You win some, you lose some.

Some things are a mystery until they're done.

Knitting lace.

Cutting out snowflakes.

Watching a movie.

I'm looking out the back slider through beautiful rainbows created by The Kid during one of our interminable snow days.

The picture really doesn't capture the beautiful sunshiny glow.

Thanks for the idea Wendolonia, we had a lot more fun making these rainbow snowflakes than we did watching that awful movie.

Which movie?

"Where the Wild things Are"

It sucked monkey balls.

Do you know how big monkey balls are?

Huge!

I loved the book.

But no matter how good the special effects(which were great) I absolutely hated the movie and how it corrupted my version of the story.

In mine the little boy was not a complete turd.

Enough of that.

Rainbows!

I have beautiful rainbows to enjoy.

Blue just doesn't get it...

Even though he does have opposable thumbs he figures he's a cat so why bother?

I'm knitting a lace shawl.

I'll show you when I'm done.

It's fun.

PS Don't try and knit lace and watch the Olympics at the same time.

It just doesn't work.

I think my new favorite Winter sport is Nordic Combined. I swear I am hooked! LOVE LOVE LOVE.

(which is why I can't knit lace and watch the Olympics at the same time =)

Life is good.

I've written 3 different posts today in my head.

None of which I can remember.

Go figure.

Thank goodness it's National Margarita Day!

That means that today at least I have an excuse.

Nachos and guacamole anyone?

Nachos

8 oz of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 lb bag of tortilla chips

On your largest cookie sheet make a single layer of chips and sprinkle on the cheese.

Make another single layer of chips and sprinkle on more cheese. Usually I get just the two layers but if you get more...it means your cookie sheet isn't as big as mine...;)

Put it in the top oven and push the toast button twice.

OOOOOHHHHHH. You don't have that. In that case, put your loaded cookie sheet as high as it will go in your oven(you know, put the rack in your oven at the highest position) and THEN put your oven on broil. Leave the oven door open a little and pull 'em out after about 4 minutes.

That should do it.

Guacamole

Today I am using because it happens to be what I have:

4 Very Ripe avocados roughly mashed

1 whole lime juiced to within an inch of it's life and a squeeze out of the lime juice bottle.

1/4 cup Pace chunky salsa-medium(I'd use hotter but they don't carry the big ass jar of hot at Sam's and I need the big ass jar because salsa is a great already done for you sauce for lots of things!)(more on that other days)

Mix all this together keeping in mind the consistency you like your guacamole to be.

If you feel like it-and I usually do-stir in;

2 tsps powdered cumin

1-2 tsps chili powder

a pinch or two of cayenne

salt to taste.

Margarita

A wedge of lime

kosher salt in a saucer for the rim of your glass

Run the lime around the edge of your glass

Dip the glass in the salt and set aside to dry-which it will if you shake it like I do!

2 oz of tequila

3 tablespoons triple sec

2 tablespoons lime juice

Place all ingredients in a shaker half full of crushed ice(your fridge has that feature doesn't it? If not don't worry about it!) and shake your booty off.

Pop the top on that thing and pour in your glass!

Don't mind the discrepancies in the recipe format...

I've already gotten started!

*don't you like my reading glasses?

Wolfman

1. Every movie is improved by a pitcher of beer.
2. When did Benicio del Toro start looking vaguely like Brad Pitt(you had to be there)?
3. Totally freaked out by number two.
4. Really glad for number one.
5. Benicio del Toro has really small hands.
6. The BUS is an awesome movie device.
7. Do not even begin to tell me that you are not cultist' of the original "Cat People". Alright already... the second Cat People got me hooked.
8. If not, you may just suck.
9. Why do guys like women with strong jaws and major overbites
10. It's a total dichotomy.Yet it happens all the time
11. Sophia Loren. Need I say more?Under bite strikes again(alright, alright...Nastassja Kinski is hot)(jeesh)
12. Hugo Weaving was in this movie!
13. He did not show enough teeth.
14. Sean Bean was in this movie!
15. He must of needed the money.
16. I mistook him for Ice-T for a moment when they were in the carriage.
17. Weird(number 16)
18. OK the Sean Bean sighting is my own invention(I'm tellin" ya whoever he is looked just like the guy!)
19. This makes that fucking hilarious(searched who's the dead guy in the chair)
20. I screamed like a girl like all the time(yes I typed like)(and yes there were people laughing at me)(whatever)(I'll blame the pitcher of beer)(ok, it was 2 pitchers of beer but we are home safe)(and I can still type)(suck it!)
21. GUTS
22. LOTS OF GUTS
23. GUTS apparently make me scream like a girl
24. It helps to make a list on your fingers when you are watching the movie.
25. The ending Rocked
26. I love you guys!(said in true slightly drunk fashion!)
27. Iinked to EVERYTHING!

It couldn't last...

I knit yesterday.

I knit this hat.

I love it.

It might just be too warm...

Oh well, if my head sweats I just won't take it off!

Moving on.

I am about to be busy as fuck.

Taking big girls to classes and the pool.

Maybe taking the little one to ballet.

I need to figure out a quick easy supper that doesn't involve a blue box, frozen peas and canned tuna.

Though that does sound pretty good to me!

I'm a little busy here...

I'll be up and running again sometime soon.

I'm on a roll and don't want to get stuck online.

The kids are finally at school and I don't have to hide out here in the internet.

I read two books yesterday:

"Ecstasy Unveiled" Larissa Ione

"Pleasure of a Dark Prince" Kresley Cole

I didn't cook or knit.

I did have a glass or two of wine.

I worked out.

That is all.

Am I really that short?

Granny had the right idea

cooking can be a messy sport
Sometimes you have to take the lid off and grease goes flying
Fashion be damned!
Well...
Not really
But I'd really hate to mess up these jeans!

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

The light is out in my oven and guess what, you can't take a picture through the door!

Gooeyness before I rotate the cookie sheet(I really need to clean my oven!)
Cooling...Man this part takes forever, 5 minutes never lasted so long.
Go ahead, take a bite!

So I modified a bit and rewrote this recipe that I got from here, and I think they are fucking awesome!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl combine:

1 1/2 cup AP flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt(omit the salt if, like me, you are using salted butter today because you weren't planning on a snow day or snow day baking and so don't have unsalted on hand because you don't bake that much anyway...)

1/2 cup cocoa powder(personally I have never used anything but Hershey's-the original- or Toll House and really that other stuff is hugely expensive anyway)

In your mixing bowl...mix together on medium:

1 cup softened butter-go ahead and use salted cause you need a little salt anyway and we left it out earlier just so we could use the only type of butter in the house-and I must say that it is a good thing that I sometimes buy too much butter and put it in the freezer, otherwise we would not be eating these delicious cookies now would we?

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

continue mixing in:

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar(I know it seems weird and not close to mint but trust me. Just do it!)(It's like balsamic vinegar on strawberries, I don't know why it works either but it does!)(Okay, try some orange liqueur or something then. Sheesh.)

Now slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and don't over mix.

Fold in:

2 1/2 cups Hershey's Special Dark Chips which is the second to last bag that you have from that time a couple of years ago when you bought all 10 or 15 bags that were on sale for a dollar apiece. I know the chips look a little funny but that bloom just happens to chocolate and doesn't mean a thing except that the temperature in your house has fluctuated a bit...go ahead try one. See, it's good.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonful about an inch and a half apart on a rimmed cookie sheet

Bake for 6 minutes, rotate the sheet and bake for 6 more minutes.

Let rest on cookie sheet for a minute and transfer to a wire cooling rack.

We got 33 cookies out of this recipe.

Get yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of milk and enjoy.

I dare you to eat more than one at a go!

Now this was a day to remember...

Just the breeze, the sand, a chair, some knitting and the family leaving me alone. It was wonderful!

Facebook fun

Insert my name here is beginning to believe I was a bad cat in a past life. Why else would I not be able to sleep in this one?

about an hour ago · Comment ·

insert your name here

and you don't like showers. Makes sense.

40 minutes ago ·

Insert my name here

and the ADD combined with equally intense ability to focus, being rather a bit of a hedonist, high maintenance and low key all at the same time. It must be true...

Flowers in the Storm

(Expanded from my original response to Lyvvies blog)

"Flowers in the Storm" by Laura Kinsale is one of my all time favorite books ever. I read it when it first came out back in 1992 when I was pregnant with my Big Girl. I even bought a copy though I was a poor single mom, and I read it many times but eventually it was lost what with all the moving I did. I found my my current copy in 2003 or 2004 it looks like, for some reason I think it was after Maggie died. I thought it had been more recently than that. Oh well-time zooms. I love the story. Love it. There are so many reasons to love it. The story itself, the writing, the Bad Boy, the Good Girl, it is all very engaging.

If you like romances I do highly recommend this one.

I'm not giving anything away by saying that the "hero" of the story suffers from a stroke. From the story line I would say stress and living the high life brought it on. That is of course just my opinion. Strokes have many causes, aneurysm rupture is just one. An aneurysm is an enlarged vessel in your brain, and when it ruptures it causes a stroke and is often fatal.

This is the story of my mother's father as it was told to me. I'm sure there is much left out or just gotten wrong but hey, it's what I remember.

Grandaddy Hand is on the extreme left

My grandfather as a young man joined the army towards the end of WWII and decided to go AWOL for a little R&R just days before his deployment overseas. He was a bit of a rabble rouser I hear, always good for a fight, and when he and his buddies were located by MP's a bar fight ensued. My grandfather got hit so hard by an MP in the melee that he lost consciousness and stayed out for 2 or 3 days.* The military ended up doing x-rays and discovered my grandfather had an aneurysm that had NOT ruptured. Upon this discovery, and when he finally regained consciousness, he was given a medical discharge and sent him on his way with 10% benefits instead of shipping him off to war*. My grandfather married, had kids, built up his own successful grocery/produce business in Florida, owned two houses and a Thoroughbred or two and things were looking good. One day as he was making his business rounds the aneurysm ruptured. My grandfather, knowing his condition, recognized immediately what had happened and was able to let it be known that he needed an ambulance. He was only 41 and just a week away from seeing my uncle was born. by some miracle he survived the initial trauma. Sadly the hospital "lost" him shortly after he regained consciousness when a nurse, mistaking his grunts and flailing for something else entirely, wheeled him to the psych ward where he remained for, I think, a week. During that time my grandmother as I mentioned was very pregnant and giving birth-you can imagine I'm sure how much shock and stress she was experiencing. My grandfather never really talked much about that time except to say that there was no worse feeling than having your full faculties and being entirely unable to communicate and being trapped, in his own mind, in his own body and with a bunch of truly crazy people on top of all that. Granddaddy eventually recovered much of his speech and control of much of his body, though he remained paralyzed on his right side and wore a brace the remainder of his life. He died from complications of multiple strokes when I was almost 17. He was 65.

The End.

My grandfather's story is one of the reasons I love this book so much. I know first hand, well from his life, the difficulties and possibilities, the life and the love that survive tragedy. My grandmother has survived a stroke of unknown cause (the day before Maggie was born as a matter of fact)and has recovered quite well, though she too suffers from partial paralysis in her left arm.

The End End

*Another version of Grandaddy's initial injury has him falling off the back of a half-track vehicle as it was pulling an airplane onto the tarmac. I only ever heard the fight scene story but Mom has heard both versions.

*Grandma had to fight to get Granddaddy's 100% disability after the rupture. The Veteran's Administration tried to say the rupture was unrelated to the initial injury but with the help of a FL representative named Claude Pepper the Veterans Administration relented and awarded him full benefits. By the way, the Claude Pepper Highway is the main road in Chiefland near Mom's farm in N Florida.

Happy Fucking Friday!

(No, I don't have a fucking picture this time. Sorry)

I made this last night. Okay, okay it was yesterday morning and man let me tell you it was DELICIOUS! We ate the rest for lunch today. It's all gone.

Sweet and Sauerkraut Pork

In a huge crock pot put:

1lb good saurkraut

On top of the kraut place:

1/2 of a 7lb bone in Boston butt-the half with the bone(I'll tell you what I used the other half for another day)

lightly season with salt and pepper

Press onto the pork:

1/2 cup brown sugar

Around the roast add:

3 large granny smith apples, cored and cut into 8ths

Put your crock pot on high and cook for 6 hours. *I think if you did this before work it would be better to put it on low for 8 or 9 hours. I really have no clue except to say that it is possible to overcook something in a crock pot. Boy was that a waste of a good chuck roast!

Serve with a nice crusty bread to soak up all the delicious juices.

A funny little story...

One of my sisters got married this past summer and I was able to attend. I stayed at another sister's house. I have lots of sisters. Anyway, as we were talking and reminiscing she said, "Hey, how do like my chairs? Do they look familiar to you? I bought them from the library last year when they remodeled. I picked out the two in the best shape."

"Of course I remember them" I said. "I used to make out in them with my boyfriend every week when we were supposed to be studying."

True story.

His name was Ralph.

*the picture is from an old ad on craigslist-the chair is no longer available and it's not exactly right but kinda close, the actual chairs are way cooler!

Enough with the soap box already!

I thought some of you might like to see what my recipes actually look like.

This first one is the Kid's recipe for an olive sandwich that she was trying to convince me Big Daddy D wanted.

This is a recipe for arm warmers.
These are the arm warmers-behind them on the coffee table are 4 other pairs.

Here's my recipe for Italian Beef and Pasta-it is delicious.

And here's how I look today, minus the partially knit hat which I have frogged-unnecessarily as it turns out.

Here's how the above hat will look once it's finished.

Let's just think about this for a minute.

Our skin is the largest organ we have.

It serves many many important functions.

One of which is waste/toxin removal.

I say don't fuck with Mother Nature cause she'll always fuck you harder.

That's all I have to say about that.

And no, I don't smell of patchouli and body odor.

Have a great day!

By the way this is no jab at anyone, just me ranting a little more cause now my brain won't turn off and I figure maybe some of this thought train will run out my fingers and make some room for other stuff, like getting out my sewing machine or painting a wall or SOMETHING.

An odd thing to notice-or I've been home with these kids too long...

It has come to my attention that for some reason when I get out of the shower I inevitably forget to dry my right armpit. Of course I don't think about it until my deodorant stick slips right outta there, obviously leaving nothing behind on my skin, then I have to grab my towel and wipe vigorously and reapply the deodorant (after wiping the water off of it too). And since we are speaking of personal hygiene-we are right? I've also noticed that even though I am right handed I get a closer shave when I use my left hand. Weird huh? Oh, and for those of you who know about my test drive of a new razor, I have decided not to switch after all. It seems I do prefer my tried and true Gillette Good News razor. Mostly because I like the smallness of it. Interestingly enough I've read somewhere that women in particular show marked brand loyalty when it comes to personal hygiene and skin care products and it looks like I am part of that statistic. Nearly every product I use is one I've used since the onset of puberty. Seriously. The only changes I have made are switching to a Sonicare toothbrush and Tom's of Maine deodorant, both health-motivated changes for gum and breast health.