Home Without A Hitch

Taxied up to the gate at about 11:15 p.m. last night. The girls and Bailey were up and waiting (not for us but for the pizza they ordered!) Slept in but still really, really tired. Unpacked today and grocery shopped. Tomorrow I will have to tackle the laundry.
Austin was a really crazy place, but the seminar was very informative. Also helpful was the networking with other small companies who are doing the same thing. We met some nice people & the food was good at the seminar. Tomorrow I will upload pictures from the trip.

The Lone Star State

Flew into San Antonio, TX without a hitch. (Unlike the last time I flew anywhere.) San Antonio is a very cool place. Went to the Alamo of course. Then on to the Riverwalk area which is very, way cool. Shops and restaurants built along the river. You take tour boats or taxi boats to get around. Or just walk allot! Had a nice steak dinner along the river bank. There were Mariachi bands strolling along too. Went to the Market Square today which is an area where several vendors from Mexico sell their wares. Bought a Mexican blanket, salsa bowls, t-shirt, shorts, a metal sun for the shed, toys for the kids and a bag to carry all the stuff in! Drove to Austin this afternoon. Tomorrow is the seminar, all day - 9:00 - 5:00, whew! Probably won't do much after that cause we'll be tired and this place is crazy. Almost got crunched in our little rental Kia tonight. They speed everywhere and don't let anyone over. But in this case the dude tried to squeeze into our lane right where we were. Pictures to follow - the camera is in the trunk of the car.

Yesterday

Was Syd's first day of pre-school
I did the laundry :-(
I made some beef strogonoff
I packed for our trip to Texas
I mowed the lawn
I watched Dancing w/the Stars for the first time

Max & Cheese Recipe

I added the Mac & Cheese Recipe to the Mac and Cheese Blog...

Amelia (Bedelia)

This is how I held my great-niece Amelia Henderson for 3 solid hours yesterday while her mom (Audrey) looked through 9 totes of Riley's baby clothes. She is such a sweet little baby. Audrey gleaned about 2 totes worth of stuff for both Amelia and Maddie.

Well, last weekend we were TP'd if you remember and this weekend we were egged! Nicole swears up and down she has no enemies at school.... Anyway, the house is clean inside AND out and I've got a chicken in the crockpot with potatoes and will make some stuffing and maybe a squash to go with it. I think I'll read this afternoon, although since I have a brand new scrap-book room I should work on something. I even bought a new scrapbook.

New Recipe for Mac & Cheese

I saw this on tv. Just can't remember what I was watching. It wasn't anything on the cooking channel. Oh well. I took some pictures because Marlene keeps telling me to do that. So this is:

Fluffy Macaroni and Cheese

I also took a shot of my lovely place setting and my new fall table decorations. Sarah said I should have stuck a sprig of like Rosemary or Basil or something on it. Maybe next time.

The recipe has several secret ingredients:

Evaporated milk, Velveeta cheese, Cheddar cheese, egg, sugar and a pinch of nutmeg. It was way delisioso!

So the recipe: (i actually hate writing recipes cause I don't really measure.

1/2 box macaroni - cooked el dente

1/2 cube of small velveeta cheese

2 cups cheddar cheese

1 can evaporated milk

1 egg

1/4 C sugar or less to taste

pinch of nutmeg

1 t dry mustard (can make w/out)

mix noodles 3/4 of milk egg sugar nutmeg & mustard

melt cheese reserve 1 C for top

pour cheese mix into macaroni

bake at 400 for about 1/2 hour

pour remaining milk and mix half way

after 1/2 hour top w/ remaining cheese and broil 5 min.

Low, Slow, Lazy Day

Slept in, got a late start to the day. Rescheduled an appointment with the insurance man because I didn't feel like going anywhere today. Trying to cope. Did all the usual house chores & even did a load of whites. Just me and Bailey hangin out today.
Got a note from Karen Pianki (Mayes) an old chum from H.S. on my Facebook today. It seems there is going to be a reunion of the Bentley H.S. Concert Choir, next year. We were both in the choir- me for 1 year and she was in for 2.
My sister wants me to start a cooking blog, but I don't know if I could keep up with 2 blogs! Can't I just write the cooking stuff on this blog? What do ya think?

Rain Rain, Finally Went Away

We were left with flooded streets (impassible) and tons of sewer back-up in the flint area. Luckily not us! Yesterday was cloudy and cool - but at least no rain. Someone had TP'd or as Syd called it (Pee-Peed) us on Friday night. What a sopping mess all over the trees, grass, bushes and flowers. I paid Evan $5 last night to clean it up! He did a good job.

Well I finally made the chili and cornbread last night. It was pretty cool yesterday, so I thought it WOULD BE A GOOD NIGHT TO COOK CHILI. (sorry i was interrupted by a phone call.) Sunday night I made a really nice Ratatouille. It's my signature dish. Just like the rat. ha ha

Over the weekend we played *Singstar* with the Renees. We had so much fun we went to Wally mart and bought our own Singstar. Now I'm practicing for a rematch.

Pamper Day And I Don't Mean Diapers

Yesterday I decided we needed an afternoon of pampering. So I made appointments at the Sumerset Spa for Sarah to have a massage and me to have an Ultimate facial and then a nail appointment to get some acrylic nails. Sarah enjoyed her massage and the Ultimate facial was awesome. It included a arm/hand & leg/foot massage, as well as of course a facial massage.

Rumor has it that I will receive more information today about my job. They are supposed to be having a BIG phone conference today to get more details.. We shall see...

Lots of rain expected for this weekend. That's fine. I am armed with lots o' books. Marlene gave me 3 or 4 and I had ordered some from the library and picked up 2 yesterday. I started reading Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber yesterday. probably 1/2 way through it already. So it will be a Read-A-Thon weekend.
Doesn't a BIG pot of chili and cornbread sound good??

P.S. Lisa - Cavette is already bye-bye from Center Academy.

Barrage

A group of young people from Calgary - a drummer, 2 guitarists and 6 violinists. They played everything from Ukrainian music to Calypso to Country to Rock to Swing to French. The were quite lively. The spun and jumped sang and danced all while playing the violins. We enjoyed it very much.

P.s. We did eat at Steak & Shake. I think the novelty has warn off. It was only ok.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

The house is clean (smells good too!) the lawn is mowed so we are taking off and going down to Meadowbrook Music Theatre to see Barrage. Free tickets. Well $6 for handling. Barrage is some kind of violin group. I'll let you know tomorrow what it was like. We will eat somewhere down there, maybe Steak-n-Shake.

Life, Death and Politics

Life
I'm back to not sleeping at night
Sarah is working like a dog
Its raining sideways this morning (grass looks good)

Death
My brother Rob's father-in-law passed away yesterday - complications of cancer

Politics
Sick of the sickening presidential slam commercials - why don't they just tell us what their own beliefs are?
Tired of hearing about Kwame Kilpatrick
Unbelievable the way a certain group of people think that Kwame should be given a 2nd chance

Perjury, Misconduct, Obstruction of Justice and Felony Charges

Nothing major. Throw the bum out. That's what Jennifer Granholm is trying to do. May she succeed. Wow, is there even a question?

Anyway, my day in review:
Went to a 9 a.m. meeting where I found out I'm still waiting to find out if I'm going back to work
Did some paperwork on the computer
Ate left over sloppy joe for lunch
Watched Millionaire
Went grocery shopping
Went over to the Renee's to hang out (bought her some detergent and a pack of taco seasoning I owed her)
Helped Renee's daughter Elissa with her homework; wrote a simile
Made some broccoli salad to go with tonight's hamburgers
Checked out everybody's blogs
Watched the dark clouds roll in
Watched the news

Oh yeah, last nite I tried making and eating grilled cream cheese stuffed Jalapenos. Someone suggested it over the weekend. What a mess! Cream cheese oozed out all over the grill. However they were pretty tasty and HOT. I don't think I scraped out all the seeds and veins. I gave all the rest of the Jalapenos to Tom's friend Will.

Camping Extravaganza

We left Thursday night for Myers Lake campground in Argentine/Byron. Set up in the dark, but we got the premo location! You see we were trying the "group" approach to camping. Renee worked diligently to assemble 12 families together to try this group approach. Friday morning we had the place to ourselves. One by one later in the day the campers started pulling in. Renee directed everyone into the perfect spot. All told there were 21 kids and 19 adults. Renee planned a potluck meal for Friday nite so that we could get to know one another. Later around the campfire we tried to do introductions. It was a bit hard over the dull roar of the children at play. It was fun and mostly successful. The weather was great, the water warm the setting beautiful, and the food plentiful! A great time was had by all!!

(Picture "borrowed" by Renee)