Sleepy Sunday Morning

My cat, Jasper seems to express how I feel this morning. Sleepy, lethargic, want to be left alone. Wasn't feeling well again yesterday. Took a couple of naps before I realized that I forgot to drink coffee that morning. Also went to a pancake breakfast and the food didn't sit well with me. I took my daughter and three of her friends and we went to the park next door after the breakfast. I swung on the swings. That could have contributed to the sick feeling.

Didn't get much accomplished after that. I rented two movies for the girls. Shrek 2 and White Chicks. I really have to tolerate the second one. I have mentioned before that I am not a big fan of "bathroom humor." This movie is full of that. I saw the Shrek2 at the theatre, so I slept through this running.

My nephew stopped in to visit. Took his sister to a movie. This is the first they have visited since she got her speeding ticket. Which, by the way I have not received in the mail, yet. We don't know when the court date is or anything.

After the movie, he and I talked technology. He is upgrading his computer again and building a server for home. He builds servers for work all the time, and he finally will get the chance to build one at home. He got a new toy, a Replay. He was showing me remotely all the stuff he can do with it. I am thinking about getting one. I want to be able to record movies and dump them to my PC for later viewing. My nephew is so far into this stuff. He is a true sci-fi fan. All his set recordings were sci-fi programs.

My Mom was a big original Star Trek fan. The original series from the 60's. I would sit and watch them with her. (I think she had a crush on William Shatner). I don't have a problem with that. We also watched Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Time Tunnel together. And, one of my very favorites: UFO. I think it was their snazzy cars with the doors that opened up instead of out. My Mom and I shared this twisted and strange dramatic interest. We also would watch some horror movies on Saturday afternoon together. This was as close as I could get to watching scary movies - on a Saturday afternoon with my Mom. How safe is that!?

This special time my Mom and I shared turned into eventually watching PBS together on Sunday afternoons. This was before cable television or just around the beginning of it. We lived in a small town where cable had not reached us yet. Our t.v. viewing was very limited. Two stations and a PBS station. I was deprived of the ABC channel when I was growing up because our antenna was positioned a certain way. Living in a huge two-story home, nobody was brave enough to venture to the roof to turn the antenna.

For those of you too young to remember before cable television, we had three major networks. ABC, NBC and CBS. And there was PBS. On Sunday afternoon the PBS network began playing Brideshead Revisited. My Mom and I began watching it because the scenery was so pretty. Horses and lush green grass. Then we became intrigued with the British accents. After that the story line hooked us and we became fans. I got the book by Evelyn Waugh from the library and read it. Evelyn is a man.

Omigod. Quizzilla even has a "What Brideshead Character Are You?" quiz. I am Lord Marchmain. Goodness me. I never would have guessed that one. But, then again...

nativity 6

nativity 5

nativity 4

nativity 3

nativity 2

nativity 1

upstairs view

white tree

ivy wreath

horse head

green and white tree

deer balloon

blue tree

Up Close and Personal

I moved my bird back into my room for the winter. I get her out more in the evenings when she is in my room, because she is right here by me. I chased her around my bed this evening trying to get a decent picture of her. She is camera shy.

Rainy, cold day. I wanted to sleep all day. At work we had our big Thanksgiving feast over the lunch break. It actually spread out over a 90 minute session because we had a retirement to celebrate. Such good food. I think everyone should put recipes by their dishes, so if someone likes it they can give it a try. Of course I cut up way too many vegetables, but was able to bring the surplus home. We can munch on veggies over the week-end.

Precious, our semi-Siamese cat received her second set of diptheria booster shots today. I almost forgot about it. I have scheduled Casper (the big, fat one) for Monday to get his first set for the year. Friday - this is the day we put the ear drops in. I have to get the skittish one (Jasper) first, because if he sees any of the other cats getting drops, put in the pet carrier, or a bath - he is gone like a rocket. Not to be seen for 24 hours or so. He hides in between the basement ceiling and the stairwell. I always do him first. I usually do Casper last. He is so fat and lazy, he just walks to the middle of the living room and plops down.

After work one evening soon; a group of us gals are going shopping to Berlin, Ohio. Last year a group of us went to 'Tis the Season and out to dinner afterwards. I think about twice as many are going to go this year. It should be fun. This 3-story round chalet offers just about any Christmas ornament, light, tree, trimming and Nativity scene you could imagine. I get mesmerized by the beauty of it all. They don't mind me taking pictures at all. I did last year. I'll have to post them.

Yikes!

While putting Halloween decorations away, I ran across this one I wore last year to my niece's wedding. This is my daughter wearing it this evening. We were scaring the dog with it. Now the dog will probably have nightmares.

She is wearing a jester hat on top of it. It normally has bright orange pig tails or twin pony tails sticking out of the head. And goofy orange bangs. I always thought that was a funny word for the hair covering the forehead. I looked it up once and I read that it means the hair cuts off quickly like a bang from a gun. Okay. If you say so.

Shortly after this we began an argument. She was doing something on the Internet I did not approve of. Corresponding with an unknown. I became angry and made her shut the computer down. She became angry and sassed me. I told her she couldn't go to the dance tomorrow night. She tried a few more barbs at me until I threatened to take away next week's dance also. Then she proceeded to sulk the rest of the evening.

She started me off on the wrong foot this evening by leaving her science book and graph in her locker at school. I just made it in time to retrieve the homework before they would not allow anyone in. I couldn't get her locker open, had to have the custodian unlock it for me. I was fuming. This is the only time I have had to do this for her, but it put me in a foul mood.

Then, I went grocery shopping. I am making a vegetable and dip tray for tomorrow's work luncheon. We are having our Thanksgiving meal. I cut up vegetables for two hours. I had purchased a full chicken already slow cooked at the grocery store, so I didn't have to fix dinner. It came with mashed potatoes, rolls and cole slaw. There was just enough. The girls loved the chicken. I guess I won't need to bake or slow cook it any more. This was much easier and quicker.

After that I had to clean the kitchen. What a mess it is cutting up all of those vegetables. Wash a load of clothes and turn around - it's 9:00. My sister calls and talks for about 20 minutes. We are trying to plan the holiday feast for the family. I take the dog out, feed the cats, load the dish washer, fold the clothes and bam - 10:00. I have the next hour or so to spend by myself quietly in my room, answering e-mail, blogging, and updating virus programs, spyware programs, etc...

No reading magazines or the newspaper tonight. I can't recall the last time I read a book. I think it was the ones I got to help me deal through my work problems back in September. And, I meant to do some Christmas shopping online. Oh, my. Then I am up at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning to start again. I do not get enough sleep. If I fall alseep right away and stay asleep I can get 7 hours. That is not enough for me. I need 7 1/2. I rarely fall alseep right away, I do better when I listen to Belleruth.

I find it quite amusing that the spell checker for this site stops at the word blog and blogging. You would think, but then again....

Peek-A-Boo

Here is Casper peeking out from the coats he was hiding in. Some sort of game he was playing. He stayed long enough for me to get a picture. He was probably waiting for one of the other cats to come along and he would unsuspectingly jump out at them. One of their usual games. I've never seen him hide in the coats before.

Met my friend tonight. After 25 years, we had a lot of catching up to do. We talked for 4 hours until the restaurant closed up on us. Her Mom is a trooper. Seventy and going as strong as ever. My friend is a social worker at a nursing home. She is the one whose house slid down the hill 8 inches with that last rain from Ivan. There are all kinds of coal mines running under our area in Ohio, but the mining company said, "No, it isn't the mines fault." Insurance says an 'act of God'. She showed me pictures. How heart breaking.

We promised to get together after the first of the year. I used to visit my friend and her Mom on their farm. Her Grandmother was also living at the time. She was from Czechoslovakia. (I guess that would be former, now.) They were like the army. They did more work before 9 a.m. than most people do all day. I remember that I got physically ill doing that much work out in the hot sun. I certainly was not used to it. I was like, "Can we eat breakfast, now?" Good thing I didn't join the service.

We tried to catch up on what classmates were doing. Our class didn't have any reunions. Or, none worth going to. She went to the tenth one, or fifth one. She said it was sad. Pathetic.

We don't live that far away, maybe 40 miles or so. We can get together often enough to reform our friendship. She has not changed at all. She is still the warm, friendly, funny, outgoing farm girl she was back in the seventies. She was loud and outgoing, I was quiet and shy. We made a good pair. Still do.

She moved in with her boyfriend of 24 years, and her Mom moved in with her boyfriend of 29 years. I couldn't imagine being uprooted like that after your home sliding down a hill. Her Mom lived in that house for 70 years. Too sad.

Jell-O Shots in Motion

Proof Positive that I was drinking root beer on Saturday night. I wanted to take a picture of the last three jell-o shots, my daughter decided to poke them right when I snapped the camera. Somehow I missed her finger, but got the stack of shots leaning over. They did not fall.

The board game of Win, Lose or Draw used phrases and sayings. It is funny how some people have never heard of a saying before. I was also amazed at how many of them my daughter knew.

Have been under the weather the past couple of days. Probably too much food and running over the week-end. My stomach didn't hurt as much today, I think I can return to near normal status tomorrow. I am meeting an old school friend that I have not seen in 25 years. I believe it was 1979 that I saw her last. She came in to where I was working and we chatted a little.

Strange how you can be such good friends in school and once that cap and gown come off you just don't see them any more. They vaporize into thin air. Only to reappear 25 years later. A lot of catching up to do.

Beautiful Chandelier

This is my friend's chandelier. From the party on Saturday night. I asked her if it was a bitch to clean. She said they have a spray now. Figures. My Mom had a teardrop chandelier when I was growing up and I had to remove each teardrop glass piece and wash them and then rehang them. It was like piercing 60 ears. I counted them. Maybe that is why I never got my ears pierced.

I did the shopping thing Sunday evening. I was ready for some marathon shopping. After business hours at the mall from 6:30 to 10:30. I never thought I would make it, but I barely covered half the mall. I was mad because I had to quit. The stores were closing up. I bought my daughter a leather belt and was using that to gather all the shopping bags together and slung it over my shoulder. It did okay except when I kept bumping into people and racks of clothes in the more crowded stores. I looked like Santa with his sack slung over his back. I let the load slip through my hand and promptly got a leather burn on my hand. Ouch!

And today I paid dearly for the late nights with a horrible headache. Actually my stomach hurts more. It could be the food they served at the Pure Romance party on Friday night. They had an appetizer of bacon-wrapped sausages called heartattacks. They also had BBQ ham sandwiches, french bread with sour cream and cream cheese dip, and chips and dips.

I made pancakes Saturday morning. Another party on Saturday night consisting of Stuffed Green Pepper soup, pigs in a blanket, my famous cheese ball with crackers, pumpkin cookies, chips and salsa. Finish with my sister's peanut butter rice krispie treats iced with chocolate chip icing.

Out to eat at the all-you-can eat Breakfast bar at Shoneys Sunday morning and dinner at Steak 'n Shake before the shopping spree. Oh my God! No wonder I am sick. I am getting sick just typing it all out. Am I out of alka-seltzer? Yes! Damn. Okay, it's bicarbonate of soda in water, like my Dad used to drink.

STUFFED PEPPER SOUP

2 lbs ground beef
1 lg onion chopped
5 green peppers, chopped

Brown the above ingredients and drain well.

Now add:

6 cans of Tomato Soup and 5 soup cans of water
1 can of beef broth & 1 broth can of water
2 tsp of Brown Sugar
2 small cans of Tomato Sauce
3/4 cup of uncooked white rice

Simmer on low until the rice is cooked.
You may eventually want to add about
another cup or so of water, if the soup
gets too thick.

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PEANUT BUTTER RICE KRISPIE TREATS

Melt together--(Do Not Boil):
1 cup Karo Syrup
1 cup Sugar

Remove from heat. Stir in:

1 1/4 cup Peanut butter and mix.
Add: 6 Cups Rice Krispies

Spread in buttered pan, cut treats into squares while warm .

(optional) Top with:
Melt together:
1 pkg. (6 oz bag) chocolate chips with 1 pkg. Butterscotch chips, spread on top.

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CHEESE BREAD DIP

(1) 6 oz. jar Dried Chipped Beef
1 pint Sour Cream
8 oz. Cream Cheese
(1) 2 1/4 oz. can Green Chilies
(1) 8oz. jar Salsa
1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 loaf of French or Italian bread.

Carve out the middle section of the bread and cut up the removed pieces for dipping.

Mix up the ingredients.

Put them in the hollowed out bread and bake at 350f for 1 hour.

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My Pancakes:

Get a box of Bisquick and follow the directions on the back. :)

Serve warm with maple syrup. If it is my daughter (NO BUTTER!)

My eyes!

I am not a smoker. I never have been. Both my Mom and Dad smoked. Four out of eight of their children smoke. At the party last night all my friends smoke or have smoked and quit. Now that the weather has turned colder we started having our parties indoors. In the summer we have them at the lake. Outside.

I am finding it more and more difficult to attend the parties. The cigarette smoke is killing me. In my house I have people go outside to smoke. I just can't handle it anymore. My eyes were so red last night you would have thought I had been drinking and smoking whatever I could find. Even this morning my eyes are still bloodshot red and watering. I drank root beer and ice water. I have patanol for my eyes, and I put drops in when I came home. They feel better, but they are so watery this morning. The major stinging is gone, I just have to keep wiping them in order to see anything.

I took my book from the previous night's party of Pure Romance. We had a time with that book. A couple of the boyfriends were at the party and they were looking at the book. What is this? What!? You do what?! We had a good laugh at their expense.

We played Win, Lose or Draw which turned into a wry form of Dirty Pictionary because of the topic that evening. I laughed harder tonight than I did the previous night. Of course, these were my friends. The night before I was with people I don't see very often and some I was meeting for the first time.

I didn't drink because I was driving, but damn if I don't feel like I drank all night. What the heck is up with that? I feel totally washed out. I guess you could call it "Getting old." Not fair. I figure if I don't drink, then I should feel good the next morning. Not so. Maybe the cigarette smoke is affecting more than just the eyes. I imagine the lack of sleep takes it's toll, also.