon. If you haven't read Bill Holm's essay Horizontal Grandeur, you should. Here's an excerpt:

I have a prairie eye. Dense woods or mountain valleys make me nervous. After once visiting Burntside Lake north of Ely for a week, I felt a fierce longing to be out. Driving home in the middle of the night, I stopped the car south of Willmar, when woods finally fell away and plains opened up. It was a clear night, lit by a brilliant mood turning blowing grasses silver. I saw for miles – endless strings of yardlights, star fallen into the grovetops. Alone, I began singing at the top of my voice. I hope neither neighborhood cows, nor the Kandiyohi Country sheriff were disturbed by this unseemly behavior from a grown man. It was simply cataracts removed from the prairie eye with a joyful rush.

Time to go drink a Harvest Moon beer and eat a big steak. Happy Saturday.

Old dogs attend a rock concert

Regis and I went to the John Mellencamp concert last night in Mankato. What a hoot. We were getting a little cranky about 9:00 and were easily annoyed by the drunk people in our row going in and out for beer and bathroom breaks but when the music started, we were on our feet. We didn't dance on our chairs or do anything reckless like some of the younger concert-goers but we had a great time. It was an interesting mix of people...young and old...and a pretty much packed house. Rockin' in the USA.

People can't seem to sit still when they go to something like this. I went to a conference yesterday and I bet 35 people got up and left during the keynote speaker...then they came back. One at a time. Not too rude or distracting. Last night, there was not a moment when the aisles weren't full of people coming and going. These people pay 55 dollars to drink 5 dollar beers and travel back and forth to the bathroom?

Gluten-free and BS shields

I've decided that for some things, gluten-free is inedible. It's like fat-free butter or sugar-free cookies. Any kind of dough, bread, or pasta product without gluten is just not worth eating. Here are the main ingredients for gluten-free pizza crust: tapioca flour, brown rice flour, bean flour, gluten-free dry yeast, xanthan gum, vinegar, unflavored gelatin powder. Ish is all I have to say about that. I made some bread for Regis a few weeks ago. The dough had the consistency of watered-down school paste. Somehow it managed to rise and even turned a little brown in the oven but I don't think you could describe it as bread. If I were him, I'd rather do without.

I spent the day at an education conference. Man, sometimes a guy should have a BS shield for those things. The acronyms and platitudes are just flying. (the nice part of the day was that I spent part of with Jan, my old special ed friend from the days when I was a grad assistant...31 years ago.) If I had my life to live over, I'd find a different career. One less prone to the vagaries of public opinion drift and one that pays more money. We're negotiating a new contract, negotiating being the operative word. More like, "Here's squat...take it or leave it." Hahahahaa.

Peter's adventure continues. Last night he registered for his classes that start in January. MNWest has a small student body and many online classes. (And somehow the boy managed to test into college level math and English classes. He must have been listening somewhere along the line!) I told him he just navigated the first test of college life. He's packed and ready to go to Grandma's Saturday. His job at the hospital starts next week.

No more news. Our nocturnal habits continue which makes it hard to get through the day. Regis was awake last night from 1:00 on...I slept until 4:00.

Regis enters the cone of silence

Mission accomplished

I woke up at 4:30 this morning so I've been up for 12 hours. I don't know what this has to do with daylight's saving time or the lack of it, but I feel like I've been pulled through a knot-hole butt first. My mission to be lazy has been accomplished. You can't say I don't have ambition. I didn't intend to do anything today and I have been very successful in that regard. Regis did coerce me into a trip to Menard's for a turkey roaster that was on sale but I wouldn't comb my hair or change my clothes. I got up off the couch to go and returned directly to the couch when I walked in the door. I expect to be back to normal tomorrow.

If anyone has experience with a turkey roaster, I'd appreciate some feedback. My problem with big meals is that I run out of oven space and I thought this could be a solution. Apparently, because of the condensation dripping from the lid, the roaster does not brown the turkey. That's not very appealing. I think I can cook a couple side dishes in the roaster, though, and free up the oven space for the bird.

I've been reading recipes on the foodtv website. I like to experiment but my family likes the old standards like green bean casserole. One year I made roasted winter vegetables on Christmas Eve: turnips, parsnips, sweet potatoes, and russets. You should have seen the reaction. It would have made a good commercial. Would it kill anybody to eat a little arugula salad or spinach and feta cheese tartlets at a holiday meal? I have declared a cheesy potato moratorium for the coming year and plan to announce it before the holidays.

Our neighbor recently built himself a smoker. He fired it up today and smoked many racks of ribs and a variety of other items. He offered us three racks of ribs, a part of a beef brisket, some baked beans, and a bottle of homemade barbecue sauce for 30 bucks. It's a good thing...we would have been eating popcorn for dinner. I'm not sure if this is just a neighborhood venture of if people call in orders and drive up to the curb for their bags of BBQ.

Back to my horizontal position.

I'm on strike

I feel like it's been months since I've had a day of doing nothing. This one could be it. Regis must have sensed my lethargy because he got the papers and brought them to me in bed, then he made coffee and breakfast. I'm going to do my best to avoid any kind of productivity today. We have the first season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and I might just recline on the couch all afternoon and watch it.

Friday

Here's a picture I didn't post last night because it was unseemly (not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society) but tonight, after a glass of wine, it's funny. Harvey at the end of the evening, sans wig and make-up, scratching at his panty hose. What the hell.

I went for a walk with Ella after work while her mom and dad cleaned up from a water heater spill. We went to the River Rock for apple juice, to the vet clinic to see Wally and Hocus Pocus, the shelter cats, and to Swedish Kontur for a molasses cookie where she delighted the ladies by signing thank you. Ah, it was a nice way to end the week.

Brother Pat and Helen are coming to town tonight on their way to a cross country meet. We're going to meet them for a beer if we can stay awake that long. Regis got the "agent at home" job so we have something to celebrate. Peter comes back tomorrow and we have his bon voyage party tomorrow night. He's off to wind college next week, already employed once he arrives.

On to the weekend, pilgrims.

Halloween Pictures

Ella was dressed like Minnie Mouse but thought the other costumes were scary.

Here's the whole gang in our finery.

Ella has taken a real shine to Peter lately.

Tom "Rasta Man" Hynes

Harvina Queen of the Desert

Regis getting a kick out of the old people.

Kathy made a great clown.

Don't read this if you have to eat a heart-healthy diet...

We have gorged on meat this weekend. We keep thinking that every day is the last day we'll be able to cook comfortably on the grill (without down coats and boots) so in the last three days, we've made chicken wings, babyback ribs, and tonight, big New York strip steaks with Jack Daniels sauce. Regis was in charge of the meal, being the grill guru, and he made those monster baked potatoes with crunchy skins and big hunks of salt. It was all too delicious but not too healthy.

It was a beautiful day...the birch tree dropped splotches of bright yellow on the ground, a few red maple leaves clung to the branches, birds eating like crazy, a tiny bit of warmth from the sun...all the things we love about fall.

Peter and I made a fast trip to Mankato late this afternoon to get him a computer. We've had lots of bad computer karma in our house lately. The one that Peter was going to use but which does not play music (an essential element for school, you know) will become Regis' computer. Peter got a new but fairly inexpensive Gateway. I told him to watch, the salespeople at Best Buy would be all over us like smarm and they were...wanting to shake hands and know our names...until we said no to the extended warranty and the $150 Geek Squad set-up. Then it was, "Don't let our sliding door hit you in the ass on your way out." Putzes. The Geek Squad would remove all the 30-day free trials that, let's see, they let Gateway put on in the first place so Best Buy can charge us to take them off.



On a sweeter note, this is a picture of Charles Schultz from the paper today. Does he look like Charlie Brown or what?

Back to the salt mines tomorrow.

Saturday

Made it through the week finally! I got a big project done yesterday about noon and it was like the clock stopped and the rest of the day dragged on forever. Went to Mankato after work and picked Peter up for the weekend. Regis and Amber stopped...cooked a bunch of chicken wings and twice baked potatoes from the deli. Drank a few Hamm's. Perfect Friday night. We bought two big racks of babyback ribs to cook on the grill today. That's our only mission. It's a gorgeous fall Saturday and we're going to enjoy it. We have tickets for The Little Ghost Theater later tonight. Check it out if you're from the area!

Don't say I didn't warn you...

We just got home from the second night of safe driving class. I'd say we enjoyed it, which we did, but here is a list of things that pissed me off on the way home:

1. The smell of chocolate
2. The sound of candy wrappers
   
3. The radio
4. The car moving
5. The dark
6. The lights

You can see how this goes. It took me thirty seconds flat to get into my nightgown. Kramer jumped on my lap, Regis poured me a glass of wine, and my nerve endings retreated back into my skin where they belong. Tomorrow is another day.

Driving

I've had two 7 o'clock meetings this week, two after school meetings, then we taught our first safe driving class (you know the one I mean) tonight. It was marginally fun but it's been a long week of earlies and lates that I don't cope so well with. By tomorrow, after the second night of safe driving for old people, I should be ragged cranky.

I'm doing my annual "let's see how long we can leave the house plants outside without really killing them" thing. I don't know why I do this. Maybe it's my other risky behavior, not flossing my teeth being the first one. I have an oxalis plant, an amaryllis bulb, and a Christmas cactus on the front step and tonight it's going to be 35 degrees. I think it's the same behavior as driving to Mankato with my gas tank on empty. Some people take hot air balloons across the Atlantic or climb mountains but this is my feeble ass adrenalin rush....almost freezing plants. Last year I froze a tree of some kind and the year before a tropical plant. Oh hell. It's not like their DNA disappears or anything.

I went to a three and a half hour meeting THAT HAD NO AGENDA today. Can you imagine how random that was? I was ready to scream by 10 o'clock but somehow made it to the end. Not sure how...or why. There should be a law against that.

Webcam Photo

I know you can't identify us in the photo...maybe can't even tell these are human beings...but it's Regis and Teresa, Dick and Jane, Betty and Tom. There we are, to the right of the light pole on the northeast corner of the intersection. We stood for five minutes, arm in arm, waiting for the webcam, which is up next to the spire on the Nicollet County Court House, to update itself. Bob called as soon as he had the picture of us. People passing by on the highway thought was were nuts, or drunk, judging by the funny looks they gave us. For some reason, this whole thing amused us. Bob called it "funny old people stuff".

We were on our way to Patrick's for pepperjack cheese omelets and Bloody Mary's with beer chasers. We'd had a wonderful weekend and were winding down and saying good-bye. Good friends and goofy stunts...nothing like 'em!

Holy crap the rain

It has rained hard all day. I heard on the radio that by tomorrow night we'll have 2-4 inches and possibility of flooding. What if it floods then freezes? We'll be traveling around all winter on skates like Hans Brinker. Now, that's funny.

I had a good day. Dug out some crap (favorite word lately) around the house then went to Mankato. Peter continues to amaze. He says he likes to watch CNN and wanted to talk about the super bacteria. He says he thinks he'll be a writer someday and plans to start a book soon but he wants to write longhand like William Kent Kruger. I just shake my head. We had lunch, he filled out some paperwork for school, then we moved the first of his stuff.

I started a new book last night called The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries. It's fascinating. One 0f those books I think I'll talk about for a long time. I kept telling Regis things I was reading until he asked me to stop. Just read the reviews.

We have a movie to watch tonight called The Straight Story. I think I wrote about it before...if not, look it up. It's about an old guy who travels across Iowa on a riding lawnmower.

Regis is on a gluten-free diet which is a new experience for us, even with all the dietary changes he's been through. That crap is expensive and the bread tastes like shit. No accident that those two words are in that sentence. Bread without flour. Uff da.

Taking pictures with the cell phone

I have a cell phone that takes pictures. I never thought I had a need for that (it also has a tiny drive for a tiny disk for music) but tonight, as I sit in my messy house in the dark, I'd like to take a picture with the phone and send it to the computer because I'm too tired to get my lazy ass up to find a camera.

It's been a rough start to the school year as I figure out this new job, of sorts. More like a redesign of the old job...more to do for the same money. I seem to spend all day reading, staring at papers and the computer screen, and trying to make sense of things so I can explain them to someone else. We have the next two days off for the state teacher's convention, which I have never attended, and it couldn't have come at a better time. It's an institutionalized vacation in the fall...we aren't paid for it and there's no expectation that you do anything work related...but everyone gets two days off. Nice.

Tonight I went to a poetry reading at Gustavus with Jill. It was billed as running from 7-9:30 but only lasted until 8:15. We sat near the door so we could make a break for it if it went on too long but it didn't but you could tell we were ready to split when we didn't even slow down for a cookie at the end. The folks who organized it just published a book about Minnesota's women poets, a sort of historical look. One of the women who read was my student teaching supervisor from 1974. Another woman read poems by a woman from Houston County, Edith Thompson, who was apparently quite a character. It was a lovely way to end the week.

Kathy cleaned our house maybe three weeks ago. Since then we have managed to accumulate a pile of stuff for teaching the "safe driving for the elderly class" as Tiffany calls it, a pile of stuff for the thrift store, a pile of Cds to sort and put away, a pile of stuff from Target to put away, an empty tub that used to hold dog food when we had two dogs, a pile of stuff for Peter's transition, and a table full of assorted papers. I need two days to dig out from this. How does it happen when we're gone for 9 hours a day and sleep for 8. That hardly leaves enough time to trash the place but somehow we manage.

It's wet and warm here tonight. Regis says it's 57 degrees and not expected to drop much tonight, Annie. And the radar looks like rain, rain, and more rain so get out the water wings and caulk the basement windows. Everybody is talking about their piles of wet leaves and summer muck that needs to be cleaned up before winter but there's no way to do it when it rains all the time.

Tomorrow I'm going to Mankato to help Peter with some paperwork for school and a couple other jobs he needs to do in preparation for moving. Friday, I get the scoop shovel out and clean up from the first 8 weeks of the school year.

Monday

It was a slow day, but a busy one. It rained off and on all day, Annie. I heard a guy on MPR talking, I suppose about Minneapolis, but he said since August 1st, we've had 17 inches of rain which is 50 some % of our yearly average total. And in the first 15 days of October, we've had trace or measurable rain 13 days. How's them for some weather stats? If the weather models for tonight are accurate, we could get 1-2 more inches of rain.

We went up to let Gonzo and Fletcher out in Tom and Betty's absence so we watched Emerill. We miss the cooking channel, having no cable tv. Most things I don't miss. I get my kitchen fix by reading books like Heat and Kitchen Confidential.

We're watching the last part of Cinderella Man tonight. It's a good movie except for the fight scenes. (I liked Witness except for the murder.) Renee Zellwiger just said, "You're everybody's hope, Jimmy." and of course, I cried. Our next Netflix pick is The Straight Story:

When Iowa farmer Alvin Straight's brother, Lyle, falls ill, Alvin pledges to go to Lyle's side despite being unable to drive and unwilling to accept help. With a tent to sleep under, a riding lawnmower for transportation and unshakable determination, Alvin (Oscar-nominee Richard Farnsworth) sets out to cover the 300 miles to his brother's house in a weeks-long journey of healing and remembrance.

This is my kind of movie. Like my favorite, Tender Mercies.

We enrolled a new student today. He said, "You the principal?" What did he know, so I said, "Sure." Then he said, "Sleepy today," and mimed taking a nap. Yes. He knows me.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Regis and I spent a few days at Cragun's in northern Minnesota. I tried to tell him what it was like...not exactly the lavish resort they try to make it look like in the pictures. More like the resort in Dirty Dancing, if you remember. A little long in the tooth, a little past its prime. And that's exactly how we found it. We got there Wednesday night about 10:00, expecting to have a frozen pizza in the bar for dinner. No such luck. A cranky bar tender who must have thought the season was over, was not helpful. We discovered, on our own, the deli in the lobby with gas station food, so we had a beer and a bag of popcorn for dinner.

The next night, tired of resort buffets, we went down the road to Madden's, a much more lavish and friendly atmosphere. We had dinner in the Classic Grill, right on the edge of their golf course where they have a bag piper to start and end the golf season. They must vacuum the leaves because there wasn't a leaf on the ground anywhere, even back in the woods. The building was a beautiful log cabin, there was a fire pit on the patio, and the delicious food was served by a fellow named Chris in a long black apron who doted on us. It was lovely.

We limped home last night, leaving suitcases and bags strewn all over the house. This is a short week for me so it will get picked up eventually.

Today we went up and spent the afternoon with Betty and Tom, enjoying one of the last days of autumn. Betty is getting all geared up for Halloween...she had a witches crystal for me, a black velvet mourning robe, and a great wig. I'm sure there will be pictures.

I went to a very sweet baby shower for Annie Grimmius today. Their baby is due the end of November. I had to bring cards with messages for the new baby and for Annie. Here's a pome I chose for one of my cards. It made me cry the first time I read it and it still makes me cry:

Her Door

Mary Leader

There was a time her door was never closed.
Her music box played "Fur Elise" in plinks.
Her crib new-bought--I drew her sleeping there.

The little drawing sits beside my chair.
These days, she ornaments her hands with rings.
She's seventeen. Her door is one I knock.

There was a time I daily brushed her hair
By window light--I bathed her, in the sink
In sunny water, in the kitchen, there.

I've bought her several thousand things to wear,
And now this boy buys her silver rings.
He goes inside her room and shuts the door.

Those days, to rock her was a form of prayer.
She'd gaze at me, and blink, and I would sing
Of bees and horses, in the pasture, there.

The drawing sits as still as nap-time air-
Her curled up hand--the precious line, her cheek...
Next year her door will stand, again, ajar
But she herself will not be living there.

End of weekend

I'm not going to mention amoebas again since I read there is a variety that goes up your nose and eats your brain. That's not funny even on Sunday night.

We've had a nice weekend. A great combination of being lazy and getting things done. Besides which we slept until 8:30 yesterday which must have helped us catch up on some sleep deprivation due to the 3 a.m. awakenings of the last month.

Today we're cooking a prime rib roast on the grill. Regis loves that charcoal grill and likes to read Grilling for Dummies and Weber's Real Grilling. I have French bread rolls rising and we might have some garlic mashed potatoes.

I'm reading Heat by Bill Buford. What a damn hoot. It's about a year he spent cooking in Mario Batali's kitchen. I don't know who's funnier... Bill or Mario. I can't help myself...I read things aloud to Regis then laugh and laugh. Makes me wish I had television again so I could watch Molto Mario.

I'm going to sit in the shade this afternoon, or maybe in the garage doorway if it rains, like a small-town midwestern doofus.

Friday night

It must have been a bad week in education judging by the crowd in the parking lot of MGM. I saw two teachers I know there and another one later who was on her way to the liquor store OUT OF TOWN. That's a teacher with some discretion right there. I sent her on her way and said to get home as soon as possible and try beer therapy for that foul mood.

I meant to clean the house tonight but there was little gumption for that. I managed to get to the store to buy a broasted chicken and some cole slaw, and to the liquor store for some Night Harvest cabernet. That was the extent of my ambition. And I'm pretty sure that was a balanced meal with the Reese's granola bars we had for dessert.

P.S. I just read this again (which I like to do...sometimes the next day to see if what I wrote was interesting which it mostly isn't but sometimes is) and remembered that Dad used to talk about when he first started teaching and it was verboten for teachers from the local district to drink or even to buy liquor in that town. So on Friday nights, the teachers would car pool to the next town, passing on the highway the teachers from the next town coming to their town to drink and buy liquor. Thank God we don't have to do that anymore. We can pull right into the MGM on the corner of Broadway and Minnesota Avenue in broad daylight and walk into the liquor store with the business manager of the district and the athletic director's secretary while the school bus trundles past and kids yell out the window and nobody cares.

Waking and sleeping

I wonder if I went to bed when I was tired and got up when I was done sleeping, if eventually I would be going to bed at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and getting up at midnight. I get so drowsy in the evening I can hardly keep my eyes open. It's really a waste of my time.

I read this on a blog: If you want me to stop feeling superior, stop acting like such a dumb ass. That crossed my mind more than once today. It was one of those days.

I see there is a book on Amazon called No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog. Nobody better give me that for my birthday. I like people to pretend they care about the boring details of my life. Those are probably stupid things anyway. Like the prompts they give you to write about when you're 8 years old. Pretend you're a marshmallow. Crap like that.

I think I'm cranky and should go to bed and read.

Regis as Hippie

As a morale booster at work, they had costume days and yesterday was Hippie Day. Hey, that's our decade. Betty helped with the costume and this was the result: Regis was the monster hit of the day and people from other departments were coming to look at him. His manager came and thanked him for helping with morale so Regis pulled the fake joint out of his headband. They all admired his ability to learn the rolling technique is such a short time.

Sunday

Ella spent the morning here. Emily said when she stopped in front of our house, Ella said, "Nana, blankie, hold." So you can see what my role is in her life! We went to Target and looked at Halloween stuff. I wanted to buy her a pumpkin candy bag...it was soft and happy looking but she didn't like it and said it was scary. We read a lot of books, went out for breakfast, and I took her home at noon for a nap.

I forgot this part. At some point in the morning, I said, "Oh, I see." Ella thought that was hilarious and she laughed and laughed. Threw her head back and belly-laughed. I would say it again, then she would repeat it...eyes wide open and very animated...sometimes with the emphasis on different words....Oh, I see. Ooooooh, I see. Such a hoot.

Regis and Reggie hung my pot rack today. It was a little frightening, I must say. There were already two extraneous holes in the ceiling in the general vicinity of where the stud should have been, when they headed up to the attic. All of a sudden there is a hole in the ceiling NOT EVEN CLOSE to where the kitchen is. What the hell???? This was making me very nervous, but I just went to bed and told Tiffany to call 911 if the ceiling fell. When I got up from my nap, it was all done and there were only the three extra holes. As you can see, now my pans look like shit and I think I need new pans. I guess that was easy to predict.

We had thunderstorms last night and I thought Bert had been reincarnated. Kramer was up on my pillow panting his hot doggy breath in my ear. There were a couple claps of thunder that almost threw us off the bed. More rain coming tonight so I think I'll close the window.

October 1st already tomorrow. How did that happen?

Regis & Teresa Celebrity Look Alikes

I found this cool website that does face recognition then makes a collage of your celebrity look alikes. What a hoot. Look at mine below...all the hot women then William Powell. William Powell?

Wild Turkey

Years ago I was attacked by a wild turkey and not of the alcohol variety either as some of you surmised. It was an actual attack by a wild turkey such as the one in the picture and I had actual turkey footprint-shaped bruises on the backs of my legs to prove it. I have endured ridicule for the story but here is another aggressive wild turkey tale in the Tribune today. Finally, vindication. Check it out here.

Regis and I went to Whiskey River for dinner. We were just whupped from the week and decided to splurge so we had prime rib, walleye, a bottle of wine, and cheesecake for dessert. We spent a leisurely two hours watching the woodchuck at the bird feeder and the variety of folks who hang out there. I told Regis if he ever starts riding a motorcycle (unlikely) he shouldn't let me wear those leather chaps because they make your ass look huge.

The phone guy came to fix out school phone today and he didn't buy the lightning story. He said if we had a bolt strong enough to knock the phone off the wall, it would have done more damage like left burn marks. Ah well, he thinks he knows a lot about phones I guess. He said it was coincidence that the phone was on the floor after the storm. I said my version makes a better story.


I don't know what the reason is but there has been a dearth of blog postings lately. Even the goat blog entries have been sparse although I do know that Betsy has been on the front page of the Tacoma News Tribune. Is the harvest moon causing paralysis of the fingers? C'mon. Get spellbound by your imperfect life and share the details. I'm addicted. I need to know.

Lightning blew the phone right off the wall

We had that wicked bad storm Monday night remember. See Tuesday's post if you don't...then call your doctor about your memory deficit. Tuesday morning when Joanne went to school, the phone receiver in the work room was on the floor and the little piece that holds it in place was broken off. We didn't think much of it until today when all kinds of other weird things started happening with the phone: constant ringing with nobody there, hearing conversations through the phone that weren't being held on a phone, people who said they couldn't get through, flashing lights. As I was describing these things to Tom, the building and grounds guy, all of a sudden it dawned on me, "Hey! This is more than a broken piece of phone!" I think the lightning blew that phone right off the holder. It all makes sense. When the phone repair guy called to hear details of the problems we're having he said, "Man, that's serious."

We tried to watch Oliver Stone's Nixon last night. God, I can't imagine anybody watched that movie in a theater because for one thing it's 3 and 1/2 hours long. Regis and I both wandered away after about two hours which is an indication of something. Roger Ebert gave it a good review and there were some entertaining parts. Anthony Hopkins is compelling to watch and some of the other characters, too, but there is way too much historic film footage and way too many flashbacks. (It was a memory test, let me tell you...trying to remember all those screwy characters from the Nixon White House.) We might finish it tonight but we're going to skip to about 1973. Stone makes Nixon seem like one crazy ass dude. No wonder he had to resign.

Our hobby is Kaiser rolls

Regis decided last night that he missed the good rolls from Philadelphia. Actually he decided that Saturday when we were at HyVee looking for a nice hard roll. Everything you buy in the grocery store is made from the same dough...kaiser rolls, bagels, buns, bread. I'm sure they order the dough in from China, too. He found a recipe for Kaiser rolls and we made them tonight. They have seven minutes to go and they smell and look wonderful.

The top picture is the buns before they went in the oven. The next
one...ta da...is the buns when they came out of the oven.

We had a storm last night about 5 that was so bad, honest to God, we couldn't see the house across the street. It was a white-out from rain. Regis opened the door to take a photo and the deluge knocked him back. There must have been some straight line winds because there were trees down in the Minnesota Square neighborhood this morning. The robotic voice on the weather radio said that the wind speed was 67 mph in Ka-so-ta. Holy shit.
This is what the storm looked like and not at it's peak either. Like a blurry Monet painting.

The daily cute

Ella was here all day today. She was mostly happy with the plan but didn't want me out of her sight for a minute and consequently hung on my leg as I tried to move around the house. I know somehow I managed when my kids were small but it must have been tricky.

We took a nap in the big bed and before she fell asleep, she rattled off a long story that included the names of everyone she knows. I wish I could have understood the rest of it because she waved her
arms and legs as she told it...it must have been exciting.

She is awfully busy exploring everything. She discovered the door bell and must have climbed the steps to ring it a hundred times. I try to be behind her every second but she still manages to pick up things a baby shouldn't have...a cheese grater, a bottle of pills, a screw driver. Holy shit. There's a reason why young people have babies.

We made chicken wings on the grill (after Ella went home) using a mojo marinade and apple wood chips. Mojo marinade is roughly: 1/2 cup orange juice. 2 T lime juice, 2 T olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, Tabasco, salt and pepper. Most directions we've read say to cook them for 15 minutes but we like them better cooked for 30 over indirect heat. I cut up a big apple from the coop and we wrapped it in foil with some cinnamon and sugar and cooked it for 6 minutes. I had some caramel sauce in the refrigerator and we drizzled that over the apples. It was delicious.

Jill commented on my last post that she enlarged the picture and could see the beer. I just want to say, in my own defense, that the yogurt was also quite visible. And it was pumpkin beer which has some nutritional value as she pointed out.

In this last picture, Ella is looking at the moss roses. Regis wanted her to sniff them so instead of leaning over to smell them, she grabbed them by their little necks and jerked them out of the soil. You never know what a baby will think when you give a direction.

New refrigerator, ribs on the grill

This is my new refrigerator. Last night, I got all the food out of the coolers where it had been languishing for a day and got it into the new Amana refrigerator. Yahoo. It's nice to have the kitchen back to it's semi-organized state. Tiffany commented snidely that it's more room to keep expired food. Harrumph.

Regis and I got up early this morning and went to Menards on a mission for two things: a utensil to clean leaves out of gutters and a rack to hang from the ceiling for pots and pans. Success on both counts. Then we went to Perkins for breakfast and to HyVee to restock the larder. We both noticed that the help in both places is a lot friendlier and helpful early in the morning.

We bought a big rack of ribs because we've been wanting to try making them on the grill. We read up a little this afternoon (Grilling for Dumbies) and think we found the right process: a nice dry rub, basting with Jim Beam bourbon and water, and barbecue sauce for the last twenty minutes. The charcoal was complicated because it had to be replenished over the two hours of cooking time and we used mesquite wood chips that had to be soaked and added from time to time, too. The ribs were tender and delicious and I think we're spoiled. I wanted Regis to take a picture of them but we got distracted and ate them before we thought of it again.

I worked in the garden for a while today, too. We're getting rid of all those sunflowers (oh sure. they come up everywhere and forever. like white daisies there is no getting rid of them.) that take over and end up looking like hell by the end of July. One thing I like about them is when the goldfinches sit on them and ride the flower to the ground as the stem bends. It's like a carnival ride for birds. I saw a hummingbird today. He better get on his way wherever they go. Also saw a tiger swallowtail butterfly whose back end was pretty chewed up. He must have narrowly escaped being eaten by a bird.

Ella is coming over tomorrow while her daddy finishes painting the garage. She's always entertaining. Regis asked her today if she wanted to come to Nana's house tomorrow and she said, "Yeaaaaahhhh..." What a girl.

Talk Like a Pirate

Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Sorry it's so late and you don't get much of a chance to say arrrrghghgh or shiver me timbers or ahoy matey. I was going to copy the top ten TLAPD pick-up lines, but they're a little bawdy so you better just hit the link yourself, matey.








Last spring I must have been annoyed by all my ratty winter clothes because when the epileptics came around, I think they went out the door...my clothes not the epileptics...in a big black garbage bag. Which leaves me pretty much bereft this fall. I was tired of trying to make choices so I thought I would just go to Sears and buy five pair of black pants and be done with it. Sometimes I envy men...pants, shirt, shoes...interchangeable. Everyone I told this to laughed at me. So tonight I came home, had a glass of pinot noir and ordered a bunch of stuff from Lotus in the Moonlight...flowy weird batik things in wild colors. Yeah, that's more my style.

I think we're ready for the new refrigerator. Anybody who thinks this is a simple matter of one going out the front door and the other coming in the back door should think again. It's been a major disruption. I haven't bought groceries for two weeks because I didn't want to deal with the transfer. We've been eating difficult-to-identify stuff out of the freezer...tonight we got lucky and had pizza that we cooked on the grill a few weeks ago.

We have fruit flies in our house...but no fruit which makes me nervous. What the hell is decaying in here that would bring fruit flies? They love my wine and I have to keep a paper towel over the top of the glass so they don't drown in it. Not like I waste the wine...I just fish the fly out with my finger and go on with my business. Now there's some high class stuff.

I talked about my sleeping problems today at a meeting and half the women there said, "Call me when you're up at 2 a.m. I'm up watching HGTV or Oprah." Ha. They also said not to panic...it will pass.

Tomorrow is Thursday. The next best day to Friday.

Halfway to St. Patrick's Day

Regis and I are the world's worst painters. We're too random for a job that requires some level of meticulousness. Last night, in preparation for the new refrigerator, we decided to paint the wall behind the appliances. I had yellow paint and I'm ashamed to say that is the main reason we chose yellow. It's a little garish but what the hell. Halfway through we had to go to Patrick's for a half-price patty melt, half-price draft beer, and a bowl of free Ruben soup in honor of...Halfway to St. Patrick's Day!

Today I went to the loveliest funeral service I have ever attended for the 93-year old mother of my friend Ann. Nola Fern Kelley. It was like a 40 minute poem...beautiful old hymns, Bible passages that sounded like they were written for Nola, and a eulogy that made you weep. It was a proper send-off for a lady who lived in Garden City for 90 years.

I'm trying to put the house back together after a month of busy weekends. It's like an archaeological dig. The bottom layer is wedding supplies...packages of paper plates, thank you notes, and a bag containing bug spray. Then there's a layer from Labor Day weekend and the big cook-out. Then a layer from Rock Bend. I would really like to know how tidy people do it.

Speaking of that. I'm taking a survey. How many people pull their refrigerator out and clean under there on a regular basis? Is that something most people know to do? Or is that something anal retentives know about and the rest of us somehow survive without doing...for ten years or so? Let me know...

I'm seeing amoebas

When I was in college, my friend Mike hated Sunday night and called the ill feelings related to it the Sunday psychosis. He said he was seeing amoebas. That's how I feel tonight. I'm seeing amoebas.

We had a major demolition project here today trying to make room for the new refrigerator. It involved moving the old one out and exposing ten years of dirt and dog fur embedded in black oily smut. Ella sat on a stool watching me clean it up and kept saying, "Eeeeuuuw, gross, Nana." I told her not to tell anybody. She's so cute and generally easy to take care of, but you have to behind her every minute or she'll come carrying the garden shears or a big glass jar or some other evil thing that should not be in the hands of a baby. This after her lunch of potato chips and Oreos. Bad Nana.

We finally went into the living room and took the lid off the toy box. She spotted her books and said, "Tickle Tickle and Say Goodnight!" We read them every time she's here but I didn't think she'd remember the titles. Then she said, "Bumpity bumpity hold on tight" which is a line from Say Goodnight. I couldn't believe it. These were Tiffany and Peter's favorite books when they were that age so it's touching that she likes them, too.

We went out to the garden to fill the birdfeeders. She sat on the little bench with her blanket while I worked then we picked some herbs. I picked the springs of thyme Regis needed for the stew and she came in with a fistful of basil and a few red flowers.

A book to recommend: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It's the community read book for this fall and the author is coming to Gustavus the end of the month. The book is about Paul Farmer, a doctor who works in Haiti. It's also about how poverty and living conditions affect the health of people so you really can't try to cure diseases without trying to improve the lives of the people who have them. It was a very good book.

Well, here comes Monday.

Whine and cheese Friday

Regis is making Ruben sandwiches for us while I finish the last bottle of summer wine, a white Barefoot Cellars sauvignon blanc that tastes good when it's 90 degrees but not so good when it's 40. We switch to darker beer and redder wine when fall comes.

I made it back safely from the conference, having time to ruminate on the many irritations of hanging out with 800 people for 2 days. This is not the same blog post you will read on the Special Education blog that I keep for the district, by the way. A few of my observations:

• Some people can't sit next to another human being without talking. Two women behind me this morning processed everything the speaker said in a loud stage whisper. They missed half of what the speaker said, so the other person constantly said, "What'd he say?" I sit in the front because I'm easily distracted and I couldn't figure out a polite way to tell them to shut the hell up.
• Even presenters with PhDs can be random and irritating. I had to leave the 8-12 session because the presenter kept backtracking and segue-ing. I was gnashing my teeth.
• When they have this many heavy hitters at a conference of this size, somebody should tell the break-out presenters not to present AGAIN the basic information that you already learned.

Enough carping. All in all, it was fascinating. One funny story. I walked into the 10:30 session this morning and the presenter said, "Hey, aren't you the woman who was lost downtown yesterday?" Yeah. That's me.

This is a picture of Bob Dylan in his early days. I love his hair and wish I could achieve that lofty curly hair look with the sullen poetic pout.

Bob has a new CD coming out in a month (I call him by his first name because I saw his concert in Mankato ten years ago.) so I just pre-ordered it. I had to bribe Regis with a bag of M&Ms not to do that voice that he thinks is Bob Dylan. He makes fun of me for liking Bob and I make fun of him for feeling nostalgic about You Can't Get to Heaven on the Frankford El.

That pizza guy just got out of prison

First I have to mention my paranoia about mentioning, in a disparaging way, the names of restaurants, people, bars, etc. in my blog. Now, I tell the story about the pizza place I visited to night in the town where most of you know I am. I was hungry for pizza so I looked this place up on the internet and it looked a little high-class in the pictures and they didn't serve wine...just tap beer...but I took a wander around the block looking for something else and there it was, not looking so high-class after all. I went in and my god it looks like something out of a 1960 mafia movie. Red lamps, dark beat up paneling, red oil cloth table covers. And I swear the guys cooking pizza are either on work release or just got out of the pen. The pizza was good but the antipasta relish plate was like something you would expect to be constructed by a Norwegian...or a couple guys just out of prison. Now back to the paranoia. Let's say this place is owned by the mafia. They have a guy who checks google every few days to see if anybody has said anything negative about his establishment. Boom. Up pops my blog. I'm not taking any chances.

This town is not that complicated, streets running mostly north and south and parallel to each other and being named 1st Street SW and such. So far, I got lost coming into town, I got lost in the skyway on my way to the conference, and I got lost walking home. I asked a fellow on the street if he knew where the Hilton was and he pointed right up at the side of the building we were standing about half a block from and there it was: Hilton Garden Inn. Whoops.

Feels like fall out there

This morning when I left for work, I was comfortable in a dress and sandals. By about 10 o'clock the temp had fallen to 55 with a slight wind chill from the 25 mph breeze. Uff da. I had to close the window and put on a sweater. A week ago, it was 95 degrees. A little less abrupt change would be nice.

It's the middle of the third week of school and I finally have time to look around and see how messed up things have gotten at home. My system of doing chores once a week has gone completely to hell. There is crap everywhere and I can barely keep up with the dishes. Today we forgot to take the trash down so we have to try and squeeze another week's worth of garbage into the dumpster. Whine, whine, whine.

If you've been following the saga of Peter, he surprised us again last week by calling to say he would like to move to Canby to live with his grandma and go to the community college there. Long pause. My rebellious and mono-syllabic son wants to live with his grandma in a town of 2000 people that doesn't have a video store. He says he can't make a decent living at Subway and he thinks Grandma needs some company. (He doesn't know how often Grandma is gone!) He made so much sense and had been so thoughtful about the whole idea that I was nearly moved to tears. What a sweet boy.

Tiffany has found a job she enjoys for now, she's making some money in tips (fifty bucks some night) and she's looking for a car. Things are looking up for her, too. I'm not sure some days how she feels about it, but I love having her around. She's funny, sweet, and she likes my cooking.

Now if one of our kids would just marry a dentist so we could retire and live in their lower level, things would be great. Ha!

Birdbath

This is the birdbath we bought at the festival today. Regis put a CD down in the corner so you can get an impression of the size of it. It was made using a giant rhubarb leaf as a mold. It's just a beautiful thing and I can't wait to put it in the garden next spring. She says she leaves them out over the winter but I'd be sad if it cracked.

Tiffany is dog sitting for Gonzo and Fletcher tonight. Betty and Tom went out of town and hired her to stay at their house and take care of their dogs. A pretty good gig, I'd say. Lay around their house, watch tv, let the dogs in and out, and eat snacks. That's a job I'd like.

Well, it's back to the cold, cruel world of work tomorrow. Pitiful, just pitiful.


Book recommendations:
Empress of Weehawken by Irene Dische
The Lost Diary of Don Juan: An Account of the True Arts of Passion and the Perilous Adventure of Love by Douglas Carlton Abrams

Peace dude

We told the kids, Bob, Reg, Amber, John, and Glen, to stop over and see us at the park yesterday. We thought they'd enjoy the Rock Bend festival. They left Ella with us for a while and walked around to peruse the booths and food stands. When they came back, Reg said, "You didn't tell me this was an old hippie convention!" So here we are, Regis and me in our tie-dye....peace dude. (Don't be fooled. This isn't really us...I would never curl my bangs like that and Regis would always wear pants in public.) True confession: Regis had a peace sign on his t-shirt and I was wearing tie-dye.

Old hippe convention or not, we had a good time. It's a tough venue if you really want to listen to music, though. There are way too many distractions: people moving around, talking, eating. I think you could have Lawrence Welk up there and nobody would know the difference. We never make it to the end especially when it's cold like it was yesterday.

Funny, we think 70 degrees is warm but when you sit outside all day in it, it chills you to the bone. We were home in bed by 9 and missed Rockin' Daddy and the Roughcuts with Mojo Buford.

You see every kind of dress at a thing like this. Being in the early stages of decrepitude, we were warmly clothed with long pants and sweat shirts and jackets. One guy who was probably buff and studly in his day came walking in with no shirt on... and here comes my opinion of that. Men over the age of about 25 really should not be seen anywhere but their own backyards and maybe a swimming pool without a shirt. This guy was very tan and had some muscle so he apparently takes so care of his appearance, but his man boobs, his belly, and that fat across his back has started to head south and get lumpy. It was not a pleasant sight. All of those body parts look so much better with a little polyester covering them.

We're going back to the park today but may not stay long if it's cold. Regis is doing laundry and I went to the grocery store so we feel like we've accomplished some things today. Our dog alarm (not Kramer who is a late sleeper) woke us up today but not until 7 which is a more humane hour than 5.

Gorgeous fall weather today!

Saturday

I had such good intentions of getting up and doing some chores around here...like the dishes that have been waiting for two days. But here I sit in my waddlesome slothfulness, not doing much of anything but listening to one neighbor's dog bark in that shrill way that makes me hope he gets eaten by a rattlesnake and watching the other one stumble out of the back forty acres to pack his car with salsa and head to the farmer's market.

Our old friend and letter carrier, Tom Hynes, retired from the post office this month. Yesterday was his last actual day of carrying mail so we met at the local watering hole to lift a glass to Tom. We're going to have another celebration next week and the final big and official retirement party on the 29th. He's the first in our group of friends to retire so we have to make a splash.

This is the weekend of the Rock Bend Folk Festival in St. Peter. We love to spend the whole weekend at the park in our lawn chairs. This year they have a great music line-up. Check it out. The weather should be great if that mass of rain in South Dakota doesn't move this far east.

Ok...I have procrastinated long enough. Time to get the butt off the chair and do something before I stiffen up and can't move.

spiders

Thinking about spiders today. This morning, a spider had built a web over the kitchen sink drain. I started to run water before I saw he was trying to escape. I scooped him out with the only thing handy...a butter knife. I thought I had killed him but I let him lay behind the dish soap for a while because I could see he was trying to dry out his legs. I dabbed him a little with a dish towel but didn't want to squash him. By the time I went to work, he was right-side-up and moving a little. When I came home, he had moved on.

I hate killing spiders and usually don't. If there's a daddy-long-legs in the tub, I'll lay a towel over the edge so he can get out and they usually take advantage of the escape route. I have a pretty good colony in the basement and I allow them to live peacefully down there unless we're having company, then they have to relocate to the main compartment of the shop vac.

Tiffany lives in the basement now and the word must be out: Not friendly to spiders. She will not cohabitate with them. She gets out the shop vac for purposes other than temporary relocation, she sprays them with pesticides, and she kills them dead. Poor spiders.

Cheese and music

I came home and picked up the crap that had accumulated from the first two days of school. Who comes in here and messes things up while we're gone? I had dough in the refrigerator from the party so I made pizza. Regis has been intrigued by the mozzarella that I bought at the coop. It tastes so much better than that cardboard stuff that comes shredded in a plastic bag. Tom said it's easy to make so now Regis wants a new hobby. Uh oh.

I think I forgot to mention the basil gimlets we made for the party. If you have basil in your garden, these are definitely worth the trouble. I wouldn't make them all the time, but once a summer, they're delicious. Here's the recipe for the syrup:

4 cups packed fresh basil sprigs (top 4 inches; from a 1/2-pound bunch)
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
9 (4- by 1-inch) strips lemon zest

Bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. Let cool covered for an hour. Refrigerate to cool completely. Strain and press leaves.

To make the drink, use 1 cup of syrup, 3/4 cup of vodka, and 3/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice. Stir in ice to chill and pour into an old fashioned glass.

Mom's leaving for Seattle on Friday with my cousin Deb to visit her sisters in Washington. I hate to travel (lame, I know) so I'm staying home but I hope they take pictures so I can post them here. Mom's 77 and her sisters are older so it ought to be a whooping good time. But there are folks like Steve Fossett who will climb into a hot air balloon and cross the ocean and then there are people like me who pack a bag and think about it for a week to go to New Ulm. What the hell. It's a good thing we aren't all travelers. Nobody would ever be at home.

First Day of School

I don't know who this guy is but when I did a google search for first day of school images, this picture of him and Gracie is the first thing that popped up. I love the sign. Gracie's first day of school. Speaking of anthropomorphism (were we?), my neighbor dog Waldo has had to wear a t-shirt lately. He had surgery to remove something from his insides and he was worrying the stitches. Through the window now, I can see someone swinging in the hammock and Waldo is dancing around like he's loopy. He likes to play ball and doesn't think this lazy hammock swinging is much fun.

Regis and I both woke up at 4 this morning. It seemed like an ok idea at the time but by 6:30, not so much. We were ready for naps but it was time to go to work. The first day of school was fine but not as exciting as when I had new shoes and new underwear and a pencil box.

Last day of summer=new refrigerator

We got a wild hair today and went to Sears and bought new appliances. In the last few weeks with all the cooking activity, I got tired of trying to find things in my broken down old refrigerator. Regis opened the door of the freezer yesterday and the shelf broke and spilled things everywhere. This is the new model...an Amana with the freezer drawer on the bottom and French doors on the top la dee da. It has a deli drawer for meat and cheese and little symbols on the other drawers so you know if the humidity should be high or low. A refrigerator for dummies. Now we have to modify the space so it fits in the kitchen. It's about five cubic feet bigger than the old one although that doesn't mean much since they count space that doesn't really exist according to Consumer Reports. Places like where the light bulb is and where the switch is that can't be used as storage space.

It's the last official day of summer and it's hot and humid here to prove it. We're going to cook on the grill again...the shish kabobs that didn't get cooked yesterday and maybe some of the piza bread. Joanne asked for the crab cake recipe:

Grilled Crab Cakes
* 3/4 pound crabmeat
* 1 cup plain bread crumbs
* 3/4 cup mayonnaise
* 1 egg, beaten
* 2 green onions, minced
* Hot sauce, to taste
* Salt and pepper, to taste

Mango Salsa:
* 1 mango, peeled, pitted and diced
* 1 red onion, diced
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
* 1 lime, juiced
* Minced jalapeno, to taste
* Salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Drain the crabmeat. In a large bowl, mix the crabmeat, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, egg, green onions, hot sauce, and salt and pepper until combined. Shape the mixture into 16 small cakes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the diced mango, onion, basil, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno (if using), and salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Cook in a frying pan with small amount of oil or on the grill on foil sprayed with Pam.

Not much else to report today. Happy Labor Day to all you hard workers and union members!

Flies and heat almost win

The party yesterday was fun but the heat was more than we planned on (a humid 90 in the afternoon with no breeze) and the flies were horrific. I had way too much food and I needed a sous chef for all the chopping and mixing and preparation. The food we did have was good, and Betty helped by bringing chicken and bacon wraps, and Paul brought ribs. I made the pizza, the stuffed mushrooms, and the crab cakes which tipped in the refrigerator and ran all over the top shelf. Another mess to clean up today.

Regis and Amber are back from their week of honeymoon travels so they stopped to tell a few stories about the trip. You can see their pictures here.

Regis was busy with the flyswatter so no pictures were taken. Probably a good thing. We all looked a little wilted in the heat.