Dawn in DC

Wordless Wednesday…the Baby Edition. Duh.

2012-02-08T14:01:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, there was a little of this…

and some of this…

just bean bags and H-O-R-S-E, not full on one-on-one. Calm down.

…before we headed out to watch the Super Bowl game and eat some hot wings.

About 3 in the morning on Monday, it was time.

Who loves her epidural?

MJ and his mom played hangman, using hospital words, while the Girl and I compared notes and texted all our peeps.

The Lil Prince texted us back to tell us he was happy his cousin was on the way…

Hurry, lil girl!!

Then, a short (depending on who you’re asking) 8 hours later, the Lil Princess made her arrival…

Mom and Dad did great! They are a good team. I’m honored that I got to help bring this little girl into the world. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed.

Then it was time to go home…

Hey. You’re not my mom.

Stay tuned for the Lil Prince and Princess’s first play date!!
Nana may explode from the sheer happiness.

If I had known how wonderful it was to have grandchildren, I’d have had them first…

2012-02-06T16:10:00.001-05:00

The stork has landed! Again!

Welcome, sweet Princess
8lbs 1oz 21 inches

We are glad you’re here.

Between the wish and the thing lies the waiting…

2012-02-03T11:11:00.001-05:00

Here we are again. Waiting.

I tell you, the last few days of these pregnancies have been enough to snap the last string of my sanity. Here I am again, waiting for the birth of a grandbaby. Only this time, I’m right here. I don’t know which is worse, being on the other side of the country waiting for the phone to ring, or sitting here, watching the Girl’s every move, trying not to ask, yet again, if she’s okay.

The grandgirl is not due until Wednesday. All of us, especially the Girl, are ready now. The Girl has been working through the list of things to do while you wait. We’ve had pedicures, hairdos, and massages. We’ve been shopping, we have redecorated the guest room and we’ve finished the nursery. The car seat is in the car and the bags are packed for the hospital.

She has also tried several things on the list of things to do to make the baby come now. She’s been sitting on her exercise ball, painted a room, gone for a bumpy car ride (that only made her have to pee) and walked around the neighborhood. She has tried eating spicy foods, as well as pineapple, but stopped short of the castor oil smoothie (eewww!). There are a couple other pieces of advice, like sex, but I haven’t asked her about that. Today, we are going to try scare the baby out of her. We are going to the opening of The Woman in Black. Although, that may backfire and baby will never want to come out!

We are now facing this reality: the grandgirl will get here when she decides to get here.

I have put my bet on Sunday, as in Super Bowl Sunday. What dad wouldn’t want his kid born on Super Bowl Sunday? Since MJ’s team isn’t in the Super Bowl, I think that would be a perfect day to have a baby.

Dig out your best birthing wishes and send them this way so we can get this show on the road. Oh, and also send some healing thoughts to the Girl because she just caught a nasty cold. Nana’s chicken noodle soup, coming up!

Every vice has its excuse ready…

2012-01-23T06:18:00.000-05:00

You may be thinking I have forsaken you and this little blog for the sweet face of the Lil Prince. Well, you are correct. I mean, geez, look at this face! You know for a fact that if you had access to this much adorableness, you’d be all “Dawn who?”

But it isn’t just him. It is also the imminent arrival of the grandgirl that has me distracted from all things blogosphere. It’s been too hard to concentrate on witty stories and clever dialog when stuff like this is going on all around me:

Who doesn’t love a baby shower? And cake? I tell you, that little girl is going to be on the best dressed list for the next six months. I then had the pleasure of helping the Girl unpack, wash, and store all the loot from not one, but three baby showers.

One of the showers was a diaper shower, which I think is a very clever idea. They were smart and had it on a playoff weekend and invited all MJ’s dude friends and their girlfriends. The ladies thought they were going to a baby shower and they guys thought they were coming to a football party with a box of diapers as a cover charge. Win-win. They scored over 2,000 diapers in various sizes.

We are now on the final countdown to the grandgirl’s arrival. Every time the phone rings, I wonder if this will be it. When I talk to the Girl on the phone and she says she feels funny, I’m all “Funny ha-ha or funny like it’s time to have a baby funny”. I don’t even have to see her face to know she has just rolled her eyes. I can hear the sigh in her voice, “Oh Mom, you silly, I’ll let you know the second it’s the kind of funny that means we’re going to have a baby today.”

I’m due to move in with her at the end of next week. At that point, I won’t have to ask her what kind of funny she is feeling, I can just stare at her. I’m sure that won’t bother her at all. I mean, she knows she’s having a baby, she knows I’m probably more ~~goofy~~ excited than the average parent (you have met me, right?) so she should expect a little extra ~~scrutinizing~~ attention. Did I tell you I get to be a coach?! Hopefully, I won’t pester myself right out of that honor.

While I like to think I’m not making excuses for neglecting my blog and my ever faithful readers, I am totally making excuses. And here’s another one:

Stay tuned for the arrival of the girl grandbaby!!

Before God (and grandchildren) we are all equally wise–and equally foolish…

2012-01-09T06:03:00.000-05:00

When the Marine and Sunshine asked me to come out here to help with the lil Prince, I was sure it was because they could see how my experience and wisdom would come in handy. I mean, I had already brought three humans into this world. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I have knowledge and maturity, man.

Yeah, about that.

I am now going to admit in front of God and the blogosphere that this kid has made me realize
I. Know. Nothing. NOTHING.

When did they start making babies different? He looks like a regular baby, and for the most part he acts like a regular baby, except for the part where he is a genius. What?! But he knows stuff. He knows that the sleep sheep is the best way to fall asleep, not the soothing seascapes CD. He knows if the swing is set to make him sleep or make him laugh, and then he promptly chooses the other. He knows that no one’s chest feels as good as Daddy’s, so don’t bother trying to fool him. He knows the the minute Mommy and Nana are going to attempt to eat dinner, even if he is asleep.

He also knows the exact moment you look away to grab a wipe when you’re changing a diaper. He then uses that split second to pee on you.

Oh, but I anticipated that! Remember the three other babies I have raised? Need I remind you that two of them are boys? (I promised the Girl I would not tell you that she peed on me the most) Hence, I was prepared for this baby. I’ve read up on a few things. Okay, I really didn’t, but I do get 34861126350 mail order catalogs. During my research, I discovered this handy little invention:

It’s a Peepee Teepee!

I brought a whole set of them. I was going to show these kids a thing or two. I was going to let them know what a hip and resourceful Nana I could be. See, you just place the teepee on the peepee and everything is good. No more sneaky, underhanded, peepee ~~attacks~~ showers.

The lil Prince had other ideas.

I put it on him, with just a touch of swagger for my competency in the diapular department, when all of sudden I saw the teepee thing floating in the air on a stream of pee!

WTF??

Nana didn’t actually say that because there was a baby in the room, but I’m pretty sure she said something that sounds like Hoe Spit!

There is nothing wrong with that boy’s jet stream, that’s for sure. He managed to pee on me, the wall, the window blinds, as well as the top of his head. And if you think holding the teepee down will make it work any better, you would be mistaken. And wet.

Nana did much better in the giving-the-baby-a-bath exercise. Because apparently the rule is, if you get him dirty, you have to clean him.

This kid is going to give me a run for the money.

The good news is, this is all a learning curve for when the Princess gets here in a few weeks. I will be ready for her! Please don’t pee on me.

Customs may not be wise as laws, but they are always more popular…

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Every family has its traditions. Have you ever noticed you see more of that around the holidays? Nothing special for you know, April, but bring on Christmas and you have customs up the wazoo. In that regard, we are no different than any other family.

Well, we may not have a wazoo-ful of customs, but I know we have at least two.

The first started when Skater was just learning to read. He sat before us on Christmas Eve and read to us The Night Before Christmas. He did such a great job, he did it again the next year and the next until it became a tradition. Personally, I think it was a stalling technique when we has 12 so he wouldn’t have to go to bed. In any event, even though he doesn’t actually read it anymore, we certainly spend Christmas Eve talking about all the years that he did.

Our other tradition was born out of benevolence.

When we moved to Maryland all those years ago, our various parents wanted to spend the holidays with us. Thanksgiving seemed the best for everyone. That first year, my Dad and ORMom flew out the week before Thanksgiving (thank you frequent flyer miles and blackout dates!). We didn’t let a little thing like a date get in the way. We had a traditional Thanksgiving feast over the weekend. The only thing missing was the Macy’s Day parade. The kids thought it was cool to cook a turkey and stuffing when it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet.

They left on Monday and our next set of visitors arrived on Tuesday. Granny and Papaw came all the way from Ohio to celebrate the “traditional” Thanksgiving with us. Having just eaten our weight in turkey (and yes, even way back then I had to get a 20lb bird because the Marine may have been young, but he still loved him some turkey) the weekend before, we chose to do a ham on this Thanksgiving go-round. With all the trimmings, of course, as well as 3 more pies. Oy.

Back in those days, I was far from a stay-at-home mom. I was a work-all-day-then-drive-kids-to-practices-and-scouts-and-crap kind of mom. (I can see why it was easier to stay thin back then) CGMan worked in DC and had a horrendous commute, but we managed to make it work. With all of that going on, we actually survived TWO Thanksgivings in two weeks. We were awesome back then.

Anyway, the I’m getting to the benevolent part.

Three weeks later, when Christmas rolled around, CGMan and I began to talk about what to have for dinner. This was our first Christmas since we moved from Memphis, where we always had Christmas dinner with my mom, stepdad and the Bro. This year, it would just be the five of us. The thought of turkey or ham ~~made me want to hurl~~ just didn’t hold any appeal to me. And I was tired. Dog tired. Pooped out. Done in. Kaput. So CGMan suggested going out to dinner.

Out to Christmas dinner?! Who does that??

I really didn’t think the kids would go for it, as they are pretty set in their ways sometimes. Boy, was I ever surprised when they jumped right on the bandwagon, the chuck wagon, if you will. So reservations were made at the only restaurant that was open on Christmas Day, Benihana.

We had a great time and a family tradition was born.

We had several more years of Dueling Thanksgivings, but it didn’t matter because I didn’t have to cook on Christmas! In the 15 years CGMan and I have been married, I can think of only one Christmas dinner that we did not go out for Japanese food. Even in Trinidad, we managed to find The Laughing Buddha, with their table sized boat filled with sushi.

This year, CGMan and I shared our private Christmas before I left on my journey and yes, we did indeed have Japanese food, followed by a trip to the White House to see the National Christmas Tree (also part of the original Christmas dinner plans).

And on the real Christmas? We did it again!

The Lil Prince knows a good custom when he ~~sees~~ dreams one.

What is your favorite family tradition and how did it start?

Where is the good in goodbye?…

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

My heart broke just a little bit yesterday.

I watched as my son, the Marine, had to say goodbye to his little family and head out to his next duty station. He will be traveling and training for the next month, so we won’t see him for some time. For the Marine and Sunshine, this is nothing new. They have been soulmates during all of the Marine’s 10 years in service, and his share of deployments. But this time he had to leave his little man.

The Marine and Sunshine fought for stiff upper lips as they said goodbye, knowing this must be done. They know, and I know, that Marines, sailors and soldiers do this every day. They say goodbye to their families so they can be ready to protect our country at any given time. Of course, that knowledge doesn’t make it any easier.

We often think of our service members during the holidays, knowing many are away from their families while they’re overseas, often in areas of danger. For many diverse reasons, (economic, schools, elder family care) there are service members who are here, stateside, stationed away from their families. It’s called being a geographical bachelor. And it is not easy. In fact, from what I witnessed yesterday, it sucks. Being in the next state is just as hard as being on the other side of the world.

These are the sacrifices our service members make on a daily basis. The sacrifices their families make are just as important. Children, like the lil Prince, grow up knowing Mom and/or Dad is doing something important for our country and can’t always be here for football games and such, even though they would want that more than anything.

It was hard to watch, but I am proud of Sunshine for being strong for her little man. And for her big man. The Marine wouldn’t be able to do what he has to do, if it weren’t for her stability. Marine wives are a special bunch and their training can be just as hard. The Marine and Sunshine are a good team, always supportive of the other. Their family will always benefit from that, no matter what.

I will be here, helping Sunshine and doing my best for his little family for the next month or so, but it won’t be the same as having Daddy around. Thank goodness for technology! Skype and FaceTime are going to be big hits this year.

The next time you see a service member, don’t assume because you see him at the grocery store, he is home with his family, he could very well be missing them terribly and waiting for his nightly phone call.

If you do happen to see a Marine, sailor or soldier when you’re out and about, don’t forget to say Hello and thank him for volunteering to always be at the ready to defend our country. Even when it means being a million miles away in the next state.

Wordless Wednesday…the grandcat edition

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

And for all you Phoebe phans who have been wondering how the girls are doing at the dog sitter’s house…

Phoebe is stressed out and has no friends.

Babies are such a nice way to start people…

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

As you know, I finally made it out west to see my new grandbaby. Let me tell you, it was worth every single mile. I know you’re all anxious to see pictures of the Lil Prince, so I won’t keep you in suspense.

Here are my babies, holding the newest branch of our family tree:

I find it very hard to believe that I have children old enough to be having children. I mean, for crying out loud, I’m only 28 years old! Or maybe I’m 38. It’s been so many years, I can’t remember. There must something wrong with the universe. However, grandbabies are pretty cool, so I’m not going to complain. For now.

Even Cappy has been in on all the baby holding. This has been special for him, as he has never been around babies. He also had the surprisingly pleasant sensation of feeling the grandgirl kick. He had never touched a pregnant tummy before, so the Girl grabbed his hand and prodded until the Princess gave Cappy a nice roundhouse kick.

Here is the only one I have of me holding the lil Prince. It isn’t very good as it is a self portrait, with my iPhone and a cat on my lap. Now that the girl has made me beautiful again, I’ll have more in the future.

Just because there is only one picture of me, don’t think for a minute I’m not all about holding the little bundle of joy.

And what a joy he is…

Over the river and through the woods to grandboy’s house I go…

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

I know it’s been over a week since you’ve last seen me around the blogosphere. Wouldn’t it be great if cars were smart enough to take your blog dictation and just post it to the world wide web? Although, with my husband driving, it may lead to some seriously inappropriate blogs. If I did have a car like that, it might have been able to show you this, my trip across the country, as it was happening, instead of me finally getting off my duff to do it over a week later.

First I had to get through most of the state of Virginia before coming to Tennessee. After driving allll the way across that state as well, I crossed over into Arkansas where I spent the night. The next morning I continued my trip west into Oklahoma.

When I stopped for the night in Little Rock, CGMan called to tell me I would have to make a detour around a really bad storm that was in the panhandle of Texas and New Mexico. Like, a snow storm. At first I was all Oh no, snow! and then I was like “Oh no she di’int!” Clearly Mother Nature was trying to keep me to keep me from my grandboy. Why else would there be record breaking snowfall in Albuquerque? Bitch. Oops, did I say that out loud?

I didn’t let a little snow stop me. However, it did stop two other cars who ended up in the center divide, causing the rest of us to have to traverse a treacherous 4 miles on an ice-covered access road, before getting to the next freeway onramp. The snow may not have stopped me, but it sure slowed me down to a crawl for a while. At least I was able to get a picture of the deceptively fluffy looking stuff without having to actually get out and touch it.

I stopped on the west side of Albuquerque in a tiny, tiny town. Apparently tiny towns don’t get the snow plows first, or in their case, at all.

This is just EEW!

It only took about 6 more hours of driving to get out of that mess and into a dream.

Dear Mother Nature,

All is forgiven.

Dawn

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other…

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from my family…

…to your family.

We wish you all the very best in the new year!

I hope your new year will be as fun as mine.

Love,

Dawn in DC, currently on assignment in AZ

To succeed in your mission, you must have a single-minded devotion to your goal…

2011-12-16T12:09:00.001-05:00

Mission: Grandbabies

I might have mentioned a time or two ~~million~~ that I loved being a mom and raising my kids. It was the best job ever. The next logical step was to become a grandma, for which I waited ever so patiently. Okay, maybe not so patiently, but at least my hints were subtle. Sort of.

Anyway, I am now going to embark on my newest position in life, that of NANA. I have been called forth to bring my brand new, unused Nana skills to help with the grandboy while his daddy, the Marine, heads to the next duty station to do Marine stuff. I’m needed for a whole month!! While she might not need (or want) my outdated expertise, Sunshine could certainly use an extra pair of hands, Nana hands, to help while daddy is away.

There is another mission on the horizon for me, as is the case with most ~~super heroes~~ Nanas, and I plan to be at the ready. That mission? Helping bring the grandgirl into this world! How convenient for this Nana that everyone lives in the same city. Not the same city, state, or even the same half of the country that Nana is in, but I’m trying to let that go.

Oh, already the Nana job is way cooler than the mommy job!

This weekend, I’ll be loading up my little red wagon, which totally reminds me of a sleigh this time of year, and heading out on my missions. I’ll be bringing presents for the babies (lots of presents! - it’s what Nanas do) along with presents for everyone else, because it is Christmas after all.

But first, my checklist:

A First Christmas Teddy Bear – Check!

Sock Monkey – Check!

Finger puppets – Check!

A book to read to the Lil Prince – Check!

A book to read to the Princess as soon as she gets here --
Check!

4Gigs for my camera – Check!
Think that will be enough? Maybe I should hit Costco before I leave.

I’m not sure I would take on this mission if it weren’t for this:

Don’t laugh! There is some good stuff in here! Refreshers, like how to swaddle, how to change a diaper and burp a baby. Also good tips like following the lead of the parents and not telling them what to do.

Then, when the babies are big enough to play with, there are all kinds of fun games to make, car trips to go on and treasure hunts to have.

Oh! One more thing I must load up into the little red wagon before I go.

A tradition.

Every family has them and one of ours has always been to read aloud The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. The task usually fell to the one just learning to read, but after so many years, we all kind of know it by heart.

I need to make sure the Lil Prince keeps the tradition alive:

I picked this one because it has bulldogs in it. And yes, that is a Band-Aid on my finger. I stabbed myself with the wine tool I keep in my makeup bag. What? While we’re on the subject, I have a question, what happened to the little red string that helped you get the band-aid open while you’re bleeding everywhere? That would have come in handy this morning.

Anyhoooo…

I think that about covers everything I’ll need for my mission. I’ll check in from the road and of course, once I get there. And no, I did not forget the cookies:

This is Nana, over and out!

I try to take one day at a time–but sometimes several days attack me at once…

2011-12-15T07:23:00.001-05:00

People, I have been busy. Busy, busy, busy. I didn’t want you to worry, or gather a search party because you hadn’t seen me around in a while. I’m still here!

See, it’s like this. I was in a rush to get Christmas decorations UP before the company came and now I’m in a rush to get the Christmas decorations DOWN so ~~they won’t be shoved willy nilly into boxes~~ CGMan won’t have to bother with it when I’m gone.

Then there is the Christmas shopping, which I am pleased to announce, that I have FINISHED (as of 5 minutes ago). Thank you, Lord, for the World Wide Web. I’m not sure how this evolved, but CGMan only has one person on his list to shop for and I have everyone else. Hunh. Apparently, he was done a month ago. It actually works out well, because if he doesn’t help me shop, he has no say in ~~how much it costs~~ who gets what.

Now it’s time to see to the rest of the house before my departure. Things like stocking toilet paper and Lean Cuisines. Actually, CGMan does pretty well when he’s on his own. First of all, he hires the cleaning lady our neighbor uses and has her come once a month to clean up, then he either eats over the sink or uses paper plates (note to self: stock paper plates). I have no fear that he will starve, either. You have heard of our friends CHEF Sue and CHEF Craig? Yah.

Oh, I mustn’t forget the cookies. I know I said I wasn’t going to make any cookies this year, but I cannot show up on my grandboy’s doorstep cookieless. What kind of Nana does that? So tomorrow, whilst I am having my little red wagon washed (that’s my new car, for those not in the know), I will whip up some special Santa cookies to take on my journey.

Yes, here in the city, they come to you, to wash your car! And if you get a Groupon/Deal Chicken/Living Social deal, it is so worth it. I bought eight as a Christmas present to myself. Sorry CGMan, maybe next year you’ll help me shop! So that is one less thing I have to take care of before I leave. For the record, I always, ALWAYS, get my car washed before a road trip. It is a known fact that a clean car gets better gas mileage. It also helps to get the dog stink out before heading on a three day trip.

There you have it, people. This is why you have not seen me on the playground all week.

What’s been up with you?

A scatterbrain is one who never has an unspoken thought….

2011-12-09T09:07:00.001-05:00

CGMan and I finally found a doctor in our new town. It’s one of the things I hate most about moving. That and finding a hairdresser, which I have not. Anyway, the two of us went together for our first visit. We really liked her, even when she told us we had to lose weight. A lot of weight. No one wants to hear that during the holidays.
CGMan has bribed me into taking down all the Christmas decorations before I leave for my Nana mission. How’s that for a twist of fate? The lady who likes to put up Christmas before Thanksgiving now has to take it all down before the 18th of December. It’s kind of ironic that the man who doesn’t believe in the magic of Christmas quite as much as I (but then, who does?) believes all the decorations are put up magically. He leaves for work, comes home and it’s Christmas in his house. The thought of him trying to “magically” put everything away gives me hives. Besides, the bribe was a pretty good one, so we’re square.
I haven’t been much in a cookie baking mood this year. I know! What’s Christmas without Christmas cookies? The Marine has already sent a hint or two, so I’m sure I will have a burst of cookie making mojo once I get out there. I’ll take my cookie recipe box. Yes, they have their own box.
I got my very first ever flu shot while at the new doctor’s office. I’ve never had the flu so didn’t see why I needed one. Then I remembered my Nana mission and thought it would be wise not to take a chance of getting the flu and then not being able to ~~smooch and nibble~~ hold my grandboy. I don’t know if I’m being a baby or what, but my arm hurts! Three days later! Not as bad as a tetanus shot, but it hurts plenty bad. Maybe if I didn’t have so much fat on my arm? Hunh.
Last night CGMan and I attended his new company’s Christmas party. I was pretty excited about it, as I like parties and Christmas parties are my favorite. I even bought a new dress. Then I found out it was being held in a bar & grill, so I took the beautiful dress back and went with business casual, red sweater and black slacks. Good thing I did too, because for some, business casual means your best jeans and Uggs. Ugh.

We made our rounds as we do, meeting people and shaking hands. CGMan is the newest team member, having only been with the company for a couple of months, so a lot of people didn’t know him. No matter, we still worked the room. What we noticed was, we were the only ones mingling. No one else was working the room. Once we were done, we found a place to sit down. It was there we realized this party was B.O.R.I.N.G.

So we ditched it.

I can’t believe we did that! We ate some of the free appetizers, paid for our glasses of wine from the cash bar and left right before they started the buffet line for dinner. I haven’t looked it up in the etiquette book, but I’m pretty sure that’s frowned upon. Or would have been if anyone had noticed.
We headed over to a nice Italian restaurant that I had been wanting to try (sorry new doctor, diet starts after the new year!) and there was an outdoor skating rink, right there on the sidewalk! I had never seen one before. Of course, it’s a little hard to keep one of those things frozen in Texas. The kids all looked like they were having such fun. And NO, we did not skate, whaddaya crazy?

But I did take a picture of the little Zamboni.

What are those? Jet packs?

I’ve been to one hockey game and that’s the only thing I can remember about it, the Zamboni song. When I took the picture, the song got stuck in my head.

Now it can be stuck in yours.

CGMan and I had such a great time last night, not going to his company Christmas party. We had great fun and good food, so it was a win for us. And all those people we shook hands with? Well, you guys just missed out on some FUN people.
Tomorrow night is yet another Christmas party. But this one is guaranteed to be a winner. Want to know why I am so sure? Because it’s the block party from the block that taught us all about block parties! There was the one year all the men dressed in plaid flannel and suspenders like our neighbor, Bob. They each other Bob all night long. Another year, there was a full moon on someone’s lawn (I’d have to check the annals, but I think the moon might have belonged to my spouse). I don’t know what’s it’s been like in the 10 years we’ve been gone, but it doesn’t matter. When you get together with people who know you, it’s bound to be a good time. I can’t wait.

What are your plans for the weekend?
~~Boring~~ company Christmas parties? Cookie baking? Santa shopping?

Words have meaning, names have power…

2011-12-06T07:14:00.001-05:00

There has been much going on here at the Heifer house. As you know, it is officially the Christmas season. It became official when the Macy’s Santa said so (not when I put up my Christmas decorations, but whatever).

We have already hosted one Christmas party, been to another and have two more to attend this week. Whew! It’s a good thing I love Christmas and all the parties that go with it.

That’s not all that has been keeping us busy. We have been trying to figure out what my Grandma name should be. And by we, I mean me. CGMan has his name picked out already. As soon as we found out we were going to be grandparents he declared he would be called Cappy or Cap (as in Cap’n ~~Crunch)~~.

Honestly, I hadn’t given it much thought. I just wanted grandbabies. I never thought about what they would call me. The more I did, though, the more I wanted a special name just for me. There is a bit of an extended family, with three sets of great-grandparents, who are Papa, Honey, PaPaw, Granny, Grandma and Grandpa, respectively.

You know, it’s not as easy as you would think, to choose a name that you will hear from the lips of your grandchild. After reading several articles about it and also learning the 25 reasons grandkids love us, I still wasn’t any closer to hearing that special name.

We even did a grandparent name quiz, which for some reason I can only access from my iPhone, so I have no link. It was 20 questions and don’t you know, CGMan was perfect to be called Cap. I am traditional in pretty much all respects, right down to the cookie baking, according to the quiz, so would do well with Grandma, Grammy or Granny, among other traditional type names.

While it is true that I am, and will continue to be, a cookie baking grandma, I have been trying on a few different, more trendy, names. However, I tend to come back around to the more traditional ones. So much for being a hipster grandma.

Every time the Marine calls to give me a Lil Prince update, I answer the phone with “Lil Prince? Is that you? It’s Grammy/Grandma/G-Ma, etc.” Just to try them out. You know what else? It’s never the Prince on the other end. What’s up with that?

Anyway, I got a text message last night:

Rather than have my grandboy call me “that-cookie-baking-lady” I have finally decided on Nana. It’s still on the traditional side, but different from all the other grands. It has a nice ring to it and goes well with Cap. Mommy, I want to go see Nana & Cap. Or Yay!! Cap and Nana are coming for a visit in the RV!! And my personal favorite, I love you, Nana.

Of course, it will be my luck that when the little guy finally learns to speak he’ll call me Pompom or Tootie or some such thing. As long as he says “I love you” with it, I will be just fine.

What are the special names for the grands in your family?
Any thoughts on what you would like to be called in the event of a grandchild?

Wordless Wednesday…

2011-11-30T07:35:00.001-05:00

Phoebe phinds a phriend

Chillaxin’ with the new Great-grand parents

Haha, your mom dresses you funny…

It’s officially Christmas season, Macy’s said so…

What?
You came here to see a picture of the Lil Prince?
Well, gosh, let me see if I have one…

Skyping with Grammy!

Expect the best, plan for the worst and prepare to be surprised…

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

What a week it’s been!

Hooooeeeee! I am worn out.

I expected a fabulous week, having my in-laws here, and CGBro, Ella’s Mom and of course, Ella. My pies turned out awesome, even with the dog debacle in the kitchen that day. The house was clean. My grandboy was due. The decorations were up and ever so festive. Oh, there was joy, joy, joy down in my heart!

Okay, Ella doesn’t look all that happy in this picture, but trust me, she was. She had a grand time! How could she not have a good time at my house? I have dogs that lick up ~~all the evidence~~ every mess, I bake cookies and always offer two and I have a Christmas tree. She wasn’t allowed to touch it, but she sure did spend some time looking at it.

And then, THEN, my grandboy was born! Oh my goodness! He came just in time for us to be thankful for him and talk about him all day on Thanksgiving day. We also spent a considerable amount of time looking at pictures that were being sent hourly. Technology, I am thankful for you!

The Girl sent me pictures, too. She’s such a ~~brat~~ nice girl to go hold her nephew within hours of him being born and then sending the pictures to me, not at all bragging about how good he smelled and how soft is hair is. Even though she was busy running from turkey to turkey and to my grandboy on Thanksgiving day, she did send me a picture of her and her beloved, with baby, too! Oh, how I miss my kids on the holidays.

Yes, those are palm trees. They all live in Arizona. I am not thankful for that.

While the cooking was going on and the stories being shared, I had CGMan and his dad put in a dimmer switch for me. CGMan is very helpful when it comes to things like that. Sometimes he’s a bit comical, too. I remember one time, early in our marriage, I asked him to change a light bulb in the ceiling fan above the kitchen table. I thought maybe it would be a good idea for him to turn off the fan first, but he didn’t. It’s a good thing the Girl had a Hello Kitty bandaid for him to wear right in the middle of his forehead, to cover the slightly less than ghastly gash.

Anyway, it turned out fine, with only one small zap and one tripped breaker, probably caused by the maybe not so small zap.

Does anyone else think this looks scary?

I had talked to Skater on the phone the day before Thanksgiving, after his nephew was born. We have all been awaiting the grandboy’s arrival and can’t wait to see him at Christmas. Skater is meeting us in Arizona, where there will be absolutely a 0% chance of snow. On Thanksgiving day, he called again to talk turkey, because he’s just silly like that. We spent a while on the phone, then I had to go. I had people to feed, you know.

And then he walked through my front door…

It’s a damn good thing I like surprises and have a strong heart, and enough turkey! That 25 pound bird didn’t stand a chance. However, I was fresh out of sleeping quarters, so the kid had to sleep on the couch. Zoe and Phoebe didn’t mind that, at all. I am thankful my hubby did not let our boy be alone on Thanksgiving.

I would say this weekend was a complete success.

So? What was the best, worst or surprise of your holiday?

All that we behold is full of blessings…

2011-11-24T11:39:00.001-05:00

Today I am thankful for so many things. Way too many to list here. Do you really want to hear how I am thankful that the rat I thought was a mouse did not move into my basement to raise a family? I didn’t think so.

I’ll keep it simple.

I’m thankful for my family. What would I ever be able to do, without them? I am very thankful the Lil Prince was born yesterday, so I can be thankful for him today. Otherwise, I would have had to wait a whole year and by then he wouldn’t smell new anymore.

While I am so very sad that my mom is not here this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful that when she got to heaven, she picked a couple of beautiful angels to be my grandbabies. Knowing her, and her motto of, “If you want it done right, do it yourself” she wasn’t even going to let the Big Guy make that decision. Thanks Mom! If the first one is any indication, the grandgirl is going to be awesome, too. Miss you.

I am also extremely thankful for you, my blog friends. Isn’t amazing how close we feel to one another, and yet have never met. I don’t know what I would do without you. I certainly don’t know how I would have made it through this year without you. It’s been a toughy, but at least it has a happy ending. Thanks for sticking around.

Today is already a great day, with my in-laws here and my brother and family on their way. It has occurred to me that he has not had to peel one potato nor snap a single bean. He will be here just in time to eat. Well. I’m thankful I have someone to do the dishes! Ha!

I wish for all of you a beautiful day filled with laughter, family and love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Update!!…

2011-11-23T08:28:00.001-05:00

He’s here! He’s here!

Welcome, Lil Prince

November 23, 2011
8 pounds, 7 ounces

And still we wait…

2011-11-23T08:10:00.001-05:00

For those of you wonderful readers who have been checking in daily to see if the grandboy has come, no, he is not here yet. However! He is in the process of making his entrance just this very moment. The Marine and Sunshine have been at the hospital all night, so hopefully it won’t be too much longer.

While we are waiting for the arrival of the little prince, let me tell you how awful my dogs were yesterday. Oh, they were just so bad. I shouldn’t say they, because in all honesty, it was just one. This one…

Don’t let that innocent look fool you. She was full of mayhem yesterday.

She started by pulling a fried chicken leg off the counter and dragging it around a little bit before eating most of it. After that, both dogs kept getting under my feet in the kitchen as I was making pies, trying to get any miniscule bit of chicken coating, so I put them on their pillows at the edge of the kitchen, before one of them killed me.

Then, the chicken stealing dog continued to run outside in the rain to keep the birds off the birdfeeders, tracking mud all though my white floored kitchen on the way back to her pillow. it wasn’t until I was finished with the pies, that I noticed it. Of course, with muddy paw prints goes a muddy dog. Guess who had to give both dogs a bath in the sparkly clean bathroom? Whilst giving them a bath, the sprayer fell out of my hand and attacked the whole bathroom, myself included.

Do I need to remind you I have a houseful of guests arriving in 3 hours?

You may think she was finished with all her naughtiness, but you would be wrong. After getting everything cleaned up (again), I set about making some appetizers for the in-laws, since I knew they would be hungry from being on the train for so long.

I made my now famous stuffed jalapenos, chex mix and a cheese and sausage platter. I even shared a ~~smidge~~ hunk of my good Italian dried sausage.

Guess who else likes good Italian dried sausage? And guess who, when she was done with all the Italian sausage on that side of the plate, then started pulling slices of cheese off onto the floor?

Zoe’s getting nuttin for Christmas,
cuz she ain’t been nuttin but bad.

All this within half an hour of when company is to walk through the door. I’m thinking she has a lot to be thankful for tomorrow. No, Zoe, you cannot be thankful for how tall you are when you’re on your hind legs, nor for how long your tongue is! She should be thankful she’s not homeless, that’s what. All it’s takes is a cardboard box with the word FREE on it!

Check back later today when I make the big announcement of my grandboy’s arrival! Until then, good thoughts for Marine and Sunshine, as their life begins to change, forever.

Did you know…?

2011-11-22T06:49:00.001-05:00

…the most popular day for babies to make their arrival is Tuesday. Listen up, little man!

…more newborns arrive in September, the second most popular month is August. Cold winters and holidays parties, whooda thunk?.

…about 200,000 people in the U.S. were born on February 29th?

…when it comes time to give birth, a female shark loses her appetite so she won’t be tempted to eat her own pup? She’ll rethink that when he’s a teenager.

…we are born with 350 bones, but die with only 206? That’s probably what causes us to shrink when we get older.

…elephants are pregnant for 2 years? WHAT?!

…about 200 babies are born worldwide every minute? Well, except for my grandboy.

…if my grandboy decided to be born today, he would share a birthday with Billie Jean King?

…the platypus is one of five mammals that lay eggs?

…only 5% of babies are born on their due date? Which is today, little guy, in case you’ve forgotten!

…female giraffes give birth standing up? Um, no thank you!

…humans are the only mammals that raise their offspring for up to 20 years? The sooner you charge them rent, the sooner they leave.

Maybe if the little guy knew what kind of personality traits he would have, were he to be born today, it would help in his decision making process. Here you go, lil buddy, I think you should go for it!

If You Were Born Today, November 22: You are headstrong yet warm and playful. Very active, you don't like to feel caged in by anyone or anything! You carve your own unique path in life, playing by the rules when necessary, but refusing to give up your individuality in the process. Although ambitious in many ways, you don't feel the need to play games in order to win approval. Straightforwardness is important to you, but you are not an open book either. Your opinions are as strong as your will and determination.

P.S. Based on that description, you sound a lot like your Daddy.

I’ll be waiting!

Put me in, Coach…

2011-11-21T09:50:00.001-05:00

I know you all stampeded over here for baby news and possibly a picture of said baby. There would have been both, if baby had actually decided to make an entrance over the weekend. He did not. You’ll just have to wait…like me…waiting… and waiting…

Chefs Sue and Craig called us for a last minute invite to dinner last night. I’ll tell you right now, last minute or not, we never turn down an invite to dinner! We are talking seriously good food. Always.

When we got there, Sue apologized for it being last minute. Apparently they had invited another couple (you mean we’re not their only friends??) with plenty of notice, mind you, but they canceled at the last minute.

What do you do with all this wonderful food? You call your RELIABLE friends. This is a direct quote from Chef Sue. We may not be flashy, but we are nothing if not reliable.

Most people would feel slighted to be the second string friends, but not us, because did I mention the food? And how it is always so good at their house? Yeah, they could call down the to the Z list to get to us and I would still go! Once there, we felt anything but second string…

Photos courtesy of Craig Corl Photography

Oh yeah.

We had homemade clam chowder, lobster stuffed with shrimp & scallops, corn pudding, real Boston baked beans, Boston brown bread and cockles! I never knew there was such a thing as cockles, but they were delicious.

Mr. & Mrs. NoShow all I have to say is, Sucks to be you. Because I’m classy like that.

I want to thank Craig for sending me such lovely photos to use on my blog this morning. Had it been left up to me, all you would have seen was this iPhone photo that I used to tease all my other friends (the ones who are not only not second string, they’re not even on the team- Ha!)

Chef Sue, you rock. You can call on me to pick up the slack any time you please. Just put me in, Coach, I’m ready to eat.

Hallelujah!!

2011-11-18T07:45:00.001-05:00

By today’s title, I’m sure you are thinking that I am going to announce the arrival of my grandboy. You would be mistaken. He is not here yet. I am reminded daily that he is not due to arrive until next Tuesday. To which I always answer, He doesn’t know what day it is!! (He totally gets that from his Grammy, who also never knows what day it is)

Rather than sit around and watch a ticking clock or a pot that won’t boil, I have been looking for something to start off the holiday season on my blog here. I remembered Scottish Woman showing me a video of some silent monks, singing, or signing I should say, to the Messiah chorus.

It’s very cute and not too Christmasy, so it should satisfy even the most ardent Christmas is in DECEMBER type people.

I have a project for you over the weekend, my dear readers. It is this…send happy, welcoming, baby birthing thoughts to the Marine and Sunshine. If baby feels the love from all of my readers, maybe he’ll make an appearance! Or scare him off forever, I don’t know, but it’s worth a try.

Let’s get this show on the road!!

Who travels for cookies finds a thousand miles not longer than one…

2011-11-17T06:21:00.001-05:00

While the above statement sounds good, let me tell you, when you’re driving 23 miles of construction for a box of cereal, it kinda feels like a thousand miles. BUT! If the cereal is for these cookies, well then, the drive is totally worth it.

A bunch of you, okay fine, ONE of you (Hi Sonja!) asked if I would post the recipe for the cookies I mentioned earlier this week. The ones I had to drive so far to get the key ingredient, Grape Nut Flakes. Well, here you go! You are not going to be disappointed, I promise!

Let’s gather some ingredients. If you have to travel to another state to find all of them, we’ll wait.

1 cup shortening (butter flavor is good)
1 ½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup butterscotch chips
2 cups Grape Nut Flakes

You are not going to believe how easy these are. I know I say that every time I show you a new recipe, but I think I have been correct, yes?

Begin by preheating your oven to 350°. I speak from experience when I say, it really sucks to have the cookies all sheeted up and the oven hasn’t been turned on. Doh! As you’re turning on the oven, notice what time it is and think to yourself that you are an awesome human being on so many levels. Because 1) the things you do for your readership (that means you, Sonja) and 2) your Dad-in-law is going to love these cookies with his morning coffee next week and 3) you have already forgiven your husband his faults that make you want to poke his eye out with a pen, you miss him and these cookies are one of his favorites. Who are we kidding here? CGMan has never met a cookie he didn’t like.

After you turn the oven on and pat yourself on the back a few times, put the first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and cream together. It doesn’t take long. Then stir in the chips with a wooden spoon, followed by the flakes.

I should take this time to mention that the recipe originally called for corn flakes. Listen to me, Grape Nut Flakes are so much better. And I don’t really think I even need to mention this, but…they are so good for you, too! I mean look!

It has 45% of your daily value of Iron, it has fiber (not that Dad C and CGMan have fiber issues) and, AND! it’s good for your heart! Now tell me, how can you say no to a cookie that is good for your heart? They also taste ever so much better than corn flakes, which have the texture and flavor of puzzle pieces. That is why I drive 23 miles for this cereal.

Anyway, back to the cookies. So you mix in the chips and the flakes with a spoon, then place (tablespoon size) on a greased cookie sheet (to be even more healthy, use parchment paper – no grease!) and bake for 12- 15 minutes.

They should be golden brown around the edges. Let cool for a couple minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack.

There you have it! Cookies worth traveling for! Of course, CGMan believes ALL cookies are worth traveling for, but that’s a story for another day.

Snack Time Butterscotch Cookies

1 cup shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)
1 ½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup butterscotch chips
2 cups Grape Nut Flakes (or corn flakes, whatev)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together first 5 ingredients. Blend in flour, then chips and flakes. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown on the edges.

Enjoy!

I’m going back to bed.

How Grammy got her groove back…

2011-11-16T07:40:00.001-05:00

Okay, I’m not technically a grammy yet, but I did get my groove back yesterday after CGMan left.

All it took was a little Christmas music (think Neil Diamond and John Denver with the Muppets) and a ~~bottle~~ glass of wine. Wine always makes Grammy groovy.

Christmas makes some feel especially lovey.

Isn’t there a story about a Christmas mouse? Cuz I have one of those, too.

If CGMan didn’t love turkey so much, I could totally skip Thanksgiving and go from Mother’s Day straight to Christmas. That’s just the way I roll.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering:

All marriages are happy. It’s the living together afterward that causes all the trouble…

2011-11-15T10:18:00.001-05:00

I woke up early this morning, so I could write a blog post. I was feeling optimistic, even though I didn’t have a thing to write about. I would have, if a certain baby boy had made an appearance, but since he didn’t, I was just going to have to give it a shot in the dark. As I was brushing my teeth, CGMan reminded me I was to run him to the airport so he could pick up his rental car for his trip to Pittsburg. I knew I was to do that, but right now? Really? I hadn’t even had my coffee yet. He was all, “Sorry, didn’t I tell you I had to be there by 7? And oh, by the way, can you run me to my office after we get back, so I can do some work before I go?”

Understand, there is no parking at his office, this is why he rides the bus, which must not be running today, you know Tuesday, since he needs me to take him. Fine. And because the busses apparently aren’t running on a random Tuesday, I will need to be available to pick him up. Whenever. At that point, I decide I’m not going to be able to write a blog post today. Because I am a shuttle service. My morning routine of coffee, news, blog reading and blog writing is now a fleeting fantasy.

I skip coffee to get dressed. As I drive him to the airport, he tells me I must go to the rental car return area, aka Garage A, for him to pick up his car. ??? I don’t really believe you pick up a rental car at the return area, but rather than ~~stick a pen in his eye~~ argue, I head that way. At the entrance, I pass a large sign that reads No personal cars in the garage. Rental cars only. He says, “Oh never mind about that, this is where I need to pick up my car.” It might not have occurred to him that the directions for picking up the car, in Garage A, was for people coming in on a flight and the check-in desk was at the top of Garage A. You know, next to the arrivals area. Where is that ballpoint?

After giving him a drop, I head to the exit, where I have to stop at the gate where you show your rental agreement, so you can leave with your rental car. The security woman steps out, glances at what is obviously my really red personal car and gives me that look. You know the one. "WTH?” So I roll down my window, give her my most charming smile and say Yes, this is my car, but my dumb husband told me to pull in here anyway, so he could pick up his rental car. At that, she laughed and winked at me. Then she told me she liked the color of my car and to have a nice day. She must be married. Or gay.

We come home and I wait while he gets ready to go to his office. And wait. Rather than sit at my computer pondering what I might possibly write about since there is nothing newsworthy going on, like a baby’s birth day, I puttered around the kitchen. I was thinking about putting Christmas decorations up tomorrow. I had actually planned on doing it today, but the whole shuttle service thing threw that out of whack. And that was even before I knew about having to go to his office, which is only a mile and a half from here, but let me tell you, there is TRAFFIC in the morning, on that mile and a half. City traffic. Both ways.

Anyway, when I put up decorations, I have a system. It is definitely something that needs to be done with no distractions to disrupt the flow. That’s why I do it when CGMan is out of town. He ~~tells me it’s too early~~ disrupts my flow. We have company coming next week and a Christmas party a couple days after they leave, so it really must be done now. Seriously. Quit snorting. I mean it!

I know you all think I put up Christmas decorations in November because I am that crazy Christmas lady, ~~which is true,~~ but I usually have a legitimate reason. Okay, maybe more justifying than legitimate, but whatever.

Finally, CGMan comes down the stairs and guess what? He is not dressed and ready to go to his office. He has now decided he is not going to go his office. ‘ofiwrane;jefiupftewN’dafv[gtwihbpvo4qnew That was me, thumping my head on my laptop. He has decided to pack up and head down the road. He trots back up the stairs to get ready (what was he getting ready for all this time??) while I sit here, having had a half a cup of coffee and no blog. He has thrown me so far off my schedule this morning, I’ll be out of whack all day.

Maybe if I have another cup of coffee, I’ll be able to think of something to write about. I head to the kitchen to find the coffee pot empty. Whatever he was doing upstairs all this time, he was drinking all the coffee while doing it. It is probably a very good thing he got out of Dodge when he did. I’m feeling a tad ~~murderous~~ snarky all of a sudden.

You can thank him for today’s lack of a blog post.

Now, excuse me while I go make myself a pot of coffee and don’t put up the Christmas decorations because my flow has been f***ed up.

Cheers and chafes…

2011-11-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

Cheers! – Finally! A store that carries Grape Nut Flakes! You wouldn’t think that is a big deal, but it is. I need them for my ~~cookies~~ diet. Well, they started out on my diet and then I found they make great cookies. In Texas, there was never a problem finding them, but for reasons unknown, the capitol of our great nation doesn’t seem to care for Grape Nut Flakes.

Chafes! – The only store that carries Grape Nut Flakes is a Wal-Mart that is 23 miles away. That’s right. ONE Wal-Mart, twenty- three MILES away. Oh yeah, that’s through some major ugly road construction, too. Even the navigator girlfriend couldn’t get me around the construction, unless I wanted to go home by way of West Virginia.

Cheers! – the cookies I make with the Grape Nut Flakes are that good!

Cheers! – there are some great dogs parks here in Arlington. Well, we’ve only been to one, so I’m assuming they’re all as great as this one. There is a stream and woods and trails with lots and LOTS of squirrels. The dogs get to go off leash and chase to their hearts content. When she isn’t chasing squirrels with Zoe, Phoebe likes to chase other dogs’ balls. She never wins, but they think she will, so they run harder. It’s funny to watch the one-eyed German shepherd race for the ball when he sees Phoebe lurching that way.

Chafes! – Dogs parks are for dogs. People should not bring their children to the off-leash dog park, if said children are afraid of dogs. There is nothing more unsettling than to have your very friendly 60 pound bulldog run up to a little kid, looking for ~~snacks~~ love, only to have the kid scream bloody murder, while his mom yells at him just stand still and he won’t hurt you!! First of all, mean dogs are not let off leash at the dog park and second of all, what the hell are you doing in the middle of the dog park with a kid who is scared of dogs?!? I mean really. Dogs aren’t allowed at kid parks, it just makes sense that kids who obviously have issues with dogs, should not be allowed in the dog park.

Cheers! – Boxed hair color. I know my beautician daughter would strongly disagree, but for someone with short hair like me, it’s so convenient and inexpensive to color my own hair once a month or so. I cut it so often, it just seems a waste to spend $100 to have it colored, only to cut it again the next month. Besides, it always looks so fresh and shiny when I color it. And it only costs about ten dollars.

Chafes! – Box hair color that has a color in the bottle that doesn’t look anything like the color on the box. I like my hair to be a caramel-y color with maybe a bit of red. That’s what this box said it was, but that is not what is on my head right now. What is on my head right now looks like a burnt caramel. Or dark chocolate caramel. Oooh, is anyone else wanting to run to See’s Candy right now? Of course, I called the Girl to ask how to fix it and I could hear her shaking her head, Mom, Mom, Mom. Only a stylist can fix that for you. I sent her a picture and she says it doesn’t look that bad.

Cheers! – She took pity on me and promised a total make-over when I go to visit next month. Score! Daughters who are stylists means Mommy always looks good!

Then there are the usual rants, of course, like toilets that won’t clean themselves, dog who don’t earn their keep and that fricken Mother Nature. Is it fall? Is it summer? Is it winter?? I can’t tell from one week to the next. Pick one already!

So, what’s been chafing your hide?

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you…

2011-11-11T06:18:00.000-05:00

They Did Their Share

On Veteran’s Day we honor
Soldiers who protect our nation.
For their service as our warriors,
They deserve our admiration.

Some of them were drafted;
Some were volunteers;
For some it was just yesterday;
For some it’s been many years;

In the jungle or the desert,
On land or on the sea,
They did whatever was assigned
To produce a victory.

Some came back; some didn’t.
They defended us everywhere.
Some saw combat; some rode a desk;
All of them did their share.

No matter what the duty,
For low pay and little glory,
These soldiers gave up normal lives,
For duties mundane and gory.

Let every veteran be honored;
Don’t let politics get in the way.
Without them, freedom would have died;
What they did, we can’t repay.

We owe so much to them,
Who kept us safe from terror,
So when we see a uniform,
Let’s say "thank you" to every wearer.

By Joanna Fuchs
www.poemsource.com

To all who have served or are serving now, you have my undying gratitude.
Thank you and God Bless You.

It’s not how you pick your nose, it’s where you put the booger that counts…

2011-11-10T06:53:00.001-05:00

I have wanted to be a grandma since the first kid of mine left the house. He wasn’t even married yet, but we all knew he would marry his Sunshine one day, so I figured it was only a matter of time. Well, nine years later, here I am, waiting for the phone call to tell me they are at the hospital, giving birth to my grandboy.

While I was in the shower this morning, CGMan was at the sink, shaving and listening to me mumble. He asked what I was talking to myself about. I told him I was practicing nursery rhymes, because it has been a long, long, time since I had to quote one and I wasn’t sure I could remember them. You would think that wanting to be a grandma as bad as I have, I would have stayed current on this stuff. Yeah, I wish I had that thought, too.

He laughed and said I could practice on him. I started out with the one that came to my mind the quickest;

There once was a man from Nantucket…

…when I heard CGMan yelling “NO! No! You can’t use that one. You know better. Don’t you remember Mother Goose? Try some of those.”

So I’m standing there in the shower, trying to remember back to days when I could rattle off nursery rhymes faster than a sailor on a 4 hour pass. Of course, that was way back before empty nest happy hours and menopausal cotton brain. I got sidetracked remembering how thin I was back then, too. Damn Mother Nature. Oh yeah, back to the nursery rhymes.

I was able to remember a only a few:

“Georgie Porgie puddin and pie
kissed the girls and made them cry.
When the boys came out to play,
he kissed them too,cuz he was gay.”

“Mary had a little lamb
her father shot it dead.
Now it goes to school with her
Between two chunks of bread”

“There was a little girl
who had a little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good,
she was very good.
When she was bad
she got a fur coat, jewels,
a waterfront condo and a sports car.”

“Jack be nimble
Jack be quick
Jack tripped over the candlestick
Well goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!”

WHAT?!

That’s not how they go?
I told you it had been a while!

CGMan is pretty sure that is NOT how they go and says I am going to be an outcast grandma if I don’t get it right. He’s certain the Marine and Sunshine would not appreciate it if their boy grew up to be that kid, all because of his grandmother.

I’m not worried.
I can learn the ~~boring~~ nursery rhymes. I’ll bet there’s an app for that.

Bring on the grandbabies!

Wordy wordsmith Wednesday…

2011-11-09T08:02:00.001-05:00

I usually use Wednesday as a day to share pictures of my dogs. I know that is what you stampede to your computer to see every week. But not this week. This Wednesday I’m going to pay it forward and share with you something very wordy. An eBook! An eBook written by our good friend, Photog Craig.

Photog Craig who is also a chef, a wine lover, golfing buddy and now an author. He is also apparently the “Most Interesting Man in the World” by the looks of him.

You may have stopped by his blogs from time to time. He has one for photography and another for his wine pairing escapades. The man has a little something for everyone.

Anyway, back to the book.

All summer he has worked on this book entitled “Craig’s Grape Adventure – Loving Life with a Skillet and a Corkscrew”. When the rest of us were drinking wine and canning at the beach house, he was thumbing the Thesaurus and editing photos. Oh yes, all the photos in the book are his.

Craig has launched the eBook today on his blog, Craig’s Grape Adventure. If you love food, either eating it or cooking it, you should check it out. If you love photography and are looking for inspiration on shooting food, you should head over there. If you love to read, and knowing Craig like I do, you won’t be disappointed.

One of the great things about his eBook is that he is giving away a free chapter so you can check it out. The best thing, though? Besides all the wonderful food stories, that is, is that you get to decide how much you would like to pay for this eBook! Man! I wish Walmart worked like that.

While I have not been paid for this endorsement, I am hoping to get a signed copy for my Kindle.

In case you actually stampeded over here to see a picture of the dogs for Wordless Wednesday…

…you’re welcome.

The thing we need to talk about the most, is the thing we talk about the least…

2011-11-07T07:05:00.000-05:00

Breast cancer is not something everyone is comfortable talking about. I get that. But not being comfortable talking about something has never stopped me from talking about anything. I am ~~cursed~~ gifted like that.

Every year, for the last couple of years, I have used the Breast Cancer Awareness Month of October to remind all of you, my breast friends, to schedule your mammograms and do your monthly self checks.

You might remember me telling you that you didn’t have to run marathons for the cause in 2009. You may also remember last year’s reminder to shop pink. Did you notice that I totally forgot this year! And no one said anything? I cannot believe it.

It’s not that I forgot about breast cancer. How could I? My ORMom is a warrior. I shopped pink. I did not run a marathon, but I cheered for all those who did. I just forgot to post about it.

In the past, I have reminded you what you can do to help with the fight against breast cancer, like shopping and running and whatnot. This year, with the help of my bloggy friend Janice at Where the Fur Flies, who posted it first, we are going to remind you that the fight starts at home, with you.

Early detection is the key to survival.

We got this video from a group called Rethink Breast Cancer who are based out of Ontario, Canada. While the message is serious, do your self exams!, they put a fun spin on it, so we will not forget. In fact, they even have an app you can put on your phone, to have one of their helpful assistants remind you every month.

Breast cancer really isn’t funny.
Please schedule your mammogram.

Click here to give another woman a free mammogram.

Do you feel lucky, punk? Do ya?

2011-11-01T08:56:00.001-04:00

So, you're slowly driving up a street in the neighborhood when you reach what can only be described as a pack of young teenagers, just off the schoolbus, who are walking everywhere but the sidewalk.
After you slow down to a stop and realize they are not going to get out of the road, do you
A) sit and wait while they meander around your car on their way to parts unknown, or do you
B) press the gas just a little, and lay on the horn, until you are completely through the group of now scared kids?

Yeah, me too.

Leaf peeping and snow creeping…

2011-10-31T08:42:00.001-04:00

Dear Mother Nature,

I’m not sure who put you in charge of the weather, as well as mood swings, but I would seriously like to speak to him, because you are obviously mucking it up.

Scorching heat, hurricanes, earthquakes (all in one week!) and now, now you’ve gone and brought snow. Really? was it necessary to bring into my life yet another nuisance? Menopause didn’t give you enough grins and giggles?

My husband and I took a leisurely road trip through the beauty of Virginia to see the fall colors, which I will admit you do with panache, when we decided to see another one of your beauties, the Appalachian Trail via Skyline Drive. When we got there, it was closed because you fricken SNOWED on it!! In O.C.T.O.B.E.R.!

What the hell, man?

Lucky for you, Skyline drive is also in the middle of Virginia wine country (don’t even try to tell me that is your doing, because I think Dionysus would heartily disagree) so we made a right instead of a left and ended up in a lovely winery, and all was right in our world.

For now.

I know we have had our quarrels in the past, but this goes beyond menstrual cramps, midlife acne and menopausal weight gain (don’t even get me started). This is just messing with the natural order of things. Haven’t you heard the song White Christmas? That is when it’s supposed to snow. Not on Halloween! Duh.

Seriously. You need some in-service training on the ways and hows of the four seasons. They are individual, not interchangeable.

Disconcertedly,

Dawn in DC
(Which is south of the Mason-Dixon line, in case you have forgotten.
The south has always been considered a no-snow zone. I’m just sayin’)

Heaven must be a dull place if your friends end up elsewhere…

2011-10-28T08:56:00.001-04:00

On the last full day that my ~~hens~~ girlfriends were here, we lounged around the house, just enjoying each others company. We talked about ~~all the other girls we know~~ our husbands, jobs, lack of jobs, kids and impending grandbabies, just like women do when you get more than one of them in a room together.

Scottish Woman and I took the dogs for a walk at their favorite dog park. She was mightily impressed with the fall leaves. She said it reminded her of Scotland, because as I may have mentioned, there isn’t much in the way of fall colors, or autumn at all for that matter, in Texas.

Later in the afternoon, we went to the Kennedy Center for one of my favorite all time plays, Shear Madness. The play is the longest running, non-musical in the history of theater. I love it. It is a comical murder mystery set in a unisex beauty salon. The audience participation keeps it fresh every single time. The audience gets to spot clues and even question the suspects before making the decision as to whodunit. It is filled with improv and sly quips involving current topics and people. We laughed until we cried. I may even have peed a little, it’s that funny.

During the intermission, we stepped onto the terrace to take some pictures. The views from here are stunning.

Oh yeah, and the views of the surrounding area, those are stunning, too.

After laughing off all of our mascara and wishing the little gay hairdresser was ours to keep, we headed to the mussel place. I had promised the girls we would go there because every time I go, I send them pictures of the table covered in mussels with little taunts of neener neener neener! or some such mature thing.

On the way there, they asked what the name of the place was, so they could look up the menu. Well, I always call it the mussel place because why would you even want to order something else when they have 5 different flavors of mussels? Which is my way of saying (yet again) I don’t know.

The mussel place is, in fact, called Granville Moore’s, but for me, it will always be the mussel place. We ordered all five flavors they had that night and three (3!!) large orders of frites. OMG, frites! Sharon was not a fan of the mussels, so she ordered a chicken wrap that looked great, you know, for not being mussels. Oh well, more for me. The only picture I got of the evening was of Chef/Photog Craig, hogging all the truffle mayonnaise to dip the frites.

On the way home, I drove slowly past one of my favorite photo stops, so the girls could get a picture:

Beautiful, isn’t it?

The next day, the last day, we made a stop at the Newseum before heading to the airport. It was a perfect day to go as there weren’t a lot of people there. I tell you, in the summertime, the place is overrun with tourists. Sheesh. Oh gawd, how snobby do I sound?? Especially considering all of those tourists, including my two, know more about DC than I do!

Anyway, the Newseum is awesome and I totally recommend it. It’s a little pricey, considering the Smithsonian museums are free, but it’s a two day pass. I learn something new every time I go. It covers all aspects of news and journalism. It also has every Pulitzer prize winning photograph, along with the stories that go with them. There is an awesome, not to be missed, exhibit featuring the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including the antenna from the World Trade Center.

After that, it was time to go. I didn’t want to. I figured if I didn’t take them to the airport, they couldn’t leave, right? But leave they did. I think we all sniffled a little. I cannot wait for the next time they come to visit. I plan to know quite a lot more about this great city before they get here!

We had a great weekend, and as I said before, no shortage of laughter. One of my favorite moments though, was walking back from the mussel place. This is the conversation I overheard between Scottish Woman and Sharon:

Sharon: I’m sorry I didn’t eat the mussels, I just couldn’t do it.
Scottish Woman: Don’t worry about it. It’s just cannon fodder for me to use on you later.
S: What’s cannon fodder?
SW: You know, stuff you fill the cannon with before you shoot it off.
S: Well! No wonder you Brits lost the war! Our people used bullets!

I tell you, I almost fell off the sidewalk. Those two did stuff like that for four days. Non. Stop.
I loved every minute of it. I miss them already.

Until next time, ladies!!

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money…

2011-10-27T09:48:00.001-04:00

- Thomas Jefferson

After many discussions over a glass of wine…oh wait. Let me start again. After a discussion over many glasses of wine, we girls decided Saturday would be a good day to visit the Thomas Jefferson memorial and then come back across the bridge to Arlington National Cemetery, to see the changing of the guard.

I got up early that morning and set about finding out how to get to the memorial. It’s not far from my house at all, it’s the parking I was worried about. After all the walking we had done the day before, I was hoping to keep the traipsing to a minimum. Thank goodness for Google maps and of course, my new GPS girlfriend in the car. (I love her. Srsly.)

I had never been to the Jefferson Memorial before, so of course, knew nothing about it and could answer not one single question. Oh wait! They wanted to know which of all the trees we had seen in DC were the cherry trees. I was able to point those out to them. It was rather easy because they rim the tidal basin in front of the memorial. AND! I was able to remember the story about the beaver invasion.

A family of beavers decided to make the Tidal Basin their home and were chewing down the cherry trees. It took a while, but they were finally caught and moved to a secret location. They received quite a lot of attention and made watching the news kind of fun.

I know, I know! Pick me!

And that was about it for my wealth of knowledge of the Jefferson Memorial. But we did take a lot of pictures and unanimously voted it the prettiest monument. There is also a very cool exhibit underneath the memorial where you can learn so much more about Thomas Jefferson. (How was I supposed to know?? I’d never been there!)

It was so quiet and peaceful here. The fall colors were amazing. The girls from Texas were a bit envious of the cool weather and the pretty colors.

Our next stop for the beautiful fall day was Arlington National Cemetery. It is one of my favorite places. I don’t go through the front gates very often, but I do see the back of it just about every day, as the joint bases of Fort Meyer and Henderson Hall, back right up to the cemetery and is home to the Old Guard Caisson unit. We walked through the cemetery past President Kennedy’s gravesite up to the Memorial Amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

It was about this time that the questions started. Are all the Kennedy’s buried here? How come they’re not all buried together? Why are there rocks on some of the headstones? How do you get permission to walk across the graves to put flowers down? Do you have to be related to do that? How many graves are here? How many acres is the cemetery? Why the 21 in a 21-gun salute? They were making my head numb.

We finally made it to the top of the hill to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is my favorite place in all of Arlington. We sat on the steps in the first row and watched how proudly the soldier performed the task of standing vigil.

The soldier walks 21 paces in front of the tomb, turns and pauses for 21 seconds, changes his rifle to the other shoulder and walks 21 paces back. This is done 24 hours a day, every single day. During the summer, the changing of the guard happens every 30 minutes. In the fall through the winter, it’s every hour.

The guard coming on is inspected before he is allowed to take on his duty. Every step and movement is done with perfect precision.

It is very moving to watch, and we three enjoyed it very much. There is so much more to say, but I’ll leave this link for you, so you can learn about it at your leisure. I think you’ll enjoy it.

This was a wonderful afternoon on a beautiful day, so then we went to the mall. Hey! We are women, after all. What did you expect?

That evening, we turned to our trusty GPS girlfriend to get us to the restaurant just inside China Town (another place I haven’t been!) We couldn’t get into Old Ebbitt Grill so we went to Clyde’s, which is owned by the same group. It was yummy.

I cannot tell you how much I laughed having these two around me for four days. The Brit and the Texan quipping back and forth kept me in stitches. Laughter is indeed the best medicine and I was in sore need of a big ole dose!

Tomorrow, a walk through the dog park, a walk with Will Ferrell on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center and dinner at the mussel place.

The fool wanders, a wise man travels…

2011-10-26T09:55:00.001-04:00

Oh what a weekend! I had what CGMan calls a hen party! My two girlfriends (who had words, none of which can be said in polite company, to say about the pictures I posted of them last week) flew in from Austin to visit me. They didn’t actually fly, because they are are not birds, ~~they are hens~~ but they did fly on an airplane.

One of the ~~hens~~ girls, Sharon, had never been to DC, so she was the tourist. Technically. You see, what happened was, as I was driving the girls around my new hometown of Washington DC, it became painfully obvious that I know little about DC. Very. Little. I can’t tell you how many times I answered their questions with “I don’t know” or “Gee, I wish I knew”. But then, they did ask some pretty ~~dumb~~ weird questions, like, “What time do all the DC workers typically go to lunch?” or “Where does Bo go poop and do the girls have to walk him?” It actually worked out well, because I learned so much and am now ready for the next set of visitors. (We found the answer to the first question to be around noon. The second, I still don’t know)

I showed the girls how savvy I am by taking them on the bus and the metro. I may have looked like I knew what I was doing, but Scottish Woman saw right through that and helped make sure we got on the right line.

Yes, that is me flossing my teeth at the metro stop. The girls thought this hilarious, but I reminded them that it’s never a bad time to have good oral hygiene. That and I had a piece of meat stuck between my teeth. Nice.

We did the standard tourist stop at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, during which the newest American put us to shame with all her knowledge.

Dummies and Dumbos

We saw Julia Childs’ kitchen, which was really amazing. They had a video running with scenes from some of her shows and from various interviews. She was a remarkable woman. We also saw the First Ladies’ dresses. This has always been one of my favorite exhibits.

The last time I was at any of these museums was about 12 years ago. This one has since been remodeled and I really like the layout. It was very easy to maneuver about and see everything.

We skipped the $3.50 soda and $9.00 BBQ sandwich at the museum cafeteria for a hotdog and fries out on the mall. It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for the almost two mile walk down to the Lincoln Memorial.

We stopped at every statue and memorial in between, so Sharon could get a picture (and ask who is the man on the horse). We saved my favorite for last. The Vietnam Wall.

There is something so beautiful and moving about this wall. Sharon’s dad served in Vietnam and is thankfully not on the wall, but for the grace of God. My dad missed having to go to Vietnam by a very slim margin, also by the grace of God.

Having a son serving in the military during a time of war, brings it painfully to the forefront of my heart, that every name on this wall was someone’s child. I cry every time I walk past.

Another question from my little tour group; Are there any women’s names on the wall?
I did not know, but it was a very good question, so I asked. The answer, of the over 58,000 names on the wall, eight are names of women. They were all military nurses. Of course, there were plenty of other women nurses killed in Vietnam, but they were civilians. If you are interested in learning more about the Vietnam Wall, go here, it’s fascinating.

After all that walking, we decided it was time for a rest and a cup of coffee, before making our way across the front of the White House. This being where the girls (and I) wanted to know where Bo goes outside to potty, and who is the official pooper scooper to the First Dog.

Oh, and they were fascinated by the sniper guy on the roof.

Who wants to see three girls try to take self portraits all at the same time?

After the park police were done laughing at us, we headed over to do something I have never done before. I hailed a cab. All by myself! Of course, he scared the beejeezus out of Sharon because we was very obviously of Middle Eastern descent and you know, a cabbie. He was great, though. Got us right where we needed to be without scaring us with his mad driving skillz, like the New York cabbies.

Where did he takes us?

Bill Cosby eats here, as has President Obama. It is on U Street in DC. This area was known as “Black Broadway”, because of the theaters and jazz clubs. This place has witnessed so much change in the 53 years it has been open. I suggest reading this page to learn more. It really is a piece of history, and I enjoyed it very much.

It was a long day, but full of laughter and non-stop chatting. I loved it.

Stayed tuned, because tomorrow, we go to the Jefferson Memorial and Arlington Cemetery.

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress…

2011-10-25T10:04:00.001-04:00

I know I have mentioned it before, but I am going to say it again…writing a blog is hard! And time consuming.

I know my two besties, who flew home yesterday, will wake up today expecting to see a wonderful, funny, fact-filled blog about our weekend together in the Nation’s Capitol. Well, it’s a work in progress. I’ve gotten started, but have had to stop because I have two dogs who have felt a bit neglected over the weekend wanting to go to the p.a.r.k. I also have laundry to do, groceries to buy (why yes, they did eat me out of house and home) and that sort of thing.

Rather than leave today’s post a complete blank, I give you this to ponder….

Really? What are they looking at?

Friends are the bacon bits in the salad bowl of life…

2011-10-19T09:12:00.001-04:00

Do you ever wake up suddenly thankful for all the wonderful people in your life? You should. I admit, I don’t have that happen every single morning, because sometimes I wake up to a dog snuffling in my ear (that would be Zoe because Phoebe can’t get on the bed by herself) or to the sound of CGMan’s iPhone alarm going off in the next room while he is downstairs making coffee. I’m really not thinking about wonderful people in my life at that particular moment.

But today, today was different. I woke up feeling so blessed with the people who wrap themselves close to me. My husband, my children, the grandbabies who are waiting to be born, and my friends.

I’ve never had a gazillion friends. I’ve never been what you call the life of the party or a leader in the social arena. I look for quality in my friends, instead of quantity. I am blessed to have a large handful of really, really good friends. I may not see some of them much anymore, but thanks to Facebook we stay connected. There are others I talk to on the phone fairly often, and we pick up right where we left off, no matter if it’s been a week or a month since we last spoke.

In Austin, I have three close girlfriends who all live in the same neighborhood…the one I used to live in. The four of us were such cut-ups when we got together, which was often. They are the first to rally the troops when someone was sick and needed meals for families, or running children to school. They have even been gracious enough to lend a husband when mine was out of town, for killing scorpions, trimming trees or climbing ladders to hang a picture.

These are the same gals who took care of my dogs when I had to leave quickly to care for my mom. After my mom died, without hesitation, they stepped up to learn what all it takes to ship two dogs, and get them to the airport so I could have my faithful companions at a time when I needed them most. That’s quality.

And tomorrow? These two quality girls are coming to visit me!

We are going to have a huge BFF kind of weekend, which is never, ever dull.

I can’t wait.

P.S. What happens on the patio stays on the patio ~~unless your best friend has a blog.~~

The heir apparently…

2011-10-17T05:59:00.000-04:00

My mother always thought he hung the moon…

…apparently he farts rainbows, as well.

He would give you the shirt off his back…

…but apparently, not the turkey off his plate.

Life is one grand sweet song, so start the music…

2011-10-14T09:54:00.001-04:00

As I do every morning, I read the news, then I check Facebook and then I read blogs. Often times, I hope I will read something, anything, to give me a creative spark. I know a lot of you think blogging is so easy. Just get up and write about whatever is on your mind. It kind of doesn’t work that way, because I am all but certain you do not want to know what is on my grocery list or the fact that Phoebe stinks, again, and needs a bath, again, or that I am still hoping the toilets will clean themselves. Not much blog fodder there, I’m afraid.

This morning was different. One of my bloggy buddies, Meg, is getting married in one month’s time. She listed for us the “must have” songs and the “do not play” songs that she prepared for the DJ. What is it about songs that spark memories in us? As I read through her list, all I could think about were the songs that were played at my wedding, which caused me to think about my children and how I have a specific song in my memory associated with each of them.

Because today is Friday, and no one is really working anyway, I am going to share those three songs with you.

The first is for the Marine, because he is the oldest and because he managed to get the DJ to play this song at our wedding, even though it was on the “do not play” list. How a 12 year old could bribe a DJ, I have no idea. He listened to it quite a lot that year. It won’t surprise you to know that the 6 year old Skater is the only one who danced to this song.

Next up we have The Girl, who flat out bugged the crap out of her brother, the Marine, with all her boy bands, dance bands and the singing that went along with them. The Skater didn’t mind so much, because he was still young and would sing whatever the Girl was singing. Those two often put on “concerts” for us, with Skater being one of her background dancers. Which totally brought to my mind Justin Timberlake on SNL as Beyoncé's back up dancer for “Single Ladies”. BAH!

On a road trip to Florida one year, the Girl played this cassette over and over on her walkman, singing the whole time. Loudly. This song was her favorite:

Now we have Skater, my baby. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t like to be referred to as my baby these days, as he is now a 21 year old man. Whatever, dude, you’re still my baby and Momma loves you. He had, and still has, an uncanny memory for scenes in movies. He would watch a movie with Grandma while I was at work and then tell it back to me, verbatim, with sound effects and everything, when I got home. His favorite movie while staying with Grandma was Cinderella. His favorite characters were the mice. He used to sing this song to himself while he was in the bathtub from the time he was 3 years old until… well, maybe he still does...

I just read a science article that talks about the brain and a frontal cortex and how it stores familiar music to serve as a soundtrack for mental movies that play in your head. Memories. Not the song Memories, even though that’s a good song, but memories associated with a particular piece of music. If you are interested in the science part of it, you can read about it here.

It is interesting how music plays such an important role in our lives. We use it as an exclamation point for the more meaningful moments in our lives. A song mom would sing, a father-daughter dance, a first dance with our spouse, and memories of our children.

I like that.

But really, no chicken dance? Who has a wedding without the chicken dance?

Wordless Wednesday…

2011-10-12T06:42:00.000-04:00

Do you see what I see?

How about now?

Pitiful, is what that is.

Stuffing or dressing, it’s all good…

2011-10-11T08:27:00.001-04:00

I did a little research to find out whether it is stuffing or dressing. You know what I’m talking about. The side dish that is on every American’s table for Thanksgiving. Some may have breadcrumbs, cornbread, rice or biscuits. It may have chicken livers or oysters. Sage or no sage. For all the different variations, it’s the one dish not to be left off the table.

The answer? There is no answer.

Some feel if it’s inside the bird, it’s stuffing and outside the bird would be dressing. Northerners say stuffing, no matter if it’s stuffed in or left out. Southerners tend to say dressing, either way.

Today, I have a Cajun style accompaniment to your next turkey dinner and whatever you choose to call it, I know you will call it GOOD!

Shrimp and Andouille Dressing

3 lbs shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut into 1/2” pieces
2 lbs Andouille sausage
2 cups onions, chopped
2 cups celery, chopped
1 1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch green onions, shopped
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
6 TB butter
2 cups chicken stock, or broth
4-6 cups bread crumbs (I used 1 bag of Pepperidge Farms stuffing mix)

Sauté the vegetables in the butter until the onions are transparent. In a separate pan, sauté the shrimp until they’ve barely turned pink. Set aside in a bowl, then dice the Andouille and brown; pour off fat.

After I took these, everything smelled so good, I forgot to get the rest!

Mix the meat, shrimp and vegetables; add 4 cups of bread crumbs and moisten with the stock. Mix, and add more bread crumbs (and butter, if necessary) until the dressing is the proper consistency.

Bake at 350° until done, about 20-30 minutes.

Chef’s notes: I did not add butter to the dressing, but I did use the whole bag of stuffing mix, adding stock as needed. Ham can be used if you cannot find the sausage, but it will not have the zip.

This was, by far, the best stuffing/dressing I have ever made. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving to try it again.

Tell me about your favorite Thanksgiving side dish recipe. Is it stuffing or dressing?

Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories…

2011-10-10T09:33:00.001-04:00

When I was a girl, my mom would tell stories from when she was a little girl on the farm. As a city kid, it was fascinating to hear stories of milking cows and picking beans (Grandpa could shoot milk right at a barn cat’s mouth!) It was hard work, she would say, but good, honest work.

My mom came from a large family, she had 6 brothers (one died as an infant) and 5 sisters. My mom was number 7 out of the bunch. How my Grandma kept them all in line, I’ll never know. Mommy said there was a tree out back that grew just the right sized switches and that’s how Grandma kept order.

Anyway, every now and again, my mom would spout some random wives tale or superstition that she had heard her from own mother. I was always fascinated by these, and some of them stuck right through to when I was raising my own kids.

You would recognize some, I’m sure, like Don’t go outside with your hair wet and Don’t swallow your gum, so I tried to remember some of the more obscure ones. There were a few that had to do with planting the garden (for a city girl, garden means flowers; for a country girl garden means three rows of beans, four rows of corn, three rows of cucumbers, two rows of tomatoes and so on).

Grandma wouldn’t let the girls pick beans if they were on their “monthlies”. I don’t know why and have tried to find where this belief comes from, to no avail. My mom said Grandma believed it would kill the beans or something. Even when my Grandma was very old and my mom was there taking care of her, she had a small garden out back. When Mommy would head out to pick beans, Grandma would holler to her to make sure she wasn’t at “that time”. My mom would roll her eyes and lie (like every other daughter on the planet who believes their mom is just silly).

Here are some of the ones my mom told me when I was a kid:

Cats should be kept away from babies, as they will suck the breath out of the child. Imagine the first time I found my cat in bed with the baby, all snuggled up to him! But then I realized the baby still was breathing and all was good.

An itchy ear means someone is talking about you. Right ear, they’re saying good things; left ear, they’re speaking ill of you. Even into my 40s my mom would ask, “Did your ears itch last night? I was talking about you”.

If a bird comes in the house, it’s a sign of death.
Another favorite story is the one about my Uncle John’s pet crow which was obviously not allowed in the house. When he would go to bed at night, he would open the window and the crow would come in and sleep on the bed with him.

It is bad luck to kill a ladybug.

It is bad luck to let milk boil over.

If you bite your tongue while eating, it is because you’ve recently told a lie. My mom used to say this one a lot. What?!

Do not talk on the phone during a lightning storm. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will remember that we have talked about the dangers of lightning. If you’re just joining us and are interested to know, you can read about it here. P.S. My mom was right.

A ring around the moon means rain is coming.

When we lived in Memphis with my mom and fall approached, little fuzzy caterpillars would be making their way to wherever little fuzzy caterpillars go in the fall, often times crossing the road to get there. My mom would tell us (us being me and her new audience, the grandkids) that the farmer’s would say that if there were a lot of fuzzy caterpillars crossing the road, it meant it was to be a bad winter.

Well, I can’t honestly remember if this is true, because when the winter was bad, she and I would be sitting around the fireplace, wine in hand, asking each other “Were there a lot of fuzzy caterpillars this past fall?”

With that being said, what I really want to know is…

How much winter does it mean we will have if the damn caterpillar is in my house??

Being busy does not always mean real work…

2011-10-07T09:57:00.001-04:00

I don’t know if it’s age, menopause (although, I do like to blame most things on that little bit of evil) or the change of seasons, but I seem to be going through fits and starts these days. Do you remember that saying? Then you’re old like me, because I don’t think anybody says that anymore.

What I mean is, one week, I am filled with all kinds of stories and information that needs to be shared with you, my faithful readers. The next week, there is an empty space between my ears that is filled only with thoughts of grandbabies, cookie recipes and diets (not actually doing a diet, just thinking about it, and that? makes my head numb)

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and you know what that means! Christmas decorations! Ooh, just think of my new palette this year. Where will I put all my pretty things? Hee! But that is not what I was going to say. I was going to tell you how blessed we are, to have a full table for Thanksgiving. CGMan’s folks and brother are coming, as well as CGBro and his little family. That means this little punkin is coming!

I’ve already started thinking about what to make and how to make it. Turkey is a given, because these are some turkey lovin’ men around here. My brother has been known to make a turkey every a month or so.

Last year for Christmas, Skater gave us a turkey fryer. Between the move and everything (like the fricken heat) I haven’t been able to try it out. Until last week. Sorry CGBro, I made it without you. We had our chefs, Craig and Sue over for the initiation.

I have never cooked a turkey in the fryer, but I have had in in-service at my dad’s house. With my usual bravado, I said to myself, how hard can it be? Turns out, not that hard! I read the instruction booklet with all the hints and tips (don’t cook it on your deck because oil does NOT wash off).

There are so many ways to season a deep fried turkey. Daddy likes to brine his overnight, then rub a small amount of Cajun seasoning on it right before it goes in the fryer. I thought about a brine, but as I read more about deep fried turkeys, injection sounded the way to go. Deep fried turkey actually has Cajun roots, so I decided to go all Cajun, all the way.

Another important thing about deep frying a turkey is to make sure it is completely dry and room temperature before you put it in the fryer. For any of you with kids older than 20, you know what I’m talking about when I say, it was like washing a 15 pound baby in the sink. Then having to dry off said baby on the kitchen counter, only without the wiggly-ness going on. Can I just say, even with gloves on, drying a turkey is just EEW!

I injected the turkey with Tony Chachere’s Butter Cajun style injection sauce. Then I rubbed some Creole seasoning all over his body (again with the eew!) before dropping him into the bubbling oil. Let me tell you good friends, it was deee-licious!

I also thought it would be a novel idea to make Cajun type side dishes to accompany our deep fried turkey. One was a Truffled Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes that didn’t really turn out as good as its name implies, so we’ll just skip right to the darling of the evening.

The picture doesn’t do it justice

Shrimp and Andouille Stuffing

My friends, you just don’t even know the meaning of incredible until you try this dish. It outshined the turkey, if you can believe that. Yes, CGBro, sometimes the turkey is not the star. I’ll be sharing that recipe with you next week, if you’re interested.

To make a short story really long, I now have the dilemma of what to cook for Thanksgiving. The stuffing is a given. I think it will make a nice change from my tried and true ~~dry~~ stuffing recipe. My fryer will only hold a 15 pound turkey and as I’ve stated before, it is sacrilege in this family to cook anything less than a 20 pound bird on Thanksgiving Day. I do however, make an awesome brined and roasted bird following the instructions of my boyfriend, Alton Brown. It is a favorite of mine and I’m quite looking forward to making another one.

I think I’ll combine the best of both, the Cajun stuffing and the roasted turkey, along with other family favorites, like green bean casserole (only ever made on this one day a year) mashed potatoes and my killer deviled eggs.

Here’s a thought…I could fry two small turkeys.

Just not on the deck.

Did you know…?

2011-10-04T04:39:00.001-04:00

…windshield wipers were introduced by a woman?

…the first auto insurance policy was purchased in 1897 in Westfield, MA?

…the first Japanese car in the United States was the Honda Accord manufactured in 1982?

…the first speeding ticket was issued in 1902?

…the car radio was invented in 1929?

…most American car horns beep in the key of F?

…the average vehicle will have three owners in it’s lifetime?

…in its first year, VW Beetle only sold 330 cars in the U.S.?

…the city with the most Rolls Royce per capita is Hong Kong?

…that Dawn got to trade in her dusty old SUV for a slightly smaller, brand new one?

…the reason for the new car purchase is because CGMan got a new job? Yay!!

Weirdness Wednesday…

2011-09-28T08:33:00.001-04:00

Cat Butt Apple

Newest phone app…

The one where Dawn checks the mail…

2011-09-26T11:07:00.001-04:00

I have noticed that some of you leave questions in the comment section for me. I want you to know that I answer each and every one, but I don’t think you can hear me. Today, ~~I’m supposed to be doing laundry~~ I will answer some of the questions that have come into my comment mailbox (which I still love to check!)

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Firstly, there were several questions and exclamations of excitement over the fact that CGMan was in Texas for a job interview. Yes, he went to Texas for an interview. No, the job was not in Austin and may not have been in Texas anyway, due to all the travel required to the DC area. It turned out it wasn’t as good a fit as we had hoped, so CGMan had to turn it down. Let me tell you, in this economy, it sucks to have to turn down any job, but sometimes you just have to for the better good.

No, we have not sold the house in Austin. If you know anyone who wants a great house that may or may not have scorpions hanging out on the patio, let me know.

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The next question that has been asked by several of you is “when are the babies coming?!”
The grandBOY will be here around the end of November. Of course, the Marine is hoping he’ll come early, say on November 10th, which happens to be the Marine Corps Birthday.

The grandGIRL is due the the very end of January. If she’s late by even one day, she’ll be born in February and will make her birthstone an amethyst, which is purple, and was the GIRL’s favorite color for the first 10 years of her life.

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Speaking of babies and them being all GRAND and everything, Ron over at Ducks Mahal asked if I had a grandma name picked out. Not technically. I like Grandma, Gram, Grammy, or Your Highness, but will wait to see which one sticks.

CGMan would like to be referred to as Cappy or just Cap.

We took a quiz to see which names best suited us. Apparently, I will be a traditional type grandma (well, except for the tattoo), so the names I had already picked will be perfect. CGMan is a sports guy, team player and all that. The name he picked was on his list (short for Captain) along with Chief and Duke. I think we should open for discussion the name Brutus. He is the Buckeye mascot, looks like CGMan and would be easy for baby to say.

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The crazy picture of the house that stood it’s ground when the freeway expanded, brought a lot of commentary. My favorite was “Is that the mother-in-law room?”

For those of you interested in driving by to see it for reals, it is on the Beltway near Gallows Rd. But let me tell you, in looking for a map of it, I learned that it doesn’t even have a good story. The two houses have been sold to the freeway, if you will, and are being used by the construction company. They will be demolished once the work is finished. Which will be, you know, never. Have you ever seen freeway construction work end? Me, either.

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When she read the anniversary fairy tale, the Zadge asked how CGMan and I met.
Well, Zadge, it really was one of those across-a-crowded-room type of situations. For me anyway. I saw him, literally, from the back of a crowded room where I was ~~not~~ paying attention to the discussion. I thought he was very good looking. The type you take home to mom, you know? I doodled his name all afternoon.

You see, he was the Human Resources director for a casino in which I was going to work as a cocktail waitress. He was the one giving the oration. We spent the day together, along with a couple hundred other employees, learning about health benefits, tax deductions, pee tests and background checks.

After I started working, it became very high schoolish, wherein I asked somebody if he was single, that somebody went to him and said so and so wants to know if you’re single, I think she likes you and she has big boobs. Yeah, that guy was kind of a jerk, but is essential to the story.

CGMan, being intrigued, ~~and a boob man,~~ decided so and so (that would be me, keep up) was worth a look-see (apparently he didn’t notice me across the crowded room, but whatever). So he ~~very inappropriately~~ looked at my file, to which he had access as the HR guy (I hope the statute of limitations is up on that one!) and fell madly in love with me. Okay, maybe not quite like that, but he saw that I was a stellar employee who should have made employee of the month (at least once, for Pete’s sake!). Alright, alright! He looked at my file, saw my pretty face and the fact that I had three dependents. Instead of running and screaming for the hills like a lot of other men, he called me up and asked me out.

We were married 10 months later.

The moral of the story is…it’s okay to take a risk.

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Now I have a question for you.

How many people does it take to pickle a peck of peppers?

I spent the weekend as chief chopper/dicer and bowl washer for a family canning event. It was so fun! I watched and learned all kinds of good canning secrets. Like this one – there is power in numbers!

How was your weekend?

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother…

2011-09-23T07:56:00.001-04:00

There is a thirteen year age difference between me and my brother. Because I started very early with having babies and being a grown up before I was actually a grown up, we didn’t grow up together. After my divorce 9 years later, the kids and I moved back home for a few months. Yeah, my poor brother basically went from being a spoiled only kid to having three little siblings. Talk about rocking his boat.

We talked about that time during our recent road trip together. He said while it was hard at the time, he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. He and the Marine are only 5 years apart, and are now very close, like brothers. That time spent at home was good for all of us, even if it was a little crowded.

We weren’t there long, about 8 months, before I was able to get my own house, so even then I didn’t really get to know my brother. I was older and he was still a kid, playing and goofing around with the Marine and the Girl. Lil Skater was too young to be anything but a pest.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, he and I used this road trip to get reacquainted. It was one of the best road trips. Ever.

Here are 10 things you may or may not know about my brother:

He used to be into vampires (mostly of the Anne Rice variety) but then realized zombies are “more realistic”.
He still likes to make the semi-trucks honk their air horns. We were passing one and CGBro was all, make him honk, you know..yank your arm up and down! And I was like “Umm, NO, I am a grown-up” so he leaned over me to yank his arm up and down. The trucker must have seen the debate going on, so he blasted that horn loud and long, making me jump in my seat. Which of course caused all kinds of laughter from the bro. (P.S. Sometimes being a grown up is not that fun. I laughed, too!)
His favorite Muppet is Gonzo and his favorite princess is Ariel, because she’s the only one with red hair.
My bro has read the book The Zombie Survival Guide and is completely prepared for a zombie attack. (Which he claims is imminent)
Makes his own beef jerky in several wonderfully delicious flavors (and shares!)
He knows all the words to almost every song from the ‘80s. And has no shame in singing them loudly. Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry?
If he could have only two foods for the rest of his life, he would choose cheeseburgers (with American cheese) and nothing else, “because what more do you need when you get to have cheeseburgers till you die?”
He does not like ice cream, so does not have a favorite flavor.
In a fight, my brother believes vampires would win, hands down, over zombies. This because zombies are slow moving and stupid. They also eat “live” meat and vampires are already dead, so the zombies wouldn’t even be interested in eating them, making it easier for the vampires to kill the zombies. (Yes, more than a couple of hours was spent on this ~~interesting~~ creepy subject)
My brother, like the Marine, has a wealth of useless trivia in his head, and randomly spouts it during lulls in conversation. (Where do they get it all??)

This was a good trip for so many reasons. We saw family that needed some hugs, shared stories of our mom and spent quality time getting to know one another. You know what? If he weren’t my brother already, I think I would have picked him for a friend.

Oh, and I am now totally prepared for a zombie attack.

What grandbabies are made of…

2011-09-22T08:55:00.001-04:00

What are grandbabies made of?

Snips and snails
and puppy dog’s tails

That’s what the Marine & Sunshine’s baby is made of!

Sugar and spice
and everything nice

That’s what the Girl & MJ’s baby is made of!

How blessed am I to be getting a grandBOY and a grandGIRL??

Oh, the fun we will have!!

Pirates could happen to anyone…

2011-09-19T05:51:00.000-04:00

Today is National Talk Like A Pirate Day. It is the day to let your inner pirate (mine is Anne Bonny) take over and talk as if you were riding the high seas in pursuit of treasure.

My dad reminds me of Pirate Day each year, but I have yet to hear him talk like a pirate. I would probably fall into a fit of giggles if I ever did, but it would be worth a pirate’s booty!

I will be on the road with my brother, who will no doubt be talking like a pirate most of the day. But then, he does that most days, because he’s just weird.

Anyway, I encourage each and every one of you to talk like a pirate today, even if it’s just to order arrrrrtichoke salad.

If you need a little help with your pirate abilities, check these out:

Pirate Translator – to help put your thoughts into pirate speak

Pirate Personality Test – see how scurvy you really are

Bad Pirate Jokes – so you can ~~annoy~~ amuse your friends!

Of course, you’ll need not only a pirate name, but a pirate personality, as well.
Inner Pirate Order Form (this one was a lot of fun)

The official Talk Like A Pirate Day song

So, me buckos, be sure ye let loose ye inner scurvy pirate this day 'n have a ruckas. Arrrgh!

The one where Dawn tries to catch the thoughts as they fly out of her head…

2011-09-16T09:54:00.001-04:00

For those of you over a certain age, you know that holding onto a thought for more than a few moments gets harder and harder. Add hormonal changes (i.e. menopause) and it’s a wonder I can get through the day. I walk from one room to the next and forget what I went in there for. I open the dishwasher and forget if I was putting dishes in, or taking them out. Don’t get me started on why I think just because I have something in my hand, it must belong in the refrigerator.

Here are some fleeting thoughts I’ve had recently. I know this because I wrote them down.

When did babies come to need so much stuff? When I had my babies, a crib, an umbrella stroller, and a high chair were all we needed. Okay, I get the safety thing with the car seats and all, but let me tell you, I raised three kids without a diaper genie, bears with womb-making sounds (which might have been nice because all my babies heard in the womb was acid reflux), or a shopping cart seat cover. I think every Grandma can recall when her own babies chewed on the shopping cart handle. At the time, I didn’t think much about it, except to wipe the drool off when it got too slimy for me to push the cart. Anyway, that hasn’t stopped me from buying all this stuff for my grandbabies. I was just wondering when it happened that they needed it all. One more question, what the hell is a boppy pillow and how did my kids ever survive without one?

At what temperature does it snow? I am not a fan of snow (duh) and for the last couple of years in Austin, we had a little bit of snow. And I mean just a little. Enough to be funny and mess with Dawn, but not really snowfall. But here? Here they get snowfall. They may tell you that DC typically doesn’t get a lot of snow, but let me remind you of this, the average snowfall is 15 inches. 15! That is over a foot of snow. Let me also remind you that last winter, the Reagan National Airport (which is about 4 miles from my house) reported a record breaking 54.9 inches of snow. That is 5 feet, my friends. I am 5 feet 4 inches tall. Yeah…that is a lot of damn snow.

For all my peeps in Texas, close your eyes for a minute.

Today, the temperature is going to be 65°.
Right now, it is 50° and it feels really cold out there. Cold enough to snow. That’s why I asked.

Okay, you can open your eyes now.

CGMan and I were shopping the other day for a sweater. While we were there, I noticed these odd funky looking things. Some where furry and some were colorful, some had long handles and others had snaps. I had no idea what they were for. My upbringing in Southern California did not lend any insight as to what they could be. CGMan, however, comes from Ohio, where they have snow. Lots of it. He informed me these strange things were for the cold weather, to keep you warm. Oh.

Well, maybe I need one then…

…because who doesn’t love attractive and functional?

Speaking of shopping and malls, what happened to all the malls? Granted, I’m not much of a mall person, but there was a really nice one in Austin that we would venture into from time to time. When we were on the hunt for a sweater yesterday, we headed to one of the malls in the area that had a JCPenney. When we got there, that’s pretty much all it had. The two anchor stores were still there, but inside the mall, it was walled up from one end to the other with only a smattering of jewelry stores and a Clark’s Shoes. It reminded me of the original Dawn of the Dead. Where does one shop in the city, then, if there is no mall? I’m sure Zadge will remind me about the Pentagon Mall but I’m afraid I might break something in there. (read: JCPenny budget for me)

Does anyone watch How I Met Your Mother? As soon as I got on the subject of the mall, this has been going on in my head. Lordy.

Okay, now on my list of things not to forget, is a trip to the store to pick up some road food because guess what? I’m going on a road trip next week with CGBro! We are going to Kentucky to pick up some furniture he inherited. We’re also going to see some family and stop to check on our mom. I know that sounds weird, but he and I both felt the need to visit her before winter sets in. I miss her.

Okay, I’m off to tackle my haphazard to-do list. Have a great weekend!

The key to change is to let go of fear…

2011-09-15T05:40:00.000-04:00

Seriously, my dog has issues with change. I don’t get it. I can’t imagine what has happened in her short 3 years, of which she has spent all but 10 weeks with me, to make her afraid of anything new.

You may remember the presence of the present incident and the more recent evil that took up residence in our powder room.

Today, it’s a Volvo in my driveway.

This morning she went from window to window (of which there are 4) making her scared little growly/whiney noise, until I opened the front door. For two and a half hours now, she has been sitting like that, staring at the Volvo in the driveway. And yes, still making the scaredy, growly, whiney noises. She knows that is not my car and it has never been parked in our driveway before, so therefore…it must be evil.

Phoebe…really honey, let go of the fear.

At first, when I saw the Volvo in the driveway, with the keys on the counter, I was all SA-WEET! a Volvo for my birthday! And then I realized it belongs to CGMan’s golf buddy, Craig.

You know, since it is here all by itself, with no one to claim it, and it’s obviously scaring the dog, I think I should put the top down and get it out of her sight… for a few hours on a long stretch of red road.

True love stories never have endings…

2011-09-14T05:49:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, fifteen years ago to be exact, there was a who was 28 years old. Okay, she was 31, whatever.
She was a nice lady and worked very hard. She lived in a small house and had some whom she loved very much. Oh, she also had a

One day she met and fell in . Oh! She was one happy lady! Prince Charming was everything she could have asked for in a prince.
He was instantly enchanted with the and the dog. The kitten? No so much.

The pretty lady and Prince Charming picked a special day in the fall, September 14th, and invited their friends and family to spend the day with them. With a five-voice chorus of “I Do”

and the light

they became

Happy Anniversary to my Prince Charming and my beautiful family!
I love you.

The next fifteen years are going to be just as awesome!

P.S. Let it be noted for the record that Price Charming became enamored of the kitten and they became best buddies for 12 years.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do…

2011-09-13T09:35:00.001-04:00

CGMan was out of town last weekend and missed my 28th birthday. I’m not mad though, he’s missed my 28th birthday more than once. He was actually in Texas for a job interview and spent the weekend in Austin with our Skater.

They had a great time eating up some of Austin’s wonderful food and hanging out in Austin’s awesome music scene.

CGMan came home late Sunday night. Well, lets be honest here…he came home very, very early Monday morning. Like the very first hour of Monday. Anyway, while we were having our morning coffee (at the regularly appointed coffee hour of 8am), we started chatting about what the plans were for the day. CGMan let me know he had no plans and wanted to spend the day with me. Well, I just lit up that chat box with ideas of how to spend the day. What? Doesn’t everybody have their morning coffee in front of their respective computers in their respective offices and communicate by chat box on Facebook? Oh, just us, then.

Can you guess what I chose to do to spend the day together?
ROAD TRIP!!

CGMan thinks I’m a pretty cheap date. Well, until the price of gas goes up to $6 a gallon, then he’ll be all, “Hows about we take a bike ride??” But for now, we both enjoy a good road trip. Here are a some of the roads we saw:

I know they kind of all look the same, but one thing they do not look like is a highway!! No sir, these are good old fashioned red roads. If you’re not familiar with red roads, they are the ones in red on your atlas. For those of you born after 1985, an atlas is a book of maps. Like a GPS with pages. Red roads are also the ones your GPS lady never takes you on, so you totally have to turn her off because she is a drag.

We took red roads northward to the state line and actually looped through three states in less than an hour. Let me tell you, from Texas, you can’t loop three states in a day! We started here in Virginia, headed north and passed through Maryland, where we made a left and ended up back in Virginia for a mile or two before we ended up in West (by God) Virginia.

Our destination? Harper’s Ferry, WV.

“THE HISTORY OF HARPERS FERRY HAS FEW PARALLELS IN THE AMERICAN DRAMA. It is more than one event, one date, or one individual. It is multi-layered – involving a diverse number of people and events that influenced the course of our nation's history. Harpers Ferry witnessed the first successful application of interchangeable manufacture, the arrival of the first successful American railroad, John Brown's attack on slavery, the largest surrender of Federal troops during the Civil War, and the education of former slaves in one of the earliest integrated schools in the United States.” – copied from National Historic Parks website

We stopped in town for a bite to eat and some refreshing beverages. CGMan always tries the local brew wherever we are. He enjoyed this Porter:

The makers of this beer and the artist who created the label (his first) fought for 4 years to have the censorship removed to allow them the freedom to describe their beer as they saw fit. They won.

Good beer. No shit.

P.S. CGMan totally picked that beer because he was feeling like a mighty Road Dog himself.

After a yummy lunch in an ivy covered patio, we walked the two streets of Harpers Ferry. While we didn’t take in all the town had to offer, or drive through the historic park, we did learn one thing. This town is haunted. There were no shortages of ghost tours and B&Bs claiming to have ghosts. Of course, it was daytime, so we didn’t see any. We did, however, stop in the John Brown Wax Museum to learn the history of this man, who is known as either a murderous fanatic or a misunderstood martyr.

In short, he led a violent uprising against slavery, which killed several people and freed no slaves.

You can learn more about him here.

If you’re really interested in haunted places, there is another place to visit, which is just outside the town of Harpers Ferry. The National Paranormal History Museum aka The Haunted Cottage.

After lunch, we didn’t have time to go to this one, but since I’m the navigator on all road trips, we may pass by it again on our way to another exciting destination.

It was a fantastic date and soothed my itch for a road trip.

Thanks CGMan, for such a pleasant day!
And try to be here for my 28th birthday next year, will ya?

Like many women my age, I’m 28 years old …

2011-09-10T05:22:00.000-04:00

…give or take a few years.

If things get better with age,
I must be getting close to MAGNIFICENT!

Wordless Wednesday…

2011-09-07T06:45:00.000-04:00

I hope that’s not the guest room.

Freeway, schmeeway…way to stand your ground, dude.

The one where Dawn gets crabs…

2011-09-06T09:36:00.001-04:00

We had a most exciting weekend with our friends Craig & Sue. And yes, I got crabs. I have to tell you, I was a little nervous at first when it was announced that Dawn would get crabs. But after a few glasses of wine, just about anything sounds like a good idea, right?

Shortly after we got to the shore (that would be the shore of the Patuxent River, lest you think it was some exciting shore, like Jersey or Tripoli) it was time to get crabs!

A little wine, some raw chicken…what a lovely way to get crabs!

Not knowing the first thing about getting crabs, it was a good idea to let the boys get things rolling…

But after that, I had to work to get crabs! I don’t understand, apparently some people just get crabs, by doing nothing more than laying around. Not me, though, I had to check the pots (although, as you can plainly see, they are not pots) every day and I had to learn the lingo (see again, the pots) and remember to say we were crabbing, not crab fishing as landlubbers are wont to say.

There are a lot of rules when you are crabbing. We can’t keep the girls, we can’t use the small ones for garnish and there is absolutely NO RUNNING, JUMPING or DIVING from the pier.

Dawn, breaking the rules since 1965.

Our little pair of crab pots yielded only four keep-able crabs.

Between these four and the half bushel that a neighbor gave us, we had enough crabs to make crab cakes for sandwiches. I’ll bet you’re wishing I had taken a picture of those, right? Me, too, but I inhaled the sandwich so fast, there was nothing to photograph. It was mighty fine, I must say. Definitely worth catching crabs for.

More interesting weekend stories to come. Like the chili that wasn’t really a chili, a lighthouse with no light and an airshow seen from the water. Stayed tuned and remember…if you don’t work for the crabs, they’re not worth having.

I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert…

2011-09-01T09:14:00.001-04:00

Have I got a treat for you!!

Rum cake!

Well, that’s not exactly true, because I ate it all. In lieu of sharing the actual cake with you, how about I show you how to make your very own? It’s really easy and if you’re anything like me, you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry.

Well, to be honest, if you’re really like me, all you have is the rum and you’ll need to go to the store for the rest.

Now that I have all the ingredients, let’s get started…

1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 pkg plain yellow cake mix
1 pkg vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 cup oil (canola, veg, soybean, sunflower)
1/2 water
4 large eggs

Glaze
1/2 stick butter (4 TB)
2 TB water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark rum

This is made in a Bundt pan. I have always had a Bundt pan, so I’m not sure how to make it if you don’t have one. I don’t even remember buying my first Bundt pan. It just seems like there has always been one in my cupboard. Hunh.

The first thing you’ll need to so is spray the pan with veggie spray (like Pam) and then put a few TBs of flour in it. Shake the flour around to coat the pan, then turn it over and tap out the extra flour. OR! You can use the new baking spray that has the flour in it already! That is awesome stuff, man. Anyway, you’ll need to grease and flour the pan so the cake won’t stick.

Put the chopped pecans (you can use walnuts, if you prefer) in the bottom of the pan, then set it aside.

Put the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend on low speed for about 1 minute. Stop, scrape the sides of the bowl, then continue to beat the mixture on medium speed for 2 minutes. The batter should be thick and smooth. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into the pan.

I’d like to take this moment to say, I always use Sailor Jerry rum in any recipe that uses rum. I like the spices in it and it’s just very smooth. As you’re mixing, you’ll smell all that rummy goodness. Don’t let the smell of the spicy rum tempt you to try the batter, it has raw eggs, you know.

Oh what the hell…

I never died as a kid, licking the bowl, doubt I will now…

Bake the cake in a 325° oven until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, about 58 to 60 minutes. Remove the pan and cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes.

P.S. your kitchen will be smelling GOOD right about now.

After about 20 minutes, run a knife around the edges of the cake and invert it onto your serving plate. Poke holes in the top of the cake with a wooden skewer (a chopstick works perfectly!).

Now we prepare the glaze.
Put the butter in a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Add the sugar and the water, stirring. Bring the heat up to about medium and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and let the glaze simmer for about 5 minutes, until it’s thickened, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rum. Oh! the smell!! MMMmmm!

Spoon the glaze over the warm cake, allowing it to drizzle down the sides and into the center of the cake. Let the cake cool before slicing (if you can manage to wait that long).

Some of us have less patience than others.

Ta-da! You have just made the best rum cake of all time!
Now, invite your friends over (or not!) and have a slice!

We are getting out of dodge for the long weekend. We’re going with the Chefs Sue & Craig out to the beach where I do believe we will eat too much, probably drink too much, and also usher in the college football season! GO BUCKEYES!

What are you doing for the holiday weekend?

Wordless Wednesday…

2011-08-31T08:24:00.001-04:00

Things that make me smile…

Watch TV dogs

Grandbaby bumps

GrandBOY faces

Marshmallow punkins

What a week it was!…

2011-08-29T08:40:00.001-04:00

Wow.
How many times in your lifetime can you say you’ve experienced TWO natural disasters in ONE WEEK? I hope to never say it again.

With the help of my awesome hurricane preparedness kit, we managed Irene’s visit with no ill effects. I sent the dogs to higher ground,

and we settled in.
Sort of.
Because I had never been in a hurricane before, I had therefore never been to a hurricane party! So we ventured into the city to hang with our friends. We stayed for a couple of hours, listening to the East Coasters and the retired Coasties talk about hurricanes past. Luckily, Irene held back until the middle of the night, so we were able to get home safely, with only rain to worry about.

The next morning, after listening to the winds lash at the house for most of the night, I went outside to check for any destruction. Luckily, the only damage I noticed was the Ohio State grill cover had blown completely off the grill and was flung out into the yard. Hardly worth noting, in my opinion, but CGMan took it as a personal insult from Mother Nature. “The Nuts get no respect” he lamented, as he carefully covered the grill and straightened the logo just so.

Well. I guess Mother Nature really is a bitch.

Let’s try not to piss her off anymore, m’kay?

Winner, winner, chicken dinner…with pickles!

2011-08-26T09:16:00.001-04:00

I have already given away a lot of my pickles to friends and family. When the Girl was here last month, she ate two whole jars. She has always loved pickles and being pregnant just gives her an excuse to claim whole jars for herself.

I also have enough left to add a jar to my hurricane preparedness kit. I never thought I would have to have one of those, but here I am, still suffering PTSD from the earthquake, gathering the ingredients to get me through a hurricane.

Even though I’m busy battening down the hatches and stocking up on ~~tonic~~ water, I did not forget to pick a winner for a jar of my awesome pickles. You guys shared some great stories. My favorite was the little girl, Ferne, who used a straw to suck all the juice out of the pickle.

I used a random number picker and it chose…*insert long, drawn out music*… Anita from Going A Little Coastal! It’s a good thing for her, because her pickles got wiped out by pickle worms. *evil bastards*
At least she had some to get wiped out, unlike poor Zadge, who had a little trouble with her pickles.

Congratulations, Anita!

I’m off now to finish stocking my ~~liquor~~ cabinets and trying to find Phoebe’s life jacket.

Chef Dawn en’Deezeé…

2011-08-25T08:42:00.001-04:00

Oh boy, did I have some fun last night!

I know this delicacy is not for everyone, but it is a favorite for me and CGMan. One of our first fancy dates was to a French restaurant, where he introduced me to fine dining. It’s easy to see how he won my heart. No dates to Outback for this guy. Anyway, I had never been to a French restaurant before, so was excited to try anything and everything. I loved it all!

From then on, when we see these on the menu, we order some to rekindle the fond memories of our courtship. The best ones we’ve ever had were on our recent trip to New York. We had an early dinner at a French restaurant (which I totally cannot remember the name). I tell you, the French makes these better than anyone.

Last night, I decided it was time to try to make them myself. I was nervous, but I gave it a go.

Escargots!

Do you know, CGMan and Photog Craig, who were keeping me company as I made faces trying to put these together without touching them, were so excited about this evening’s appetizer, that neither took a picture when they came out of the oven? They just dove right in, making all kinds of yummy humming noises. Let me tell you, they were beautiful! Buttery and very garlicky. Mm MMM!

Maybe not as good as the ones in the French restaurant in New York City, but ever so much better than these in Abu Dhabi!

What the hell Wednesday…earthquake?!

2011-08-24T08:29:00.001-04:00

I felt the earth move yesterday, and not in the good way.

Washington, DC had an earthquake. That’s right. A fricken earthquake!

Now, I’m no geologist or anything, but earthquakes aren’t from around here, right? That’s a California phenomenon. Like Hollywood and San Francisco. Those things belong in California. People are used to them and know how to deal with the craziness. Here? Not so much.

I lived in California as a young girl and felt only one small earthquake. It was in the night and I felt my bed rock a little bit and that was it. Back to sleep.

This? This was scary. And it was loud. I didn’t know earthquakes made so much noise. At first I thought it was just a plane coming in low. Really, really low. But the noise didn’t stop, it just continued on and on. Then I felt the house move.

I waited for a second, thinking I had vertigo (you know, from all the eyeball exercise I was doing at the computer). It felt jiggly at first, then it started to roll from side to side. That’s when I got up from my desk, still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

In California, one might have figured out right quick that it was an earthquake. But we don’t have earthquakes here. We have the capital of the nation. That being said, one of my first thoughts was… bomb? What does a bomb sound like? Feel like? OMG, is this a bomb?!

As I rounded the corner, looking for the dogs, who were now running in from outside, I saw the dishes in the china cabinet sloshing around and the chandelier swinging back and forth. That’s when my mind realized this is an earthquake, you idiot!

Okay, I’ve figured out it’s an earthquake…now what? The dogs were looking at me like, “what we do, Mom?” and me, well I had no flippin clue. I quickly thought bathroom and then realized, nope, that’s for tornadoes. I. could. not. remember.

And then it stopped. Just like that.

I looked down at the girls and said, why didn’t you let me know an earthquake was coming?? They were like, Mom. We from Texas. Duh.

At that point, I kind of felt like crying because I was so shook up. I realized the whole thing took about a minute. But it was the longest minute of my life. And I was scared. I don’t remember ever being scared like that.

Thankfully nothing was damaged and no one was hurt at my house. There was a bit of damage in DC and surrounding areas, but nothing major.

Now I can say I am an earthquake survivor. Let me tell you something…that was NOT on my bucket list.

In other news, guess what?

We are expected to be hit by Hurricane Irene over the weekend.

Dawn in DC, experiencing natural disasters since 2011.

There is no love sincerer than the love of pickles…

2011-08-23T09:28:00.001-04:00

I have been asked by many readers, “How goes the farm? We haven’t heard anything lately.” Okay fine, only my dad has asked about my farm (Hi, Daddy!)

I gotta tell you, a farm is a lot of work. Just like a kid. They’re all cute and small in the beginning.

Then they get big and dirty and require more of your attention.

And then… they break your heart.

While it’s true I did get a pretty good crop of pickles, one beet, and some tomatoes, the heat wave we had really took it’s toll on my farm. I learned a good many things during my first season. Things like farms get bugs and you have to watch for them because they are sneaky little bastards. I learned about organic pesticides and such. I also learned that pickles need a deeper space. Eight pickles plants in one little raised bed is not really a good thing. I’m lucky I got as many as I did. In fact, I made just over a case of pickles! Yay for me!

It’s been a great season, but I’m not finished!

My Brussels sprouts are doing great! I’m doing my best to keep the damn bugs off them and it looks like I may get a pretty good crop.

When I picked my one beet a while back, I noticed there was a baby beet right next to it, so I stuck the baby back in the dirt and it’s doing well, too.

There you have it, that is how my farm is doing. I have to say, picking bugs off is not nearly as much fun as watching them grow to produce wonderful things. But it’s all part of the challenge of raising a ~~kid~~ garden, I guess.

So. Who wants a jar of my Inaugural Pickles??
Daddy, put your hand down, you’re already getting a jar.

If you would like to be ~~my guinea pig~~ the first non-family-member-so-you-don’t-have-to-say-anything-nice pickle patron, just leave a comment telling me what you like about pickles, or a pickle memory or even a some advice on how to grow pickles.

The winner, chosen by the online random number thingy, (Sorry, Phoebe the supermodel can’t be trusted not to eat the contestant entries while choosing one) will get to choose from:

1. Bread and butter slices before I learned how to really pack them in.

2. Mystery slices because I forgot to mark the top. I don’t see a dill sprig in it, but I don’t see the onions that I put in the B&B pickles, either. It’s anybody’s guess!

3. Dill spears from some of the larger pickles.

The winner will be announced on Friday.

Good luck! I can’t wait to hear about your love of pickles!

Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought…

2011-08-19T08:40:00.001-04:00

I want my next dog to be blue jean colored. That way I won’t have to sticky roll myself eleventy thousand times a day.
Speaking of dogs, how come they don’t get poison ivy? I see them traipse off through the woods with no ill effects. I make one. step. off the path, BLAM, I’m hit!
Is it wrong to spend an evening perusing an educational toy catalog, looking for possibilities for the grandbabies, only to bookmark three pages of things I want? Things like this and this.
I was so proud of myself for going to the grocery the other day, with a list of the meals I had planned for this week. I wanted to save myself from having to go to the store so often. Day three and so far, I have forgotten a key ingredient for each meal. Doh!
Even though I’ve never, ever, watched the show, I can’t stand Jersey Shore.
It should come as no surprise to you that I am ready to paint another room. I just can’t decide which one. A little small powder room that desperately needs it? Or a bigger room that hasn’t quite found it’s voice?
Without benefit of a DNA test, I have decided, in my infinite dog wisdom, that Zoe is part Dachshund, as well as part Jack Russell.

That would make her a Dach Russell. Or a Wiener Jack.
And one more thing to make my day…the rat has a little brother. Swell. Just swell.

Our ship is not sinking…

2011-08-18T09:29:00.001-04:00

The other day I was standing at the sink, doing something I never get tired of doing. No, not washing the dishes, because, really? Who likes to wash dishes? But if I’m going to be washing the dishes, I might as well have something fun, like looking out the window at the critters and birds in my flower garden.

The bunny sure is getting big! He’s so cute.

That pretty yellow flower was probably a weed anyway.

So the other day, I’m standing at the sink, not enjoying washing the dishes, but at least enjoying the view, when I saw a new critter under the bird feeder! I was excited. He is so cute! He’s brownish, with a shortish tail that has a little curl on the end, like maybe it was caught on something. Of course, I had to take his picture, to add to my ever growing critter album.

I think he lives under the giant hostas, because I see him run in there to hide when the guard dogs come outside ~~to take a nap.~~

I took 3 or 4 ~~hundred~~ pictures of him and hollered to CGMan to come see my new critter! I could tell how excited he was to come over to look, because he gave a big sigh of ~~annoyance~~ excitement as he rose from the La-Z-Boy.

He stood looking out the window, watching me take pictures, and said, “Ummm, that’s a rat”

Without missing a beat, I reminded him that rats can’t be all bad. I mean, look!

CGMan replied “That’s a mouse”

Okay, what about?

”Yeah, those are mice”

Okay fine, but if rats are so bad, why is this one a gazillionaire?

“Look, that’s a mouse, too.
Rats are not good. Do you really, really, want that rat to get married and have rat babies in our backyard?”

Well, no, not really. But don’t kill it!

Unfortunately for my little rat friend, ~~I’m~~ CGMan is going to have to go to Home Depot to get one of those humane rat trap thingies where the rat goes inside and no one knows what happens to it.

But I’m going to feel really bad if I find out that rat can cook.

Wordless Wednesday…

2011-08-17T07:36:00.001-04:00

Zoe better than Lassie. Can Lassie run on water?? No.

I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends…

2011-08-16T09:11:00.001-04:00

-Walt Whitman

You know what’s funny?

The TV show Modern Family
This cat video
Toupees
The Hangover movie
Jeggings
Ray Steven’s song The Streak
Words like comeuppance, indubitably, pluck and duty

Oh, and farts.
CGMan thinks farts are funny, as do most men, apparently.

You know what’s not funny?

Having your best friends short sheet your bed. In your own house!
Yes, we are 12.

Truth be told, it really was kinda funny.

Especially because CGMan, who had learned his lesson about being the first one asleep, managed to stay awake until everyone went to bed. However, whilst he was staying awake, he was partaking of the libations, making it impossible for him to notice that he had crawled between “short sheets”. The more he flailed about, the more tangled he became, all the while cursing that something was wrong with the bed. “What the HELL? The bed is broken! I can’t make it work” It took some effort, but I finally convinced him to get off the bed, so I could remove what looked like his toga, and put the bed back together. At the same time, sending nasty text messages to the basement guest room.

The next morning, it was reported that the Mr. of the duo made sure all the doors were closed and locked in the basement. Just in case. I’m pretty sure they slept comfortable in the knowledge that we are new to the city and wouldn’t know where to hide the bodies anyway.

Oh, for the comforts (and acreage) of the suburbs.

You know what, though? We are thankful to have such ~~devilish~~ good friends. The four of us have shared 15 years of ups and downs, goods and bads and through it all, we have never run out of things to make us laugh.

And really, isn’t that what friends are for?

Out of pocket and in the bucket…

2011-08-15T11:06:00.001-04:00

I’m baaaack! Okay, I wasn’t really gone, but I was “out of pocket”, which according to Urban Dictionary, is a term that only in the last year or so has come to mean “unreachable” or “out of touch”. It is also a term that too many shiny shoed bureaucratic sycophants in DC use, so no one really likes it. This I also learned from Urban Dictionary.

I was busy making baby things and generally hanging out with myself. I do that sometimes.

However, just before I crawled into my hole, I crossed quite a few things off my bucket list. You know, I really need to write that list down, considering my memory capacity these days. I don’t want to miss something good, just because I forgot it was on my list.

Anyway, here are the fun things I checked off my list:

I rode a train! A real Amtrak train. The conductor commiserated with CGMan when I was all “Wait! I need to get a picture of the train!”. He laughed and said his mother does the same thing. Every. Time.

I don’t think our friends, who are frequent visitors to New York, were prepared for the enthusiastic traveler I can be. Especially at 6am.

We rode the train to New York City, with my nose pressed against the glass the whole time. Imagine how wonderful it was for me, a person who loves car rides anyway, to be riding along in a train and not having to worry if CGMan sees the squirrel that is getting ready to dart in the road or the fact that there’s a school bus stopped ~~a half a mile ahead!~~ I was in heaven.

CGMan and I have been to NYC before, but I’m not going to count it as my bucket list item because it was cold, and rainy and November. In 2001. Too sad of a time. For bucket list purposes, we’ll use this trip.
I went to New York City!! (Yes, bucket list items get an exclamation point, otherwise, why have it on your list?)

I was also there once as a girl, not that I’m not still a girl, but I was a young girl. Very young. I took these two pictures with a camera that had real film. The year, 1973. (ack! that’s a long time ago!)

The first picture, for those of you under 30 years old, is a phone booth. When you were lost, you stopped and made a phone call. With a dime. Doesn’t my sister look great in her kicky bell bottoms? The second picture is from the 32nd floor of some high rise. I didn’t count that on my bucket list, either, because at the tender age of 8, I thought I would live forever and didn’t know you had to have a bucket list.

Many people would not think of having this on their bucket list, but it has always been on mine. It was every bit as ~~terrifying~~ exciting as I thought it would be. I rode in a NY taxicab!

I’ve heard it said that your life flashes before your eyes when you ride in a NY cab. Well, my life didn’t flash before me so much as the middle fingers of several other cab drivers, the inside wheel well of a city bus and the freakishly calm face of a bike messenger. There was much jerking, swerving, braking and horn honking.

I was kind of hoping more along the lines of the Cash Cab.

We stayed on Times Square!
We heard a concert at the Lincoln Center! Okay, it was really an outdoor band in the garden of the Lincoln Center, but hey.
We saw a Broadway musical!
We walked through Central Park!
We rode the subway! To Queens!
We ate in Chinatown!

I did not get pooped on by a pigeon! That’s not really a bucket list item, just lucky.

As you can see, there were many New York items on my bucket list. There are a couple more items that were not on my list before, but they are now, and have been checked off.

I walked 20 miles of Manhattan! And 2 in Queens!
This might not seem like a big deal, but it is and should be noted on my list.
“The Suburbanite Walks the City”

The other item that was not on my list, but is now, is him:

I saw the Naked Cowboy!

That was the best picture I got of him, so I ~~stole~~ borrowed this one from Google.

You’re welcome.

He used to have long hair, but I find him so much cuter with the short hair.

There you have it, my friends, my New York Bucket List Extravaganza!

All that in 37 hours!

We had a great time and really owe thanks to Chef Sue and Photog Craig for setting the wheels in motion. You guys are great tour guides. I’d follow you anywhere.

P.S. If you’re into photography, check out the pictures Craig took on his photo blog.

Wordless Wednesday, the cell phone edition…

2011-08-03T09:31:00.001-04:00

Am I the only one who uses her cell phone more for photos than phone calls?

When good dogs go bad

I would be sad too, if I had a broken leg

Welcome to Death Valley, Virginia

It’s just mean to tease someone while they’re at work. Fun. But mean.

Phoebe and phriend bobbing for rocks at the dog park.

Apparently CGBro can’t handle the heat (of my chili!)

Cracks me up. Every. Time.

What’s on your cell phone?

There aren’t enough days in the weekend, unless you are me…

2011-08-02T09:14:00.001-04:00

Do you ever have those days where you spend the whole day thinking it’s one day of the week and then all of a sudden you’re like Wait. Today is so not Saturday! It’s Tuesday, for cryin out loud!

Yep, that was me this morning (and probably again this afternoon). I was sitting here thinking I didn’t need to do anything, you know, like write a blog, clean the bathrooms, or wash at least one of the four piles of laundry, because I was sure it was a beautiful Saturday morning. And NO, we do not do those things on a Saturday. Shut up.

You will be happy to learn that I did, indeed, have a post in mind for today, TUESDAY, so you need not suffer ~~pictures of my dogs~~ my writer’s block.

Okay, I lied.

Alright, the real post for TUESDAY is a recipe. So let’s just call this Tasty Tuesday, shall we? We can pretend I’ve known that since the minute I woke up.

If it really was Saturday and you had a block party to go to, and didn’t have a super cool brother to fly a helicopter over your house to impress the neighbors, you could impress them with this really yummy side dish, “Sunny Vegetable Salad” I’ll show you how.

Let’s grab the ingredients:

5 cups fresh broccoli florets
5 cups fresh cauliflower florets
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2/3 cup copped red onion
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sugar
2 TB red wine vinegar
6 bacon strips, crumbled
1/4 cup sunflower seed

Chop the broccoli and cauliflower into bite sized florets and place in large bowl. Chop the onion (or leave it out if you don’t like onion, as I do) and place in the bowl with the shredded cheddar cheese (if for some reason you forgot it was Saturday and thought you had everything you needed for the salad, but didn’t, you can use shredded Mexican Four Cheese – but the cheddar is better) and the raisins.

Save the bacon and sunflower seeds until just before serving.
In a small bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients: mayo, sugar and red wine vinegar.

Toss all together to coat. Cover and put in fridge for at least one hour. Sprinkle with bacon and sunflower seeds just before serving.

Because I was so excited that I gotten buzzed, I totally forgot to take the “after” picture, so will steal one from Taste of Home, which is where I got this recipe a hundred years ago.

This might not surprise some of you, given my recent admission, but just now, just this VERY MINUTE, I realized the sunflower seeds are the reason this is called Sunny Vegetable Salad! Doh!!

Now that I have remembered that it is, in fact, Tuesday, I now need to get busy doing Tuesday things, like laundry and cleaning.

I am seriously rethinking Tuesday’s duties. Cookie baking and wine tasting? Helloooo Tuesday!

The one where Dawn gets buzzed…

2011-08-01T08:25:00.001-04:00

You want to know what is fun? A block party! Our new cul-de-sac in the city had their first ever block party this weekend. It was a wonderful meeting everyone. We talked and drank ~~a gallon and a half of~~ Nantucket Lemonade. There were burgers and dogs (hot dogs, not my dogs), and everyone brought yummy side dishes to share. (I’ll share mine with you later this week.) We have always been about the block party and this was no exception.

As were were sitting around chatting up our new neighbors, I remembered that my brother is on TDY (that’s temporary duty assignment for all you non-military folks) right here in DC. I texted him to see if he wanted to come join the party. He wrote back to say he was very busy doing Coast Guard stuff and would not be able to make it.

I had my doubts about that, because I was married to a Coastie for the last 10 years of his career and I really don’t remember a whole lot of “busy”, unless you count practicing for the unit golf tournament. But hey, maybe that’s just officers. I also doubted his story because I had received this from Coastie bro earlier in the week, showing me just how busy he can be in the Coast Guard:

Apparently, somebody has to break in the new La-Z-boys.

Well, too bad for him ~~and more booze for me.~~ It wasn’t but 20 minutes later that I got a text from my brother that said, “Look up”. Right then, a beautiful, bright orange Coast Guard Dauphin helicopter buzzed our block party! My brother really was working! As they turned around to make another swoop, we all ran out into the court like little kids, waving at the helicopter. Did you ever do that as a kid? I did. Every. Time. If I was a helicopter pilot, I would absolutely fly low over neighborhoods just to watch all the little kids run out to wave at me.

Anyway, it was all very cool and our neighbors were suitably impressed. We were all, “Yeah, we know people”.

The best part? Was this picture that came on my phone a few minutes later:

I hope to goodness he wasn’t hanging out the door to take this!

Thanks, CGBro, for doing a very serious reconnaissance mission over our neighborhood. It’s nice to know the Coast Guard is watching over us. Kind of like “Big Brother” only you’re my little brother. Bah!

It’s not every day I get buzzed, right alongside my neighbors!

A few more things about me…

2011-07-29T08:49:00.001-04:00

Here are 10 more random things you may not know about me.

1. I do not like my coffee “warmed up” until the cup is almost empty. I don’t mind if it cools.

2. I do not like to touch paper grocery bags, I don’t like the texture. I hated covering the kids’ schoolbooks and was glad when they were big enough to do it themselves.

3. I learned to read long before first grade, which bugged the crap out of my first grade teacher. I was the original “Baby Can Read”.

4. I played the string bass when I was in middle school and high school.

5. I cannot whistle a tune, but can whistle loudly with my fingers in my mouth.

6. I did not use my whistling technique to call for my kids. I just hollered their names. They could hear me from two blocks over. Of course, that was back when it was safe to let your kids run the neighborhood.

7. I love to check the mail. Not email, although that is fun, too. I love going out to the mailbox to see what the mailman brought.

8. Sunrises are my favorite part of the day.

9. I have one purse. I hate when it is time to shop for a new one.

10. I love catchy songs on TV commercials. I look them up and put them on my iPod.

Here is my current favorite:

Now tell me something about you!

Wordless Wednesday (aka: I have absolutely nothing to talk about)…

2011-07-27T08:21:00.001-04:00

Daiquiris anyone?

Siamese pickle

My beet

My bums

My bounty