Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Dog Days of December

Lola survived her spaying surgery. It amazes me how well dogs do after surgery. Especially after I caught her hopping up into the raised flower boxes in the yard. All those stitches ripping apart inside is the first thing you think of!

Lola napping on what's left of her morphine meds.

She had her dew claws removed, this breeder didn't remove them and I never thought of asking before hand, I will now. Because not only will it cost you an extra 100 dollars, your doggie has to wear booties if it's raining to cover the little bandages. Booties on dogs, it's not natural, and it's not happening here. Of course the booties that the vet sends you home with are made with empty IV bags and gauze, and last about two minutes on their feet. So we cover the bandages with Saran wrap, and take her on her leash so she doesn't run around in the rain. Thankfully it stopped raining.

I have to admit the bandages are kind of cute.


She looks like a little race horse when she is walking around, or a misplaced dog from the 70's. Remember when people wore sweatbands as an accessory.:) Not me!

Lego sprained something over the weekend, and was walking on three legs when Lola left for the vet. So Lego spent Monday sleeping the whole day and is back to normal finally today.

Doggies are all here and accounted for, it just doesn't feel right when one is here w/o the other.

M

Friday, December 5, 2008

Crazy Neighbor Sugar Cookies

Back when we lived up in Granger, I had a neighbor, yeah the crazy neighbor, who gave me her sugar cookie recipe. This was the best sugar cookie recipe out there, very much worth her craziness. I've been making them for over 15 years, pretty much knew the recipe by memory except when I lost it, and for the life of me couldn't remember the amounts of anything!

For about three or four years, (can't remember that either, seeing a theme in my blog?) I tried various sugar cookie recipes and none even came close, so I gave up the quest. Then out of the blue one day over the summer the recipe came back to me, so I quick wrote it down so I wouldn't forget ... again.

Here it is:

3 Sticks Butter or Margarine
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 salt
2 tsp. vanilla
5 cups of flour

Chill dough and roll.

350 for about 10 minutes

Theres one thing I do when I bake cookies that is never according to the directions. You know when they say to mix the baking soda, powder and salt to the flour? I don't do that, I cream my butter,sugar, eggs, vanilla, and then at the end add my baking soda, powder and salt, and then the flour. I noticed I don't get that baking soda taste in the cookies.

It's 10 a.m., have to order my Elton/Joel tickets.....here's a Billy Joel song while I'm gone, this is "our" song. Of course I picked it, I had "The Stranger" 8-track it was on. *G* If left to Brian to pick "our" song, he would of had some hard rock song! My favorite Billy Joel song is "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant".



OMG $390.00! I really regretted not going about 7 years back, because I thought it was too pricie. I still think it's too pricie, I would rather buy a TV, diamond, anything that last longer than four hours, but it's not worth all the years of "could of, would of, should of's", so I just bought them. March 10, in Cincinn, it will be my B-day present. Actually it's more like $430, because I joined Elton's fan club to make sure I could get tickets. I've been to two other concerts in my life, Rare Earth when I was maybe 10, and Billy Joel, and Billy Joel we were up in the last row of the United Center and he was still good. So we will see how this goes...

Since I don't have a picture of my sugar cookies, here's my favorite Elton John song...


You know sometimes on YouTube, the comments are actually better than what you are watching or listening to, in this case:

Yeah, there was a time I could relate to this song severely. Now I'm debating which of five hot waitresses will I date!

On that note, back to cookies. I make a lot of my dough ahead of time, freeze and then bake half of it in one weekend for the cookies I send to my siblings, and then closer to Christmas I bake the other of half of the dough so we have cookies for guest and for US!

Happy Baking!
M

Oh, just in case you forgot who "Rare Earth" is or it's before your time! You Ready?

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Stuff

I haven't done much since the last time I posted.

What I did:

Made a website for an up and coming folk singer! A sister of a good friend.
www.emmabeaton.com

Cleaned and cooked for last Saturday. Mim, Norm, Sylvia, Barry and family came out and we spent the day together.

Lot of laundry. Ian came home and then Brian is in Chicago all this week for a prep class for a big test he has to take next week.

Went to the vet. Lego got a infected anal gland, and "yes" it's as smelly as it sounds! Montana had one in the spring, seems we have a lot of pain in the asses around here.


What I didn't do:

No Christmas decorations at all! Since we had company Saturday, Friday was spent picking up the house and cooking, and Sunday Brian left, so they didn't get put up. Now it's too cold for me to go out there and do it, and since there's no warm up coming, I doubt they will get up this year. Every year I seem to hate this cold weather more. Its so damp lately everytime I go out in this cold my chronic bronchitis kicks in.

Oh, also what I didn't do. I didn't make stuffing on Thanksgiving! How the heck does a person forget to make stuffing on Thanksgiving? I do believe I'm officially losing it!

I haven't made cookie dough yet either, I'm way behind this year. I guess it's time to take the pumpkin off the porch!

Okay, I need a picture...


Our Christmas card from 2003, I do believe I remembered stuffing that year!
M

Monday, November 24, 2008

Happy Birthday Collin!

Well, my baby boy turns 15 today. What always amazes me is how young kids look when they are 15. Brian was 15 when I met him, and he's never looked that young to me.

This is what Collin will always look like to his momma!


He was my little Thanksgiving baby! He was a planned C-section and the date chosen was November 24, seeing that Thanksgiving was November 25 that year. We were in South Bend and the last thing I wanted to do was host a Thanksgiving dinner, or drive into Chicago to go to one when I was a week away from my due date, which was the 29th. (I think) So I planned it that I would be in the hospital for Thanksgiving. One of the best decisions I ever made!



I remember Brian and I getting on the elevator when we got to the hospital, it was early like 6 a.m. and a woman comes in and says, "You two must want a girl!" And then we said, "What makes you say that?", and she says, "You both have pink shirts on." It was the early 90's Brian had a pink polo on I'm sure, it was that whole "Real Men Wear Pink" fad! *g* I had whatever pink top fit over a huge tummy. It didn't matter to us, girl or boy, we really did just want a healthy baby.



Collin's middle name is Johnston. We wanted a family name from Brian's side, didn't care for Norman (Brian's dad) or George (Brians grandpa), so Brian's dads middle name was Johnston, he was named after the Dr. that delivered him, so that's what we went with. If I could change anything about his name, I would of spelled it Colin. But Colin Powell was big in '93 and everyone pronounced his name like part of ones poo anatomy, so I put the extra "L" in so people would say Collin not colon. The bad thing was, all those trips to Disney World, you could never find "Collin" on things, it was always "Colin", I always felt so bad for him.





Okay, so I asked Collin what cake he wanted for his birthday, his choice, it wasn't chocolate with chocolate, it was...



White Chocolate Cheesecake

Heat over to 300.

Make any sort of crumb crust you would like for the bottom. Sometimes I use Oreo, sometimes chocolate graham crackers, Nilla wafers, today I used cinnamon sugar graham crackers. Just maybe 2 cups of crumbs and 2-3 tbl. melted butter. 1 tsp. vanilla depending on what you chose to make crumbs with. Press into bottom of springform pan.

Mix:
3- 8oz. room temp. cream cheese
1-14oz. can Sweetened condenced milk
3-large eggs
2-tsp. vanilla
1-tbl. corn starch

mix till smooth and then slowly add 1 bag MELTED white chocolate chips.

(just heat in micro at 50% power, first for a minute, stir, then another minute stir, and then do it at 30 second intervals, just always cook at 50% power and you shouldnt get clumpy chocolate)

Mix till smooth, pour into springform pan with your crumb crust.

Bake at 300 for 90 minutes, yeppers an hour and half! Then leave the cake in there and turn off oven, and let cake sit in hot oven for 45 minutes.

Also... I put a 9x13 pan filled halfway with water in the pan in the oven also while the cake is baking. This prevents the cheesecake from cracking on top.

Cool. Refridgerate.

That's it! It's WONDERFUL! Especially with a little bit of Hershey syrup drizzled on each piece. I got this recipe back in 1998 from a net friend named Rie. She made it up from scratch, I think of her everytime I make it. Wherever you are Rie... spanks!

My favorite Collin picture...


And to Collin, you are everything a mother is grateful for in a son, I give thanks every year on this date that you are mine!
M


(So Im in Target and I'm thinking, I think I posted this recipe before, the last time I made it. *g* I should of posted the pumpkin cake with brown butter glaze. God thats good!)

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Lola gets to 2nd Base


If I'm not mistaken the "bra" is second base right? I get an email from DH the other day and he asks me if I saw Lola's surprise? I wrote back, "No." A little bit later I go up to take a shower and my pink bra is laying across the sink, with a wire sticking straight out of it, one strap off, and little bite marks all over.

I thought ... Gross, how did Hugh Hefner get in the house?

Then I realized, they weren't denture marks on the bra but bite marks, dog bite marks. Must of been Lola!

I thought I heard heard her around 4 a.m. walking around, seems she went into the third closet (were spoiled, we each have our own closet, the third one is clothes thrown on the tub) and pulled my bra off and chewed it a bit. Now if you remember it was only a couple of months ago she got a pair of my CLEAN panties and brought them outside to delight the neighbors, and this month it's the bra.

It seems Lola is a tad confused and is going around the bases backwards. It should of been the bra first and then the panties, right? Bra-second base, Panties-Grand Slam? Li'l bit of trouble with this since DH hit a home-run sooner rather than later in our relationship. *g*


Bra appears smaller and prettier than in real life

Besides the bra and CLEAN panties she has taken, she hasn't chewed anything in the house, and has just been a little dream pup! But, that said, we will only have one Christmas tree this year, decorated from about half way up!


M

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes?

You'll get the title later.

So one of my Surrey Gathering in Canada stories is about shoes. Every year we get Diana a gift for taking the time to be with us. It's getting harder and harder to think of things to surprise her with that are fun. But earlier in the year, one of the sites I make graphics on was now selling Keds you could customize yourself! Cool! So I asked the Surrey group and we decided it was a go.

So I first had to come with a graphic to use. Recently a friend(Hi Janice) asked me to make Diana's family crest for a gift, Diana had mentioned in one of her novels what hers would be if she had one. The motto being "Cur Non" meaning "Why Not", with three hippogriffs and some standing stones.

I started with this...

and made this....

(that's actually finished and framed on a tile Janice and I gave her for her b-day)

So I wanted to use that in a graphic for shoes that wasn't obnoxious and you could wear with jeans. I came up with this...


Then you make all the sides, the top, heel, all according to their specifications, and load them up and zazzle will give you an idea of what they will look like...



And here is how they turned out...



Will she ever wear them? I don't have a clue! :-) But... I bet if she stands very still, closes her eyes and concentrates of Scotland, clicks her heels, one, two, no three times and then opens her eyes, she will be standing in the same spot where she started from!

The title...When ever I think of shoes, I think of this punchline to an old joke...

Roy had a brand new pair of shoes. He goes to visit his friend. Being polite, he removed his shoes and leaves them at the door. While visiting with his friend, the friend’s cat discovers Roys new shoes, likes the smell and proceeds to chew them up. Roy goes ballistic. The friend, feeling very bad, has a dilemma: he has two cats. One of the cats enters the room at that moment.

The friend then asks: Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes?

Repeat the punch line to the tune of the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

When I went to Florida with Gretchen and her family when I was.....10 or 11 I think. We sang that punchline while in the car all the way from Chicago to Florida, and I would guess very loudly while going through Chattanooga, TN. It is truly a wonder we both made it alive till the end of the trip, no bruises or anything!

That's all from a rainy cold Indiana Saturday,

M

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Busy as a sick bee!

I know I haven't updated in a bit...

The Author's Attic page has kept me busy. Since I last updated they have created a new Claire's pendant and earrings.


I've made a webpage. Fairy Door anyone?

They are too cute, and it comes with a little story about the fairy that lives there. Friend Cindy who wrote Exit Unicorns, makes these.
Hidden Realm Fairy Doors

I went to Vancouver to hang with my net friends, I will post separately about this one, too much to tell. Always too much fun.

Came home from Canada and got hit with the flu and cold, and now a sore throat. It seems that eating left over Halloween candy all day does not cure all. This was our first year none of our kids went trick or treating. :-(

Was feeling sorry for myself and made the mug cake posted below. Didn't care for it, it's easier just to make a pan of brownies I thought. Gotta share the brownie pan again just in time for your xmas giving!
Baker's Edge Brownie Pan!

Now I admit I was praying for rain for walking the mini-marathon, but the flu took care of that for me and on the mini morning I couldn't even walk up the stairs and missed it. Although extremely happy to report, neighbor Robin triumphed! Walked the Hospice walk with Fr. Bill in October, and he was very interested to see if I was going to make this 13 mile walk, and was under strict instructions to "let him know". Well, I sent him my number!

Caught up finally with Grey's Anatomy! Missed the season premier, it was off the website before I could watch. Blond dude Kevin McKidd (or something like that it's early) from HBO's Rome is on it now, he has a way of playing soldiers. :-)

As far as movies, saw The Dutchess, it was good. We will all go see Bond this weekend. Going to see The Changling (I think) tomorrow.

Read three books-two with Henry the VIII connection. "The last wife of Henry VIII", who was Catherine Parr it was pretty good. Had the feel of "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Virgin Lover", by Phillipa Gregory, it's about Queen Elizabeth's relationship with Robert Dudley. Actually I have about fifty pages of that one to go, it's not too griping, wouldn't recommend. "Bet Me" by Jennifer Crusie, I usually enjoy all of Crusie's books, but this one I couldn't recommend either.

Was working on Nancy E. Turners webpage last night and something is in the works there, she won't tell more than that. :-) I tell you authors can keep secrets! It's not a movie but I'm guessing a mini-series of her Sarah Prine books. Fingers crossed, these would be a great series! I LOVE LOVE LOVE these books!


I activated my Facebook page, that thing drives me nuts, but since Colleen has to keep sending me pictures separately, Mandi starts every email with "this would be a lot easier if you were on Facebook", guilt won out and it's under email lolmichelle at yahoo dot com So to those that have been posting for the last......I dont know how long and it looks like Ive been ignoring you, I haven't, it wasn't activated, but it seems people can still post.


God is in his heaven, Obama won the election, Sarah is back in Alaska ... all is right with the world!

M

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Happy Birthday Montana!



I miss my puppy boy!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Promises and Pups

Sunday...Brian and I celebrated our 23rd Anniversary! He surprised me with peanut donuts from Dunkin' Donuts. Halloween will be the 31st anniversary of our first date! LOL Shit were getting old, and I still have that navy sweatshirt jacket, just had it on the other day.



Lola is six months old!

She is getting really stocky in the chest. She is an extemely calm labrador! She loves to ride in the van. She has just been incredibly good...still bringing mulch and sticks in the house but not as much. :-)


Most importantly.....her nose is still shaped like a heart! :-)

I have been missing Montana like crazy lately. Pumpkins make me think of him, and pumpkins are everywhere this time of year, he loved them!



It's a wonder we ever get another dog, losing them is so hard.

I'm off to Canada in a few, have a good week, and better weekend!
M

Saturday, October 18, 2008

MMMMMMMMMMMug Cake!

Okay I just saw this recipe on one of my reading groups (Thanks CathyS!), I haven't tried it, and prolly wont till I come back from Surrey. But I can't wait! I guess it's going around in emails, I havent received it from anyone yet though, so it was new to me. I'd like to figure out the WW points on it too, maybe I can do it a bit less calorie wise and see if it's a nice subsitute for dinner! :-)

Enjoy!
M

(This is my favorite mug to drink out of.....or maybe to eat chocolate cake out of!)

CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
1 large Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour(that's plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg - slightly beaten with a fork
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) (I used a few chopped walnuts instead)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, (I actually use a bowl and then dump it into the mug,sprayed with PAM to bake.) and mix well.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips or nuts (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! It will sink back down as soon as the micro stops.
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share-it's really too much for one person - unless you're having a really bad day!)

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Change for a five?

Friday, picked up Ian for fall break, and he was home till Tuesday. You can tell he is in school and getting a ton of homework, he made use of his time at home. Lot's of visits to the pantry and went to the show twice, was out every night. Nice to see Collin and Ian together again. Yes, I did his laundry.

Sunday was the Hospice Walk in South Bend with Fr. Bill. He is 84 years old, and we walked maybe a little under a mile. He is slowing down a bit, but just a couple of months ago took a trip out west to see Bryce and the Grand Canyon. Even walked about a half mile down Bryce, and said it was a bit tough. Which means the people that he was with were hoping he wasn't going to keel over on them. In his words....I'm not much for old cathedrals, all that history, nature is where God's presence is. To which I always reply...I'll take the old cathedral. I had to brush two eight legged things off me, I was natured out. It's a bit like the movie Ground Hog's Day sometimes with stories, but always worth the trip.

Went to visit my Granger neighbor Patty, and her new yellow lab puppy Ellie. It's a bit sad to go now and see all these houses where your friends all lived, and most have moved on, and think of all the laughs you use to have. Even sadder to see the house you put so much into taken over by rednecks with wishing wells!

My jewelry site is up and running as of yesterday! I have been just crazy lately with finishing the site up, reading and re-reading for typos, trying to remember which is reverse and regular etch, and getting the photos together, checking every link to make sure it goes to the right place. Making a silver bracelet copper, because the copper sample isn't done yet. Sending out about 900 emails from my Claire's Ring inquiries, I'm at about 300. OMG I'm working! :) I did make a couple husbands day, since I just helped them figure out what to get for their wives for Christmas.

Here it is in all it's glory...

The Author's Attic

Yesterday Ian forgot we had a puppy in the house and left a five dollar bill and two quarters on the stairs. I found a chewed up, well part of a chewed up five dollar bill, and only one quarter. So in that irritating mom yell, called for Ian to help me find the other quarter, hoping it wasn't in Lola's stomach! Envisioning large vet bills or a dead puppy from blockage, we looked everywhere. Finally I found it on the door mat next to the doggie door. Phew!

Next week Surrey!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Sunday in the Park with....

We drove up to see Ian for lunch on Sunday. It's no surprise to any of us left behind that Ian misses the dogs more than us. So the three of us humans, and two canines took a little road trip to see Ian.

Brian had found a nice little county park with trails, so after lunch we took the dogs for a walk.


Ian said his roommate was a bit messy. This is when I nearly fainted. He said he leaves food wrappers around and doesn't put stuff in the garbage. I think I did faint after that comment. I cannot tell you how many pop cans and Li'l Debbie wrappers I have picked up from my dear son.

Payback is sweet!
M

.......it's happening again. Collin went for a hair cut with Brian last week and asked to start growing it out.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Under Where?

I was out shopping last night and my phone rings, which is sort of a rarity with me, seeing that either I can never hear it, or I forget it at home.

It's Brian. He says, "Lola has graduated from socks, she's got a pair of your underwear."

I said, " Where did she get those?" I bundled up laundry that day so I know there wasn't any on the floor at least. "Did you get them?"

Brian says, "No, she's outside in the backyard with them."

"You got to be kidding me, go get 'em!" I paused. "Is there a soccer game in the field, are there any neighbors out? Just go get 'em!"

Well, I was hoping if Lola was gallivanting around the yard with a pair of my panties they were at least a pretty pair with lace or something, thank God I don't own any thongs!

But no, just a CLEAN pair of plain cotton hipsters, not white, but almost as boring.... off white! Did I mention they were CLEAN!


(CLEAN objects in picture are most likely larger than they appear)

Puppies.......gotta love them!
M

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

It's getting close!

The website has landed!

The Author's Attic

deSignet just sent some final drawings to be approved before they make the samples, some of my designs and some of theirs. It's pretty neat to sit here and make a graphic up and then seeing the final product all finished. I'm anxious to see my "Mrs. Darcy" bracelet.

They basically have given me full reign on picking what to sell, coming up with any designs I think people would like, and best of all I get to make my own webpage and graphics. And if it does well, we will just keep adding more, there's a whole library to explore!

I'm starting out with jewelry relating to these authors/books:

Charlotte Bronte-Jane Eyre
Anya Seton-Katherine
Jane Austen-Pride & Prejudice
and the gracious Diana Gabaldon, my favorite you know. :-)

Here's a litte quote bracelet...


Can I hear a little Woo-Hoo please! :-)

M

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Li'l Lola Update!

The mornings have been cool, so Lola and Lego go out and sit a spell. I took this through the blinds, if they see me they get up, but you can see how big she is compared to Lego.



She's losing that little puppy face.



But still looking still looking like a baby compared to Lego. She's five months old and about 45 pounds.


She's been really good! Not one accident in the house since about 6 weeks old, we can leave her alone in the house and doesnt chew a thing.

Oh and I have to tell you.....way less hair in the house since The Furmintor came! :-)

M

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Horse Hair Bracelet Lady was Right!

That would be Angela! :-) She told me I needed "The Furminator" and asked if I had one, I didn't know what the heck she was talking about, she explained it was the best shedding tool ever! So, I said a have a shedding blade that works pretty good, and she said it wasn't good enough!

So a couple of days later in the mail was "The Furminator". I made and help Angela with her websites and she spoils me. *G*


So anxious to use it, I get Lego outside.....and I have to say it works much better than a shedding rake. I got a ton of hair off her, and lots less the next day. And her coat is really really soft. She's always had a nice shiney coat, but its nicer!

But I wanted to see how it worked on a long hair dog. So Lisa, the next door movie going neighbor lady, has a Brittney Spaniel Maggie and I sent it home with her yesterday.

Maggie before


She said it worked great and she is off to buy "The Fuminator"!

Maggie after

(Okay thats not Maggie, that's one of those Mexican hairless dogs, I don't have an after picture. No worries, Maggie still has hair.)

I didn't want to recommend it till I knew it worked on longer haired dogs! It does! It's great! It does seem to cut down on the hair!

Speaking of Maggie, she is about to get a little sister. This weekend Maggie and family are going to check out some puppies. They are five weeks old!



Okay, I did ask if could go with! I'm officially a Puppy Whore!

M

Monday, September 22, 2008

"Indulge your imagination in every possible flight."


A long time ago, in a place far far away... well, it was a year ago August right outside of Niagara Fall in New York. I went to visit a jewelers that I have been working with for a couple of years now with Claire's Ring.



Claire's Ring
is a ring, a friend (Hi Janice) and I wanted to have made from a favorite book. We got permission from the author, and started on a labor of love. I found a jeweler who I really liked their Celtic jewelry they made and they agreed to take it on. One year and hundreds of rings later, I finally got to meet Marie, who I was talking to on the phone and in emails for over a year.

I also met Reg, who is the owner, and they gave me this really cool cuff bracelet based on the ring design to say "thanks".



I began to tell him how there are so many people out that love books, and there is nothing made especially for us, with the exception of bookmarks and a piece of jewelery here and there. Reg said, "If you put some things together, I'll make them and we can sell it." Sounded good to me.

So I drew some designs up, and added some things they had already made. I asked permission from my favorite author and one of the nicest people around (even before she gave permission *g*)Diana Gabaldon to make the jewelry mentioned in her series, and even the cool cuff bracelet.

So here is the first piece of jewelry I have ever designed. They are little bracelets to put quotes from favorite books on. Right now there are two.

From Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice"
Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.

From Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre"
Make my happiness - I will make yours



I thought they turned out really cute!

Right now I'm in the process of making graphics, a website and getting prices from the jeweler for a few pieces we're ready to sell now.

Here's my logo I made...


Hopefully it will all be done and uploaded in a couple of weeks!

M
...who is always amazed when she does spellcheck and doesn't find something!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Just in case you are wondering....

...which side I am on this video explains it. :-)


It's a bit bland but it will answer your questions. It's the first time I've seen anyone in this campaign discuss womens issues in such depth. It's long, it's a half hour but it discusses health care, flex time, equal pay for women, securing pensions for everyone in detail.



Also taxes for seniors, no taxes for seniors making under $50,000. One of the reasons I wanted to post this is it explains about Social Security and privatizing it. I am so against this for the simple reason that people cannot manage a credit card, how the heck they going to manage the funds for their future, especially with the market the way it has been the last couple of days. Not only would the gov't have to bail out companies they would have to bail individuals that can't handle money.

If you knew my mom and her story...social security saved her. That is all the income she had, if it had been privatized all those years ago, she would of had nothing. Because she worked as a waitress and every quarter she earned was used to provide for her children. She didn't have a savings account till she left my father at age 42. When she died at age 71 she had 2000 in her account, and around a $700 monthly social security check, thats it, and she was thankful for it. Thank God my dad died early otherwise her monthly SS check would of been hundreds a month lower. You see it's based on your income, as a waitress my mom made $1.25 an hour.

Even me, the news junkie learned two things new: McCain wants to tax your health care, meaning the services you receive, in my case since I had outpatient surgery, it was easily over $12,000 last year with surgery, meds and Dr.s visits, and this is nothing compared to some I know. So don't get cancer or have major surgery because that would easily add $100,000 for you to be taxed on. I also didn't realize that McCain wants to get rid of companies buying group insurance for their employees and that employees would get a tax credit and pay for their own. I know people who pay for their own health care, it's expensive and it sucks, and there isn't a tax credit in the world that would cover it! Universal health care scares a lot of people, but what people don't realize is that your employer will still be providing your health care if you are that lucky now. It's for the waitresses, the part-timers, children, the small businesses that can't afford health care for their employees. Private insurance will still be there.

One of the things that piss me off about elections, is that people vote for the candidate with the personality they like and not the issues, at least 30% of the population votes this way. You're picking a president people, not a friend. I have quite a few friends, a lot than I can relate to, do I want them as president......no f'in way! Sorry guys there isn't one of you I want to be president, or myself for that matter. Gives me the heebies just thinkin' about it.

I'm an issues person, and I also vote for who will make a better world for my children and my future grand children.(Oh man, I'm getting old!) You know were doing okay, and my life is most likely half over, I'm using my vote for my children.

Here's a site to see where you stand with what candidate on the issues...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139 I hope it sides with the candidate you have chosen, otherwise you have a lot of work to do.

I'm fully aware I can't change anyone's mind on which way you will vote. But I want people to vote knowing what issues they aren't voting for as well as for, and take responsibility for that vote.

All I really want to say is educate yourself! I know you all don't like watching news all day, but there are things you should do because you have the privilege in this country to vote, and that is to educate yourself on the issues and candidates. Don't pick a candidate on little tidbits or sound bites of campaign crap. If you see something hokey, go to snopes.com or factcheck.org and that will clear things up for ya.

So next time you are on the net, go to a news site that brings together articles from all media, print and video, and in a non-partisan way. I like politico.com for that. Just don't watch one biased cable news station, flip the channel. I cannot stress enough to watch the debates and see who knows their stuff, don't vote because the person running is someone you want to have a beer with. That's how the last president was elected, and proof is in the pudding...or ale for that matter.

I once again turned the comments off for this post, because I know if you are committed to your candidate I can't change your mind, just like you can't change mine. :-) Just asking you to make an educated vote!

Phew, I had to get that all off my chest!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Truer Words Have Never Been Spoken!




Yep, you read it right, "Hand over the chocolate and nobody will get hurt."

I was thumbing through a magazine and saw a little ad for Wall Words in the back, went online and browsed. I've been looking for something to put on this blank spot on my soffet (sp?) for a while. Yes, Gretchen there is a blank spot on one of my walls. :-)

If you watch Devine Design on HGTV, she uses these decals quite a bit. Take a look at the website they have some really cool & fun ideas! Every phrase imaginable, or you can make your own.

http://www.wallwords.com/

As far as price, with an online coupon and shipping this phrase was about 30 dollars.

It was pretty easy to put on the wall, and looks just great, clean and neat. Hardest part of the whole process is centering it.

That's all she wrote...or decaled.

M

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

How do you say "sucks" in German?

Let's say it was used in the sentence "The Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest sucks." or "Never have I seen another festival that sucks as much as the Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest.", or maybe in question form,"Truly is there an Ocktoberfest in all of America that sucks as much as the Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest?"

Ian was home for Labor Day weekend, in which he took some time both Saturday and Sunday for some labor of his own, he worked. We think he came home to visit with the dogs though, it was ruff on us.

So Sunday we decided to go to the Indy Ocktoberfest for dinner, it was held at the State Fair grounds, so we thought it might be pretty good. We have since decided that everything we attend at the State Fair grounds usually sucks.

So 6 bucks a head to get in, and we had four bratwurst and two Pepsi's for a total of $26.00, add that to the $24.00 to entry fee, and we were there a whopping 30 minutes, spent $50.00. Yes we saw all of the Indianapolis Ocktoberfest is 20 minutes, it took us ten minutes to eat.

We thought there would be a German music stage. There was but the lady was singing a Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin song, I can't remember which.


(Brian hanging out with Dean & Frank)


Then there was another music stage and that band was singing an Elvis song.

(Okay, Elvis is lederhosen is just wrong!)

For the life of Brian and I, we can't understand why people diss Disney food all the time for being too expensive. Brian usually says, "They have never eaten at an airport.", but I'm guessing his new reply will be "They have never eaten at the Indianapolis Ocktoberfest."

So we get into the little shuttle to take us to our car, and I say to the boys, "How do you say 'sucks' in German?" It seems in Ian's five years of German and Collin's one year "sucks" was never used or taught. I guess that's a good thing.

Okay so let's go to an online translator and put in the sentence:

"The Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest sucks!"

Appearantly there isn't a word for "sucks" in German, since this is the translation that popped up.

"Die Indianapolis Deutsch Ocktoberfest sucks!"

Okay, or we can translate that to:

"Die Indianapolis German Octoberfest, it sucks!"

So we stop at Dairy Queen on the way home, for the incredible value of $11.13 we enjoy three medium Blizzards and one chocolate covered waffle bowl turtle sundae! All is right with the world.

Auf Wiedersehen!

M

Monday, August 25, 2008

I hate to tell you this but...

Lola took up smoking! And the way those eyes look, me thinks it's those funny cigarettes too!



Send your smoke-free puppy vibes!
M

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Mass, Meatballs and Merrells

Bunches of ya have heard about me talk about Fr. Bill, I just adore this man. He's pictured in a another blog post below. He is now 84 and still living life to the fullest and best of all appreciates my sense of humor. :-) He has a niece in the next town over so when he comes for family events he stays at my house because I have less dogs. The niece has five which is too many....I have two.

So I clean like crazy so he doesn't think I'm a pig, and put him in my foo foo girl guest bedroom and hope he doesn't take too close of a look of the "Bad Sunshine Sue" quilt and find the stipper. Something I just can't explain but just love and it still brings a smile to face whenever I see it. :-) Here's a link on it that explains it all and it's well worth it!

M&M's Bad Sunshine Sue Quilt

He didn't think he would make it back home in time for a mass, so we had a little morning mass here at home. I was a bit nervous about it, mass at home, in my house, it was a bit strange to me, so I asked my neighbor to come over for a little support. I didn't know she would have to do the reading, I owe her one. :-) Peace be with you neighbor!

Fr. Bill knows I'm not the best Catholic, and he asked me what Mass Day it is? I said......I don't know what I said, St. Michelle maybe? It turns out it was St. Pius X Mass Day, which is the church we belonged to in Granger...it's where I took my Catholic classes, became Catholic and met Fr. Bill...I thought it was pretty neat.

Back to the Moore Mass. So Fr. Bill gets his "Mass in a Box", "Mass to Go", "Mini-Mass" ....I could go on and on, but won't,and we sit down at the kitchen table, light a candle and have a little mass. He has some wine in a Dasani water bottle. It's funny when you are not in a church with 300 people how you forget what the responses are that you have repeated thousands of times. We were a bit nervous....we sort of mumbled stuff or just forgot it in general. I had printed out the creed before hand, thankfully we didn't do that part.

It was very pleasant and a nice way to start the day. When he was done, I said, "Is this where we get up before you and run out the doors before you?" I hate when people leave mass before the Priest does. I don't know if they realize that this is incredibly rude, it's similar to getting up at the dinner table and leaving when dinner isn't even finished. One priest told me too..."we know everyone that leaves early!" :-)

Then I spent an hour on the phone with my bestest friend in the whole wide world...what's her name?
(Wishing I had a goofy picture of the woman.)

Then Lisa and I went to lunch at the Macaroni Grill, I had half a meatball (oooooooh that's where the meatball comes in) sandwich and a cup of Chicken Toscana soup, which is my all time favorite restaurant soup.

Got home.... first time Lola has been left for 2 hours by herself...she did beautiful, didn't touch one thing. We don't crate train, nothing against it, just it's been easier with me at home and the other dog as an example for the puppy. She's is growing like crazy, shes 26 pounds of love! The other week I discovered her nose is shaped like a heart!




Then got home and the UPS man came to the door with my new winter boots! Now the last winter boots I bought is when we lived in Vermont and went to an outlet mall in Kittery, Maine.....so 1988! LOL

If you have ever had a pair of Merrell shoes, they are the most comfortable things and spoil you rotten for anything else. So I saw these Merrell snow boots last winter and wanted them, but would never win the bid. I wouldn't go over 65.00, they retail for 140.00. So then these popped up last week for a "Buy it Now" and I did .... 50.00. They are just the cutest things and with my boot purchasing record should last me till 2028!!!!

They came, they are perfect.....love them! I love Ebay!
(sekret message to Janie- you need these boots!)

That's my day so far.
M

Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Long Goodbye....

It's 1989 you have a baby boy, and you think he's going to be a baby forever...



But he grows a bit, and starts to pick up your bad habits.


but he clings to something from his baby years and you think "I might not have to put a brick on his head after all."


Then the birthdays start to come faster...


And the blond hair starts to get darker...


And longer...



The next thing you know, you are filling your pockets with Kleenex while Dad packs the van with college things...you know like a TV and a XBox...
(Brian always pays homage to brother-in-law Will)

Then you leave him in a dorm room not even the size of your sun room with his roommate Pat(left) and another bud Max(right) to begin the next phase of his life.


You get to your car, and you haven't used one Kleenex, you are just so happy he has this opportunity you never had, has his friends around, got the good grades and got it done,then there's the thought of "How is he going to sleep with his head inches from the ceiling?" and that other small incentive that you really don't want to embarrass him in front of his friends by crying.

It's not till you sit at the computer putting together a blog post of your saying goodbye to your little boy that you need to take the Kleenex from your pocket, and realize you didn't put quite enough in there.

M

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Two...two... two websites in one post!

Sue Wilkenson the wonderful lady that did the acrylics of Lego and Montana, and the graphites (there's one to the left) of the boys when they were wee ones, has a new website....made by moi! :-) Always fun to put your own dog and kids in the graphics! *grin*





Here's her site,take a look at her portfolio she is just incredible!

The Art of Surprise

The other site I wanted to share is The Pioneer Woman Blog, this woman has a great sense of humor, great recipes with pictures, and she's a wonderful photographer who shares all her tricks! She was just about to move to downtown Chicago when she met and married a rancher in Oklahoma. She is now a stay at home mom in the middle of nowhere missing Starbucks.

The Pioneer Woman

Not the Pioneer Woman,
M
 

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