Mudpuddle

Sometimes It Requires The Big Tractor

2012-01-26T15:28:00.000-06:00

You know how when you're driving along by the lake in The Chief's truck and you drive a teensy bit closer to the lake than you know you probably should but you want to see if that turtle shell washed up on the shore is worth picking up and then you feel the tires sink down in the mud and start to spin but you're pretty sure that if you just keep doing the same thing (pressing on the accelerator) that surely to goodness and mercy you can dig yourself out of the cavern-like ruts you've just made when in reality all you're doing is SINKING DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO THE CHASM OF YOUR TROUBLES?

You don't?

Then me either. That of course, was purely a hypothetical scenario. A literary device for purposes of illustration only.

I mean that would require that The Chief use The Big Tractor (heretofore known as TBT) to pull you out and in order for him to use TBT he would need the key to said TBT and the last person to be handed the key to put back in it's regular storage place forgot where ~~she~~ they actually put it but the facts are pretty clear that they didn't put it back in it's regular storage place 'cause it's not stinkin' there and Oh My Gosh MAKE THE WHOLE NIGHTMARE STOP.

No. I've certainly never experienced anything like that. Who would be stupid enough to do that anyway?

Geez.

I guess what I'm saying is do you ever find yourself in a rut? A same old routine rut? And you just keep doing the same thing, all the while expecting to somehow pull yourself out and then you are so terribly mired in that rut that you don't think you'll ever find the key to The Big Tractor?

I remember when I was teaching everyday that sometimes I would be staring into the mirror in the morning as I was drying my hair and I couldn't remember if it was still yesterday or if it was already tomorrow. You know everything was so much the same day in and day out that you get lost in the sameness of it all?

(Please just indulge my mental instability if you have never in your life felt this way and have absolutely no earthly idea what I'm talking about.)

(Or go get yourself a snack to help you through the remainder of the post.)

But if you do know this feeling, and you've experienced a time when you found yourself in a deep "Grand Canyon-ish" type rut, you might be interested in some really, really easy things you can do to kind of change things up that don't require a lot of money, a drastic change of lifestyle, a divorce, or checking yourself into any type of institution.

Heaven forbid.

I'm talking little things. Things that might seem insignificant in the scheme of things but that can work wonders. Like The Big Tractor. If you could only, you know, find the pesky key.

Things like:

1.Take a new route to work. Or school. Or the gym. Sometimes there are new and interesting things to look at right around the block.

2. Shop at a different grocery store or drive-thru a different McDonalds. Who knows, the other HEB may have a better TAB display or carry ALL the varieties of Cheez-its. Or the poor service at the new McD's might just make you appreciate the guy with the crazy eye at your regular drive-thru that always winks at you when he gives you your Diet Coke. Or it might just be a tic.

3. Wear a different perfume. This works wonders. I am such a "wear the same scent all the time person" that on the days that I pull out some of my old stuff or venture out and spray on something completely new I ALMOST DON'T KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE! I can be exciting or daring or indomitable. (But before I'm that last thing, I should probably look it up...)

4. Part your hair on the opposite side. Seriously. I did this one day and was never once during the day able to hold my head perfectly straight. But it WAS different.

5. Try a new restaurant. Or a new cuisine. My life changed forever the first time I had Indian Food.

6. Buy and read a magazine about some interest or craft with which you are unfamiliar. Like knitting. Or wrestling. It's a great big world out there.

7. Get up earlier or later (if you can).

8. While you're doing things around the house or running errands in your car put the radio on a station you never listen to. Unless all you can find is hard rock or rap. Then feel free to stick with your same old same old...

9. Send an old (or new) friend a message. Better yet, write a letter. It's cathartic for you and a pleasant surprise for them. I can't tell you how much I miss receiving personal letters in the mail. And just think, you might prolong the life of the US Postal Service.

10. Stop and say a quick prayer of thanks for your life. Even it's monotony and sameness. Ask God to send some reminders of everything you really do love about your day to day. The security of a job, the comfort and safety of your home, the predictability of your schedule.

It could be worse. The turtle shell may not have been worth picking up.

Have a great day!
Lu

The Meadow

2012-01-24T14:36:00.000-06:00

You might be surprised today to find me reviewing a book.

It's literary Tuesday. I know last time it was literary Thursday, but look, I'm a wildly creative, totally out of the box thinker and you know it.

Literary Tuesday.

It's likely you're thinking "She's no book reviewer. She lolligags around her house cooking and taking pictures. She spends hours boiling chicken for that crazy dog of hers, and occasionally writes something that may include the phrase you know at least three or five times."

(But certainly not four, because evidently that is an extremely unlucky number for the Chinese and their New Year was just yesterday so I don't feel like we can risk it yet.)

You know, sayonara and all...

But I googled exactly what a book reviewer is, and lo and behold I'm actually highly qualified. A person who reads a book and tells what they think about it. You can't argue with The Google.

So I'm a professional so to speak.

Don't question me.

Anyway I love to have long literary discussions with my oldest son the writer. He's the real thing. He uses words like plot and persona and genre with such flair it will make your head spin. He's teaching college students how to write. They probably don't realize how lucky they are right now. But they will. When we have these discussions he says lots of smart and insightful things while I nod my head and pretend I understand what we're talking about, but mostly I'm just trying to figure out how I gave birth to someone so terribly talented.

For Christmas he gave me two books.

The Meadow by James Galvin was the one I read first. I believe one of his professors had recommended it. And my son said that it made him think of his Granddaddy (my sweet Daddy who passed away just a few months ago).

Here's the back cover endorsement...

In discreet disclosures joined with the intricacy of a spider's web, James Galvin depicts the hundred-year history of a meadow in the arid mountains of the Colorado/Wyoming border. Galvin describes the seasons, the weather, the wildlife, and the few people who do not possess but are themselves possessed by this terrain. In doing so he reveals an experience that is part of our heritage and mythology. For Lyle, Ray, Clara, and App, the struggle to survive on an independent family ranch is a series of blameless failures and unacclaimed successes that illuminate the Western character. The Meadow evokes a sense of place that can be achieved only by someone that knows it intimately.

I was immediately struck by the phrase "the few people who do not possess but are themselves possessed by this terrain."

This perfectly describes my Dad's relationship with this place I call "the farm". It possessed him. It was him. His birth, his family, his struggles and his memories were the farm. Every time I'm there, even if I'm isolated in the middle of hundreds of acres of trees I know without a doubt that chances are, at one time or another over his almost one hundred years of life, my Daddy stood in that exact spot. He likely leaned against this very tree or stopped to rest on this same square foot of earth. He may have been 7 years old and playing chase with one of his twelve siblings or age 40 and repairing the fence that runs along that field or perhaps even 95 and slowly walking with The Chief through this spot just because he still could.

I didn't immediately understand everything I read right at the moment I read it, but that's the whole "intricacy of a spider's web" part. You live Lyle's (and Ray and Clara and App's) life in short bits and pieces that eventually fall together in a tapestry of time and experience and feeling.

Place is a strong thing. If you or someone you love is inexplicably drawn to "a place", you'll love reading this book. It is powerful and sometimes haunting, but always beautiful.

The Meadow makes you think. And I believe that's what a good book is supposed to do.

Lu

The Post Without a Plan

2012-01-23T12:34:00.000-06:00

I know how much y'all love a good winging it
post from me.

You're all free-wheelers. Admit it.

You love the danger. I am your wild-thang.

May this post satisfy your rebellious soul...

(Remember, I always make a list when I am without a plan.)

1. Some of you are aware (well, probably most of you since I've complained about all the work), that The Chief and I (mostly, The Chief, but still, this story wouldn't mean much without my participation) have been finishing the work on a house that we are getting ready to put up for lease. Last night after 3 straight days of back-breaking labor I announced:

"Chief, I think that it's obvious, after all this you know, torture, that the depth of my love for you is you know...deep. But I'm afraid at this point, we may be pretty close to discovering the limits of its depth. What I'm saying Chief is that the love gauge is dangerously low."

I always think it's wise to be honest about my feelings and most especially any feelings that might involve physical pain on my part.

And you know what The Chief said? He said "OK Lu, but before it totally bottoms out would you make sure you finish scraping that caulk around the bathtub so I can replace it?"

He is hilarious.

2. Today is Chinese New Year. I'm not really sure why I know this since I'm not Chinese, but maybe it's because I do love a good Hot and Sour Soup. Anyhoo, apparently we are supposed to clean our homes to rid ourselves of last year's bad luck and make room for this year's good luck and then put away all our brooms to make sure the good luck is not swept away. I'm all about the putting away of the brooms part.
And maybe celebrating the year of the Water Dragon with a crispy egg roll or four.

3. This year I promise I'm going to make a King Cake for Mardi Gras from scratch. I pitifully announce that I plan to do this every single year and then fail to do so. Let's see if I can pull through just this once. If I do I will proudly feature photos of the masterpiece right here and tell you how it tastes.

Because that's what I need to be doing with my healthy eating initiative and all...

4. I could absolutely not be more excited to announce that I am going to New York City at the end of March with a group of my High School girlfriends! I'm not sure if anyone has officially told NYC that we are coming, but let me tell you we plan to STAKE A CLAIM. The fun will be non-stop, never-ending, and dare I say contagious. We have planned for every contingency (of course, I'm not one of the "planners" but I do encourage them with things like Yes! and This will be so awesome!), even what we will do if we get arrested by some handsome policemen resembling those on one of the many COMPLETELY TRUE-TO-LIFE TELEVISION COP SHOWS.

We want to be prepared.

Should we be arrested in our snazzy/fashionable pumps, or would our spiffy walking boots be more practical for incarceration?

There's just so much to think about.

I will try to blog nightly while we're there. I know you won't want to miss the fun.

5. Now I'm off to decide upon a menu for Super Bowl. Any suggestions?

Sayonara, (I know, I know)

Lu

Haiku For You By Lu: Angst Edition

2012-01-19T07:39:00.000-06:00

Tired. No sleep for Lu
The Chief pulling covers. Bad.
Revenge will be mine.

Weegie, smelly dog.
Farm substance rolling gags me.
Wash with soap, I must.

Long-haired, bearded boys.
Momma loves you even so.
Remember shaving?

Blueberries. Round orbs.
Clumsy. Rolling across floor.
Weegie vacuum, nice...

Donuts you haunt me.
Painful jeans squeezing. I die.
Salad for lunch. Crap.

Quite obviously a mess,

Lu

Don't Be A Wallflower.

2012-01-17T11:20:00.000-06:00

This is my lunch.

You'll never know if I follow it up with something not quite so nutritious, but like I said:

I'm trying.

A recent dinner guest to my home commented on how much they love the various salads I like to serve.
I do particularly appreciate a well thought-out salad and often base my opinion of a restaurant on the freshness and quality of their salads, as opposed to just their main course offerings.

Oh. And where they choose to seat me in their little establishment. I don't give a whit what their fancy salad looks like if they seat me near the restrooms or the swinging door to the kitchen.

If they do that they are dead to me.

Forever.

A really good salad takes little thought, but it does take a very well-stocked produce drawer. Since I've been making an effort to eat healthier this year I've attempted to keep mine full to the brim with all the necessary makings for a variety of wonderful salads.

The yummiest salads start with the best base. The greens. So today I thought I'd share my favorite base materials which make for the most interesting and necessary part of the salad. You can have all kinds of exotic and luscious toppings and mix-ins for a salad, but without the right greens you'll strike out every time.

I hate to strike out.

I'm more of a home-run lover.

I would not hate it if you called me Ms. Pujols.

1. Love the Iceberg.
It's gotten such a bad rap! Now I would never serve it looking sad and lonely like it does above, but nothing beats its texture and crunch. Granted, as a non-dark green, it lacks a lot of the nutrients and health benefits of it's darker cousins, but sometimes it's just the ticket for a hearty, full-bodied salad. It holds up well to thicker dressings and nothing beats an old-school wedge of Iceberg with Blue cheese dressing and a few fresh bacon bits.

Granted, my shoe looks tasty with a few fresh bacon bits. But still.

It's also great to mix with other greens to provide a little volume pump-up and color variation.

And basically it's just crunchy and fun to eat.

2. Red Leaf Lettuce
Also nicely textured, red leafed lettuce adds a punch of color and healthful vitamins. It's tricky to keep fresh, so I use my salad spinner (my secret love) to store it. If you don't have a salad spinner please immediately drop everything you're doing and run out and buy one. Just a cheap one with a pull-cord will do fine. Nothing dries and stores delicate greens better. Moisture is the kiss of death to fragile leafy greens. If you don't have a spinner yet, make sure you thoroughly wash and dry each leaf and place in a zip-top plastic bag with several layers of paper towels. You'll be glad you did, and it will cut down significantly on wasted, soggy, brown, yuckiness.

But back to the red-leaf. It's also pretty. And nothing helps my attitude about eating more salads than eating something beautiful. Amen.

Please don't bother adjusting your eyeballs. It's a bad picture. Apologies.

3. Spinach
Now typically I don't buy pre-packaged/pre-washed greens. But the fresh spinach looked a little iffy last week at the store so I came home with this. Spinach, with it's slightly bitter bite is a great foundation for a salad with an addition of tart fruit, tangy cheese, and a sweet dressing.
You can also saute some of the spinach with a little butter for a quick side dish. But be prepared of course, to only get about two tablespoons of sauteed spinach from a bag.

For a spinach saute try frozen spinach. It's economical and nothing could be easier...

4. Boston Lettuce
Also called butter lettuce (and sometimes "living lettuce") Boston lettuce is typically hydroponically grown (in water, instead of in soil) and comes with the root ball still attached. It's always fresh and crunchy, and if you periodically put a few drops of water on the root ball, it stays appealing for days and days.

It's perfectly complemented by crispy red or orange pepper strips and ripe, red tomatoes.

Lately, I've been using it in place of tortillas (the leaves are large, sturdy, and slightly cupped). It's the perfect vehicle for a little pulled pork and tomatillo salsa or just some juicy ground beef and whatever suits your fancy.

We all enjoy a suited fancy, now don't we?

Those are my favs.

With the addition of cherry tomatoes, carrots, red, yellow, and orange peppers, avocado, some tangy cheese, toasted nuts, green and red onions, and maybe some cilantro and parsley (oh and rosemary!) we're on the road to some mighty fine salad-makin'.

Wait. And some crusty croutons.
They are my life.

What have I left out? What are your salad must-haves?

Lu

I'd Like to Give Myself a Little Credit. At Least I'm Trying.

2012-01-12T10:24:00.000-06:00

I have a problem. A breakfast problem.
I've really been making an effort to eat healthier and lighter. I'm not dieting exactly, because Heaven Knows I've dieted before and disappointed myself in too many ways to count. No, I'm just eating a lot more veggies and fruits and a lot less meat and sugar. Oh and fat. Less fat.

Don't be fooled by what looks like butter on my knife in the photo above. It only LOOKS like a tiny bit of butter.
(And if you believe that, then you've got your own problems.)

Anyway, here's the issue. When I get up in the mornings I don't really want to eat. Believe me. I get over this just fine as the day wears on, but I'm just not an early eater which leads me to put off breakfast to Oh About 11:30 or 12 which we all know is officially lunch time which just throws off my whole eating schedule and generally creates what we all now recognize as a THIRD WORLD PROBLEM.

And you were wondering where all these things started.

I apologize.

So I've been making an effort to eat earlier. I mean I'm smart enough to know that the body needs fuel to get going and breakfast is the most important meal of the day and yada yada yada and all that. As a former Biology teacher I'm aware of the chemical processes and such that start your engine in the morning and give you enough energy to get through Zumba without flopping onto the floor in a middle-aged heap and weeping for most of the class while all those tight-bodied little 20 year olds prance around you in their matching workout outfits and perky ponytails. I understand the science.

So here's what I'm doing. As soon as I get up I eat a bit of cereal (I'm into Special K) (but only because some genius at General Mills or Kellogs or somewhere chose to quit making my beloved Product 19) with a tiny bit of 2% milk and maybe some blueberries or raspberries if I can get to them before The Weege.
Then mid-morning I have a snack-y kind of thing which could be almost anything, you know snack-ish. And to make sure I had something fairly healthy for the snack this week I made Healthy Apple Oat Scones.

And keep in mind I made up the name myself because you might tend to wonder about the "healthy" part when you see that there is some butter in the recipe. I might be unable to fit in my jeans, but I am also not stupid. I know what makes a scone a scone and it's not good intentions. It's butter.

Look, I'm not trying to deceive myself or anyone else. They are healthier than the cheesecake in my freezer and half a jar of Nutella. So there.

And for Pete's sake (and yours) you don't eat three of them at a time like in the picture (remember the odd number photographic rule) and although one is odd, it mostly just looks lonely in a picture.

I thought you might like to try them yourself.

Here's the recipe. No pictures this time. I was in a hurry to get to the snacking part of the process.

Healthy Apple Oat Scones

(adapted from aMartha Stewart recipe)

1 cup flour

½ c. whole wheat flour

1 c. quick cook oats

½ c. steel cut oats

¼ c. light brown sugar

2 T. honey

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

2 tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ sticks cold butter (cut in small pieces)

1 ½ c. diced Honeycrisp apple (one med. apple)

2/3 c. cold buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together the flours,oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, soda, and salt. Cut inbutter with a pastry blender or your fingers.

Mix together the honey, apples and buttermilk.

Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Pat dough out on floured surface until about ½ inch thick.Cut into small squares with a knife or use a biscuit cutter. Sprinkle eachscone with some extra oats and a little coarse sugar. Bake on parchment lined(or sprayed) baking sheet for about 23-25 minutes. Make sure they are nicelybrowned.

Enjoy.

What's everyone else out there doing to get ~~healthy~~ healthier?????

Lu

Counseling Will Be Of No Use

2012-01-10T17:05:00.000-06:00

Y'all.

I am certainly no stranger to Physical Labor. I'm not. We've hung out together on many occasions. I daresay, some of them were even almost pleasant.

But I am quite obviously totally estranged from Physical Labor All Day Long For Three Straight Days.
In fact, Me and the Physical Labor All Day Long For Three Straight Days could not have a more dysfunctional relationship.

At this very moment, in fact, I am having less than positive thoughts about the possibility that there ever in this lifetime will be a reconciliation between us.

Ever.

There has been scraping and painting and ladder climbing and bending. There have been innumerable trips to Home Depot (shout out to Jim! You're the best!) and incorrect measurements and WHY THE HECK DIDN'T YOU BOTHER TO TELL ME IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ENAMEL PAINT?
There's also been a great deal of carpet removal and grout grinding. Yes, grout grinding. 2 whole rooms of it.

But now mostly there's just pain. And the inability to use my limbs in any kind of normal way.

So I decided that I would just share a couple of recent pictures instead of having to take any powerful narcotics just to be able to type a long post.

I know you understand.

This photo shows one of my sons (on the left) hitting a tree we were trying to burn at the farm. I thought the effect was kind of cool. You know, the Lu has no clue whatsoever how to use her camera in the dark effect.

This is what we did New Year's Eve.

I know. Exciting.

And this is my new Texas Ware Bowl.

You all knew I bought it.

I think I loved it before I saw it.
I think I dreamed it into life...

There's a song.

No really. It's in mint condition. And a great color.

And I have no self control.

Hope you're all having a great day!

Lu

The Trendy End

2012-01-07T09:15:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we looked at 5 food trends mentioned last week in the Houston Chronicle. Here's the last five.

6. Southern-grown ingredients - Don't look now, but I may be "in". Seriously, who knew that I would ever be on the front edge of a trend? Fried chicken, biscuits, cornbread, barbecue, it's all hot for 2012. Color me thrilled. And also another 15 pounds heavier.

Prepare yourself for the next one

7. Blood - Evidently blood is becoming a more common offering on hip restaurant menus. Another "natural"(?) step in the nose-to-tail movement. Count me so far out. Blood pancakes are becoming popular as are sauces thickened with blood. And apparently there's a recipe for Chocolate-Blood Ice Cream making the chic restaurant rounds.

I'm not sure what to say. I'll stick with YUCK.

8. Peruvian food - Considered one of the most varied and richest cuisines in the world, Peruvians cook with Incan, Spanish, African, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian influences.

And did I mention rich? I could get on board this train.

9. New flavor boosts from condiment-type foods - Yuzou kosho, the juice of finger limes, amaranth, and just some very flavor- packed foods like mackeral are going to be big. Move over hot sauce and salt and pepper.

10. Cheese - Now it's supposedly hip and hot to be a cheesemonger. It's no longer cool to be a bartender or a butcher. Cheese guy is the job. And I just want to say that I was SO ahead of this trend. I told The Chief last year that I wanted to own a cheese shop and be a cheese expert. He did not take me seriously. I never knew why.

Now I bet he's sorry.

I could be famous.

And trendy.

Not just cheesy.

So there's the top 10. Are you ready to experiment? Are you already on board with some of the trends? Do you staunchly rebuke some of them?

Let us know.

Lu

One Man's Trend is Another Man's "No Thank You, I'll Have A Cheeseburger"

2012-01-06T09:12:00.000-06:00

Last week the Houston Chronicle Flavor section printed a list of predicted food trends for 2012. You know, what's in, what's out, what's cool to eat. I mean who wants to be caught eating a Twinkie if someone has dubbed this the year of the Zinger?

Certainly not me.

So listen up folks and learn.

1. Fin-to-tail eating - This I suppose is just a natural progression from the nose-to-tail movement (which of course, just means eating the whole of an animal, no waste) but in this case they're talking fish skin crisps and barbecued fish bones. I'm talking no.

2. Round food - Italian Rice Balls, fried goat cheese balls, crispy risotto oxtail balls - that kind of thing.
I'm not sure what happened to plain old meatballs, or the Peanut M&M for heavens sake, but apparently they didn't make the cut.

3. Honey- It's the big, new, "in" sweetener. It's also going in cough treatments, scar reducers and products to combat aging skin. Excuse me while I go smear some on my face. But don't go near my precious TAB with it. I like the fake, chemically stuff just fine.

4. The Beer Garden - Supposedly the new alternative to indoor bars and lounges, these outdoor venues offer cheap, "unchallenging" snacks and affordable beverages. I'm not a beer drinker, so you won't find me at one, and I doubt you'll find much of anyone at one here in the Houston area in August when it's hot enough to make any good beer maiden want to die or move to Milwaukee.

5. Heirloom foods/ingredients - Well, I'm certainly no brainiac, but my guess is that SOMEBODY is trying to fancify "older varieties of veggies and fruits" that most of us grew up eating. I'm pretty sure the tomatoes and green beans that my Granddaddy grew for years behind his house were what you'd now call heirloom. I know that technically an heirloom designation also means "genetically" distinct, but what I'm thinking is how is the typical Joe going to know?
I'll tell you how he'll know. He'll pay 3 dollars more per pound for them.

That's how.

So that's the first 5. There are 5 more to come. I thought I'd let you ruminate, cogitate and maybe even vegetate on those a while...

(Really I just have a date with The Chief for some exciting PAINTING, and goodness knows, I do not want to be late...)

What are your Food Trends for 2012?

Lu

Loose Ends. For Safety's Sake They Really Should Be Tied

2012-01-04T14:28:00.002-06:00

I've had a few thoughts floating around in my mind and occasionally one pops up rather violently and I think My Word, I really must share that with the internets! So here I am sharing a few pop-ups with you.

1. Since, as evidenced by yesterday's post, I am practically fluent in Spanish, I thought it would be fun to have a little Mexican feast last night.

I made Posole Rojo and it was a hit!

I think I've mentioned that I am becoming increasingly enamored with all things New Mexican. I got to serve it in my little Mexican casseroles which I just love.
I tried to get The Chief to wear a serape of sorts during the meal, but that did not go as planned. He's really not as easy-going as you'd imagine.

And speaking of New Mexico.

I really need to do a little photographic update on my succulent dish garden. We can have a moment of silence in honor and memoriam of a couple of the cacti that have gone on before us. Bless their little dried-up hearts.

The posole was ever so good, and I did make an effort to photograph the steps (albeit I did get a little distracted here and there with all the fainting, etc. brought on by working with the hot chiles) and I promise one day soon I will sit down and try to put it all in order and make some sense of the whole wonderful thing.

It was warm and comforting and spicy and good.

Amen.

2. The Chief has mentioned a time or two lately that he thought we needed to rotate the mattress.

Yes, the new mattress.

No, I don't know what is wrong with us and why we continue to have what you might call mattress trauma.

I will politely spare you the long version, but last night after I had already turned-down the bed, he decided it was time for the rotation. In my mind this meant that we would rotate it, then I would neatly rearrange and re-tuck the top sheet and quilts as due to the rotation the bottoms would now be the tops and the tops would be the bottom and HOW ON EARTH COULD WE SLEEP IF THE TOP HEM OF THE SHEET WAS DOWN AT OUR FEET?
Well, The Chief, being slightly less OCD about how a bed is made got right into the rotated bed and pulled the UPSIDE DOWN COVERS up and said he was going to sleep and I could fix the bed in the morning.

The top hem of the sheet was at the foot of the bed.

I KNOW.

I thought about dragging him out of the bed and fixing the whole awful mess, but at almost 6'4" and a little over 200 pounds (him, not me) he wouldn't budge.

I barely slept a wink. It was all so wrong.

3. I may or may not have bought a new Texas Ware bowl. If I did, you'll all have to agree (in writing, of course) not to mention it to a CERTAIN SOMEONE who thinks my obsession with Texas Ware is a little, well, obsessive.

But if I did it's the greatest color ever. Perhaps I could post a picture.

Of the arbitrary bowl.

In the most wonderful arbitrary copper-ish orange-y color.

But, that's only if I bought it.

I'll have the forms ready for you to sign tomorrow.

Lu

Like A Bean Doctor

2012-01-02T23:10:00.003-06:00

Y'all know that commercial on TV? The one where the people are singing along to Elton John's Rocket Man and everyone has their own "version" of the lyrics? I think it might be for some type of radio sound?
But I'm not sure.

It might be a car commercial. Although I think at some point someone is in the shower, so probably not a car...

Now in my defense, I rarely just sit and watch TV. I'm almost always doing something else, especially during commercials, and I am quite well-known for just catching bits and pieces of commercials which lends itself, in many cases, to me being totally clueless about the product being advertised. As a matter of fact the commercial to which I refer had me bumfuzzled for a while-I thought at the end when the guy finally hears "burning out his fuse up here alone", the girl mocks him for being wrong.

Who knew it wasn't "Turning our infusion chromosomes"???

What can I say? It's the biology teacher in me.

So let me review 1) I rarely pay attention to commercials 2) I seem to be confused a lot 3) the guy is right after all about the whole "burning the fuse alone" thing.

Anyway, this entire rambling introductory tale is just to say that I am one of those people that sing a song for years without ever knowing the words. There are simply too many instances for me to even begin to share. I'm not sure if during my formative teenage music years I was too concerned about my aqua blue eyeshadow, my Farrah Fawcett hairstyle, or looking cute in my drill team uniform, but SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY I decided that learning the actual lyrics to songs was completely optional.

I liked the beat and the sound of a song, and that was all I needed.

I had the rhythm. Yes indeedy.

In fact I still do. And I still have the pesky lyric problem.

And that my friends brings us to my point (if The Chief were here he would now be able to quit twirling his hand around in the classic oh my gosh Lu please hurry and get to the point rotation signal).

Have I mentioned before just how much The Chief loves my stories?

But, back to the point.

Yesterday, at gunpoint, I forced myself to go back to Zumba class. I had taken an extended Holiday Hiatus because during the Christmas season of chocolate, sweets of all sorts, and high caloric foods no one wants to see me walking around looking all buff and in shape. It's just too depressing for other people. So in the spirit of cooperation I slacked off. It's all about being a good neighbor.

So I go back for the first time in a while, and at this very moment, in fact, can barely stand upright from you know, all the pain.

Anyway, while driving home from class yesterday I realized that the Zumba song that FOREVER STAYS STUCK IN MY MIND is most likely not "Like a Bean Doctor" (although that phrase is repeated several times at intervals throughout the song leading me to surmise that it is not only the chorus, but also the title).

I'm logical and methodical like that.

But now that I think about it, the song is in Spanish, and "like a bean doctor" is likely not a common Spanish phrase.

Or common. Or even Spanish.

So I'm thinking it might be something more along the lines of "hike a spleen doctor" or maybe "Mike, the Mean Doctor",

Because that actually makes a lot more sense.

Thanks for listening. Sometimes I just need to talk it out.

Lu

A Re-Dip

2011-12-29T12:51:00.000-06:00

Way back in August I posted my recipe for a tasty dip I call Lu's Gig'em Dip. You know, back in August when my Aggies were predicted to put some Gig'em on most, if not all of their opponents.

You know, back then.

But now it's now (please stay with me) and things did not, quite obviously, go as planned in the football-ish sense, but in the dip-ish sense, I assure you we're still good.

Please do not bother to try and analyze that last sentence...

Anyhoo, the thing is, I've had some requests to re-post the recipe and I am all about granting those requests (especially if it manages to save me some effort in trying to come up with something interesting to post).

Again, nothing I've said so far makes any sense at all...

I continue to get nice notes about how much people just love the dip and I thought since the New Years weekend was approaching and some dip-ish type offering is usually on everyone's menu for the big football watching extravaganza (you know, for those teams that were actually able to pull off some, well, wins...),

I thought I would post the recipe again.

Or re-post, if you will.

Kind of a re-dip.

I am so sorry.

So here you go...

If you want the step by step photos, you can click here: Lu's Gig'em Dip

Lu’sGig’em Dip

1 (14.5 oz) can Pinto Beans

3 T. finely diced onion

2 cloves garlic (finely diced)

1 finely diced Jalapeno pepper

1 whole roasted Hatch chile (finely diced)

½ t. Pinto Beano seasoning

1 small jar chopped pimentos (undrained

2 ½ cups grated cheese (Monterey Jack or Cheddar, or acombination)

½ t. Chipotle Chili Powder (or just regular chili powder)

1 T. butter

1 T. vegetable oil

Heat the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and stir until soft and translucent, about 3-4minutes. Do not let the garlic brown or it will be bitter. Add the PintoBeano seasoning. Drain most of theliquid from the beans (reserving the liquid) and add about 1/2 of the beans tothe garlic and onion. With a woodenspoon, mash up most of the beans. Stirwell. Add the Jalapeno, the Hatch Chile,the pimentos (with the liquid) , the remainder of the beans and a generouspinch of salt. Mix well and cook overmedium heat for about 4 minutes. Add thecheese and chile powder and stir well. Reduce heat to simmer (or very low) and stiruntil all the cheese is melted.

Add some of the reserved liquid from the beans if mixture is too thick.

Hope you enjoy!!!!!

We Like To Burn Things At Christmas. Doesn't Everyone?

2011-12-27T12:20:00.000-06:00

First, I'm wearing just the lightest touch of lime green eyeshadow.

I needed to tell someone.

I could tell The Chief, but he would respond by asking if I had paid the taxes yet and "that's great Lu, but why is exactly one member of each pair of my socks missing".

So I thought it would be more fun to tell y'all.

OK then.

Next.

We had a really great Christmas. The weather was yucky wet, but it's hard to complain about wet yuckiness when it hasn't rained at the farm in about 27 years. So wet and yucky YEAH!

Every Christmas it seems like The Chief and the boys just cannot wait to burn some things. I'm not sure what it is but come hell (I am so sorry) or high water they are going to light some fires. After a typical long, dry summer there are piles of trees and debris all over the farm just waiting to be burned. The burn ban has just recently been lifted, and because of the record-setting drought dead trees were everywhere. The Chief has been making burn piles for months just waiting for the perfect opportunity for incineration.

My camera battery died during the initial fire prep and I had to schlep back up the hill for a while to charge the battery. But it didn't take long for them to get started.

It's been a long, long time since there was standing water at the farm...

Even Weegie gets involved. See him over to the left? (Uh, no your other left.) He was directing the tractor.

I don't even complain anymore (at least not out loud) about the rampant and excessive use of flammable liquids. It is for naught...

It's so sad how many huge tree have died. Of course, in this particular area several of the trees succumbed not to the drought, but to a salt water leak from a nearby gas well. It hurt my heart.

The tractor is used to gather up the scattered dead wood, and also to knock down some of the smaller dead trees.
I spend a lot of my time gathering up coats and hats and gloves that have been haphazardly left in the line of fire.

Sometimes I'm called upon to fetch a gas can.

Seriously, who knew there was a definite difference between gas and diesel?

Geesh.

It's everywhere....

The boys tell me you look more professional (in a wood-burning, lumberjack-type way) if you let your hair and beard grow to unprecedented lengths specifically for the Christmas burning.

I do not believe their lies.

Some of the larger trees will smolder for weeks. Some will refuse to burn. My Daddy sometimes burned the same dead trees for years and years.

I finally excused myself and wandered back up to the house. In the picture above Weegie is eating something that would later come back to haunt him.

He didn't feel well that night.

The Christmas Burn.

It's just generally hazardous and exciting.

How was yours?

Lu

Stop The Presses.

2011-12-26T21:06:00.001-06:00

People.
It's my birthday.
I thought you'd want to know.
I'm six.

I accept gifts.
Chicken, blueberries and cheese are my favorites.

Happy Birthday to me.

The Weege.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T20:42:00.002-06:00

Hi y'all.

I was about to post a long, complex story about the Christmas Bonfires here at the farm complete with loads of fascinating, dare I say spell-binding photos, but the internet connection here in the woods is sketchy at best and sometimes just downright nonexistent. The photos won't even begin to load.

So.

I'll have to save all that for later.

Right now I think I'll just wish you all a very Merry Christmas and tell you how much I appreciate your willingness to stop by here ever so often to share a little piece of my world.

You all make me smile a lot.

Really, you do, and that's a year-round present for me.

So thank you. I hope you and your loved ones are blessed with the most joyous and wondrous time as we stop to celebrate the birth of Our Savior.

God Bless you All.

Lu

I Bring You Sad Tidings of Kiss Shrinkage

2011-12-20T14:36:00.000-06:00

Well.

I've been making cookies today. Mainly because I still have about three gifts left to buy and I've developed a serious brain-blockage in my attempts to come up with ideas for those gifts, so I figured that I'd pretend to look busy for most of the day in an effort to avoid shopping.

And who doesn't like to pretend to be busy AND end up with cookies afterward? Stick with me people, I'll show you the ropes. I can also school you on how to look busy and end up with a pedicure.
Just sayin'.

The Chief likes the Peanut Butter Cookies With The Hershey Kiss On Top. I know they have a name - Peanut Butter Blossoms, Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies, but I stick with Peanut Butter Cookies With The Hershey Kiss On Top because I'm a realist.

I like to keep it real.

You know, these...

I've got to tell you though, that I've made a disturbing discovery. The Kisses. They are smaller. Now I don't typically buy these little candies throughout the year because quite frankly the probability of me putting in them in a little decorative glass bowl and just enjoying one ever so often is what you might politely call a "fat chance". No it's just best that I reserve the purchase of these little jewels for special occasions. But I'm telling you right now that I think they've shrunk. They just don't feel the same. And I'd appreciate it if someone could throw a little Kiss-related research my way to substantiate my claims.

The more spreadsheets the better.
At least if there is any kind of remote hope of convincing The Chief that I'm right. And no, it's not that important, but I like to convince him I'm right every chance I can get.

I like to keep our relationship healthy.

In other important seasonal news, I've buckled under and put some feed out for the birds knowing full well and with SOLID ASSURANCE that in doing so it's only hours until Weegie will be sprayed by a skunk.

The skunks have some kind of sophisticated monitoring system complete with GPS and integrated target analysis that alerts them any time I make the mistake of thinking I'm putting the seed out for the birds.

They'll be moving in soon. Weegie can sense it.

But in the meantime the birds have been enjoying the bird seed

This is one of the "lead birds" making an announcement to the others:

"Friends, when you get on the feeder make sure to stay on the backside of it so Lu cannot get any sort of good pictures".

"This irritates her to no end."

Junior there is apparently a slow learner.

I see some major discipline in his future.

Hope you're having a great day!

Lu

We Have Now Tied It All Up With A Bow

2011-12-15T08:14:00.001-06:00

I think it's safe to say that your favorites have been a hit!

Someone commented that "the readers of your blog, they are a diverse group!" And that, my friends, is what makes you all so great!

Here are a few more.

Diana says she's all about

I think it might be her "TAB".

I know that I would be delighted to find a six pack (or 7) of TAB under my tree, and I think Diana would feel the same way about her Dew.

She also likes Shea Butter for her dry skin.

I'm not sure if she just slathers the straight butter on or uses a product containing it... Either way, she has great skin!

Cathy, a wonderful writer friend, highly recommends the following:

These beeswax candles from Candle Bee Farm are wonderful! They burn long and clean with lead-free wicks and also get rid of cooking odors! They come in a variety of colors and you can even get sparkly ones for this time of year! Love them! http://www.candlebeefarm.com/

Oh, and about the price on this... their prices vary depending on the size, type of candle. But I know they have candles for $10.

Cathy also shared this

Ahava's Deadsea Mineral products are the best! But they're expensive, so I find them CHEAP at TJ Max and sometimes at Tuesday Morning. I love the Ahava Rich Cleansing Cream. Makes a huge difference in the way my face looks and feels! This is $22 but I can find it for $10 sometimes.

Thanks Cathy!

Just a thought: Tuesday Morning is also a great place to find a quick Hostess Gift!

Jillian sent in some great ideas! She's the sweet daughter of one of my dearest friends in the world, Shirley. I just had the privilege of meeting her this past year and she's a doll.

She writes:

Love this idea!!

A few of my favorite things...

"Rusk Wired Styling Cream." About $10 at grocery store. Finally found something for my thick, wavy hair that helps it maintain wave/curl throughout the day without it being wet/crunchy looking. :) I might never straighten my hair again now that I found this product!

Along those lines, "Tresemme Waterless Foam Shampoo" is great to use the second day on my wavy hair. $3-4 at grocery store. My hair goes crazy overnight, so without this I'd have to wash my hair all over the second day, which is a pain with my thick, tangly hair. Add a little hairspray after scrunching in hair and it looks freshly done!

"The Original XL Dish Drying Mat." $8 at Bed Bath & Beyond. Love this.

"Mr. Clean Dawn Fillable Superfabric Dish Wand". About $6 I think. Food doesn't stick to it at all, soap only comes out when you press the button, doesn't leak. I feel like it's a lot less germy than the average sponge because of the material on the top. I stick mine in the dishwasher every time I run it too.

Ok, I think that's all for now! Can't wait to see everyone elses! :)

Thanks Jill!!!

Jill's Mom, Shirley shares some things too!

Lu, hère they are...in no particular order!

#1...this is my very favorite candle of all time...it smells soooo good. (And I think I like it so much because it
smells like my favorite store :))

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?navAction=jump&id=690161&parentid=SEARCH_RESULTS&color=alo

Side note, the Volcano scent is the one I like...hope this link takes you to that scent!

#2...I discovered this thanks to a dear friend, Tammy, when I was dying with ulcers. I use it at the hint of an ulcer starting, and it stops them in their tracks. I truly believe I may never have a killer one again...Hallelujah!! I think it was a bit more than $10, but I would pay any price for it.

#3...Don't know where I have been these past 6 years, but I just discovered this 2005 Christmas album...and it's my favorite for this year!

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Sessions-Mercyme/dp/B000AA304I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323877127&sr=8-1

Thanks so much, Shir - I'm so glad you sent a music fav!!!

Marilyn sends in some fun stuff all the way from New Mexico!

She loves her Diet DP!

Wait! It appears that it's the Cherry flavor. My bad. Diet Cherry DP!

Marilyn, have you had Dublin DP?

She sent a picture of her very favorite companions too!

Such cuties! I love the fuzziness!

And Marilyn makes beautiful, beautiful quilts so I was thrilled to see that she sent something for you seamstresses out there

Leather thimbles! I had no idea there were such things! Marilyn, you'll have to tell us more about them.

Could I just cut off the fingers of some of The Chief's farm gloves? Do you think he'd notice?

Thank you Marilyn!

Now from Kay!

"My favorite things, for $10 bucks (or less), that I love to share with anyone who has a sensitive nose and everyone with indoor/outdoor pets, would be these two items! My nose can smell out the slightest of odors and I MUST have on hand at all times a gallon of OdoBan Odor Eliminator, I use it in my mop water, in my laundry, for washing out the trash can or any other smelly place! I buy it at Home Depot, they offer other products for cleaning up after pets also.

www.odoban.com

For my inside/outside dogs, I bathe them first with a flea shampoo to rid them of those pest then to rid them of their doggy odor I use OUT! Deodorizing Shampoo, it's a bit harder to find and the last time I just ordered a case from www.wholesalepet.com

(This is a terrible pic, but you absolutely must go to the website - I've never seen so much cool dog (and all pets) stuff!!

Weegie saw a few things he just has to have!

Wait. I think he has my credit card.....

"Squeegums, you bring that card right back here!"

Thanks so much for the ideas Kay!

And wonderful Joanne offers up this great tip for pesky eye makeup removal-

"This is my favorite eye makeup remover. Haven't used anything else for years - and I mean a lot of years!"

(From Lu: Joanne, I don't know what you're talking about with "a lot of years", why you're practically a child!!!)

This might be a great idea for all of you who were bothered by my own usage of Vaseline to remove eye makeup!



Well this has been great,great fun.  And please feel free to send me your favorites whenever - I'd love to feature your great ideas on a regular basis.

Maybe we'll start a monthly "Stuff We Love" post!

Now get out there and finish all that shopping!!!!

Lu

I Never Promised You Promptness. Or a Rose Garden, For That Matter

2011-12-14T15:12:00.000-06:00

I've never said I was prompt. Never once. And if I did, I hope you didn't believe me.

Please be cautious if I ever mention anything about being prompt, thrifty, svelte, or tan.

Chances are I'm not being totally honest.

Anyway, it's time for more favorites.

Let's start with Miriam. She's a wonder, really. She has an amazing talent for vintage and thrifty discoveries. I've never seen anyone, anywhere with a better eye for antiques or anything that can be re-purposed. Someday I'm going to ask her permission (Hey Miriam! Are you listening??) to photograph her awesome screened porch and share it with you. It's amazing.

I'll let her do the talking here...

1) I love live Poinsettias and usually buy at least 1 from Wal-Mart or Houston Garden Center for $3-$10. I was so pleased to find this miniature version at the 99 cent store last week and in my chipped McCoy pot which I got for a buck or 2 on one of my thrifting forays the ensemble comes in under the prescribed $10.

(Note from Lu: I assure you I do know how to rotate a photo, but for some crazy reason this one only wants to lay on it's side... sorry)

2) On the practical side, I love and use all of my Isatoner gloves. I have a pair in beige, blue, and black and also have the insulated pair in black. I know these usually retail for more than the $10, however if you are a thrifter, as I am, you can pick them up at tag sales, or resale shops for $1-$2. Also I recently bought a pair at Marshalls to give as a gift for $9.99. The thin ones are great for the mildly cool mornings. They hug your hand without smothering it and grip the steering wheel just right.

3) On the totally impractical side, but very fun and fashionable I love, love, love bangle bracelets. All of these have been snagged at tag sales, thrift shops, clearance bins or Ebay for $5 or under. Love the colors, the textures, the materials--lucite, bakelite, brass, copper. . . I don't know how the Asian shops on Ebay can sell and ship bracelets for 99 cents but I have bought several of theirs. This is just one bowl full--I have several more--bowls are for more than just serving food! Besides wearing them I enjoy the visual effect of them all piled in bowls in my bathroom.

Love it Miriam. I should mention that as you would expect, Miriam always has the perfect accessory for every outfit she puts on!!!

Now from my dear friend (since 4th grade!) Kendra.

Kendra lives in Austin and her favorites are just as eclectic as her town!

Here goes...

Her favorite candy! Sorry about the picture quality - It's Russell Stover Dark Chocolate!

My favorite salsa. No longer available at Randall’s. Must order from San Antonio. Shipping is free.

Favorite magazine. It makes me feel smart. (Lu note:She already is really smart!!!)

Pilates pose – OK. This costs $13.50 a class. (She says she's also made lots of good friends from her Pilates class!)

Favorite flavor – peppermint only available in December

Thanks, K!!! I love me some Peppermint Blue Bell too!

Now from beautiful and sweet Patty! I roomed with Patty for a while at A&M and she always looks impeccable! So you can trust her recommendation for this beauty product!

She says:

My favorite new product is Infusium23 Moisture Replenisher Collection- Shampoo, Conditioner, and Leave-In Treatment. Each bottle sells for around $7. Use all three and your hair feels so silky!

I'm buying some this week!

Two more beauty ideas come from Lori! Thank you Lori for always encouraging me with your nice comments about the blog. You know how some days you just need a good word from someone? Lori has been that person for me many times!!!

She writes:

I am so excited by this party! What a great idea...

I love Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme. My nails look presentable because of this creme. I use a little each night and my nails stay moisturized.

(From Lu: You're all missing out if you haven't tried Burt's Bees!

I use Hill Country Essentials Daily Moisture lotion every day. It is a light moisturizer with SPF 15 for my fair skin. I really like that it doesn’t leave a greasy feeling like some moisturizers do. I started using it when Lubriderm downsized but kept the price the same. I truly think it is exactly the same, for less money! Thank you HEB!

Love these Lori!!!! Thanks.

Let's wrap up today's favs with one more product for your hair and a healthy snack favorite!

Karen says:

I love to use Got2bglued on my hair. It works best right after my hair has been cut. Kendall my three yr. old grand-daughter says I have crunchy hair when I use it.

And finally,

I love Chobani Greek Yogurt. It is so thick and yummy. I buy mine at Sam's. The box comes with blueberry, strawberry and peach. The serving is 4 points on Weight Watchers.

I've mentioned before how I love Greek Yogurt! Thanks Karen!

Tomorrow we'll see favs from Marilyn, Joanne, Kay, Jillian, Cathy, Diana, and Shir!!!

They've got some good ones - don't miss it!

In My Mind It's Still Last Thursday. Please Join Me There.

2011-12-12T16:41:00.000-06:00

Without making excuses or anything about my tardiness in posting this, I welcome you all to

Your Favorite Things: Thursday Edition

On the off chance that it seems odd to you that today I'm posting the Thursday Edition (which was temporarily postponed to Friday) and then secretly bumped to Monday, don't let it bother you.

Just let it go.

Now. I was just squeaky excited about all the great Favorite Things y'all sent in. I even had these really grandiose ideas about how I was going to organize them all into categories and then I was going to formulate some kind of neat outline-ish type form that would be easy to follow and you know, in the end IT WOULD ALL MAKE SO MUCH SENSE...

But I didn't.

So I'm just going to start posting some of them and hope that some kind of "sense" settles itself upon the whole thing and perhaps sees fit to wrap it all together and oh yes, tie it up with a great BIG BOW.

But don't get your hopes up.

Here goes.

Sara sent in several great ideas for the cooks in your life. She's a darn good cook herself, and has the kitchen "chops" to know what she's talking about

She says:

1. my citrus zester...I love the taste that fresh lemon, lime or orange adds to a dish!

2. Fig Balsamic Vinegar ...this stuff is so yummy, that I just dip fresh baked bread into it. I've made salad dressing with it too...really "delish"!

3. Oxo peelers- they never dull and the handles are easy to hang onto...

4. She also loves her little nutmeg grater! She says "The regular graters are wonderful, but I have dropped the whole nutmeg pod into too many things and had to "fish it out" too many times not to warrant the "self-contained" grinder! $9.99!

Gayla particularly likes this "sweet little cutting board" she scored at HEB.

It comes in all sorts of bright fun colors and also has matching measuring spoons and cups. Who said you have to go to the mall to find a great gift for a cook???

Gayla has cooked a few meals herself - even for entire groups of working cowboys! And anyone who has cooked in large quantities knows that 3 or maybe 4 cutting boards may be necessary during the preparation of a big meal.

Some of these nifty little "mini" cutting boards would be great stocking stuffers!

Gayla also swears by this cleaner...

She says "it's gotten out every stain she's ever tried it on".

I say who doesn't need something like this after a holiday party????

Carolyn loves this nifty little microwave omelet gadget....

Here's what she shares about it...

"Okay, so I am not a culinary diva...so I do love the nordic ware microwaveable omelet dish.

I put in 3 egg whites, sliced peppers and mushrooms, and spices...maybe a little shredded cheese. And while it's microwaving I take care of other morning tasks like locating my socks and shoes...which sometimes, sadly, takes more than 3 minutes.

I think it would be under $10...but mine is from my grandma when she moved...so free!"

Carolyn sends this idea all the way from Seattle! Thanks Carolyn!!

Kristy sends this awesome idea for using business card holders to hold Scripture verses.

Wouldn't it be great to have those on your dressing table or on the counter in the bathroom so you could start your day right. You could print out the verses yourself or buy pre-printed scripture cards and include those with a pretty stand as a great gift!

She also (she's a creative one, that Kristy!) uses place card holders to display action photos of friends and family around her home!

Most especially photos of her precious Granddaughter Livy Anne!

Who among us doesn't have a great photo we'd love to display? And the great thing is you can just change them out to suit your mood!

Don't you love all these ideas?? And believe me this is just the tip of the iceberg... We may well have Your Favorites all week! Everyone was so great about sending in their favs!!!

More tomorrow!!

I Expect a Buy-Out Offer from Bear Naked Any Time Now

2011-12-07T23:03:00.001-06:00

The Chief considers himself what you might call a "granola connoisseur". He's tried it all. He has an opinion about it all. He evaluates not only taste but also appearance and consistency. It needs to have some clumps.

Don't offer the man any non-clumpy granola.

So I've searched high and low for the best. We've tried every brand, really. The closest we've come to a winner is something from Whole Foods in a little plastic container that costs about 8.00 per tablespoon.

I think it may have simply been their oatmeal cookies crumbled and toasted. Sprinkled with 24 carat gold.

So in the spirit of love, but mostly in the spirit of "I bet I can come up with one that he can't find fault with".

I dare him.

(What can I say? He and I occasionally enjoy a ~~fierce~~ friendly competition.)

I came up with this recipe. All I can think to say is it's really good.

~~Grumpy's~~ The Chief's Granola

3 cups rolled oats 7T. vegetable oil

¼ c. steel cut oats ½c. honey

1/3 c. flax seed ½c. light brown sugar

¼ c. buckwheat cereal 2tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. cinnamon 1c. chopped pecans

2 tsp. salt 1c. sliced almonds

1c. dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and spray the parchment withbaking spray.

In a large bowl toss the oats, flax seed, steel cut oats andbuckwheat with the cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl stir together the oil, honey, brown sugarand vanilla. Whisk until well combined.

Pour honey mixture over oat mixture and use your hands tomake sure that all of the oat mixture is coated.

Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet. Spread it out evenly but leave some clumpsfor texture.

Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and use a spatula to liftand turn the mixture. Sprinkle thepecans over the granola and return it to the oven.

Bake 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and use a spatula tolift and turn the mixture. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return itto the oven.

Bake 10 minutes. Remove and stir. Bake another 5 minutes

Let cool completely on the baking sheet. Sprinkle driedcranberries on top of the granola and crumble the granola into an airtightcontainer.

This is how we do it.... (Please say this like Montell Jordan)

You may now pretend you don't know me.

First, let me 'splain a few things. No, I don't typically keep flax seed and buckwheat cereal and umpteen types of oats in the house. I don't. But when I was making up this whole recipe I just went to HEB, stood in the cereal type aisle and wondered what I might get to go in granola.

You know, Granola-y things.

I found flax seed.

Rolled oats

And Steel Cut oats

Now I did have the buckwheat cereal in the pantry. I bought it a while back because I was going to make buckwheat pancakes. But I didn't.

Go figure.

After all, it can increase your breakfast nutrition and pleasure.

In a large bowl, toss all the cereal-type things with the cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl mix the oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla. Whisk it.

Now dump it over the dry mixture.

Stir it first with a spatula, then use your hands to make sure everything gets nice and coated.

Disclaimer: The next time I make this I will probably divide it between two baking sheets. It will toast a little faster. If you do this, just adjust your baking times to how "toasty" you like it.

Now, follow all the instructions for baking and turning and adding the nuts.

Just make sure when you have baked and added and turned that you leave it to cool completely on the baking sheet before you sprinkle any kind of dried fruit on it. Then crumble it all up!

The Chief gave it a 10. This is simply unheard of.

Hope you rate it as high!

Lu

And Lo, In the Distance. What is That Awful Beeping?

2011-12-07T11:15:00.001-06:00

So here's the thing. I've been a little hesitant to ask The Weege if he has pulled together any kind of blog post for today. You see, last night he suffered a little trauma, and this is what he's been doing most of the day.

Let me start from the beginnning. Please feel free to get yourself a beverage and perhaps a snack to tide you over.

Most of you know that The Chief has been, well, snoring a bit. And he has politely and blessedly been sleeping in the guest room. But we determined last evening through several very scientific and also highly technical evaluations and whatnot that he was clear to sleep back in our room last night.
It was good to have his shoulders back where they belong. Blocking the light from the digital clock...
Anyhoo all the sleeping and such was going just swimmingly until 1:24 in the AM when one of the smoke alarms in the hallway started it's infernal beeping.
Not a full blown alarm, you know, just the loud beeping every 20 seconds or so which says a) the battery is going bad or b) "Get over yourself, Lu, you'll never get another good night's sleep as long as you live".
Now I don't know if we are the only people who suffer from this ongoing battle with the smoke alarm batteries, but I've about had it. We replaced every single one of them just a month or so ago and by golly, IT'S TOO SOON FOR THEM TO BE CROAKING AGAIN.
Of course what makes it worse is that a) we have 11 foot ceilings and 2) they always start their beeping sometime between 1 and 4 AM.
So at first, I was the only one who heard it. The Chief was still asleep. But once I managed to SIGH REALLY LOUDLY and also kick him in the leg, he woke up. Without a word said between us, we got up, stumbled to the hall, stood underneath the 3 alarms in the back hallway and tried to determine which was the offending one. They're like ventriloquists- they can throw their beeps.

It was at this time that I realized that I had left the light on in the laundry room where Weegie sleeps. I looked around the corner and there he was staring at me with wide bloodshot eyes as if to say "Yo Mom, what's with the bright light in here tonight? You know I can't get my beauty sleep with the light on. At least not without my little mask". I apologized and turned out the light.

We finally figured out which alarm was announcing itself. The Chief fetched a bar stool and stood on it while I tried to keep it from swiveling (the swivel option always seems like a good idea when you think, you know, you're just going to SIT in the chairs at a bar...)
He removed the blasted thing from the ceiling and placed it in the kitchen on the counter.

We stumbled back to bed.

It beeped again.

I MAY HAVE said crap.

I went and got it, brought it into the bed and he and I fumbled with it in the dark until we were able to remove the stupid battery. I put the battery on the nightstand.

It beeped again.

Like frog legs when you cook them.

IT WOULD NOT DIE.

Finally, after two more beeps it gave up the ghost.

And now that I've re-read this whole thing I believe I should probably have included a "Boring Overshare" warning at the beginning

But Weegie seems to have changed positions, so it looks as if he might be on the road to recovery.

Do ya'll have these things happen? Or are we a chosen people?
I need to know.

Anyway, as a reward for reading this far I'll tell you that tomorrow morning I'll be sharing probably one of the best recipes I've ever, ever come up with. You'll love it and it will give you reason to forgive me for long posts about smoke alarm batteries. (Oh and by the way, Our Favorite Things: Thursday Edition will actually post Friday morning)

I KNOW. So many confusing technicalities...

But this granola.

Just say it. I do have my redeeming qualities...

:) Lu

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder. Or Blinds You.

2011-12-05T14:42:00.001-06:00

Bless The Chief's heart. He's not feeling well. A sore throat and sinus issues haven't necessarily knocked him for a loop (believe me. if I were the sore throat and sinus gremlins I would be scared to try anything with him too!) but at the very least they've slowed my Big Guy down a notch or two. I mean yesterday when he was attempting to repair a leak in the wall at his Dad's house he only took the pipe apart 3 times and re-soldered it to try to make it just perfect. Typically, he would remove the entire wall, re-plumb the first floor and re-wire the whole house just because he could.

Oh and he'd re-tile. He always re-tiles.

So, he's not running at full speed. These sinus problems may or may not have come with associated snoring problems. No,not me. Him. The Chief. He may or may not have been snoring for the last three nights. And it may or may not have been A LOT.

During the 17 minutes I was asleep the first night I dreamed I was tied to a railroad track.
I was screaming but no one could hear me over the sound of the TRAIN.

The next night he decided (God Bless him) to sleep in one of the guest rooms because I may or may not have casually mentioned that I might have some sort of medically expensive and insurance draining breakdown if he didn't.
Might or might not have. It's all a blur. I did offer to go to one of the guest rooms myself and let him stay in our bedroom, but then he mentioned something about being happy to get out of the TUNDRA (and for those of you who may not have heard the whole saga about Me, The Chief and the bevy of fans I like to have going at all times, you'll be happy to know that he was referring to the temperature and arctic winds, NOT MY EMOTIONAL COLDNESS, thank you very much.)
OK, so he's slept for the last two nights in the guest room and I've almost gone blind. Evidently his wide, manly shoulders typically block the supernaturally bright light from the digital clock located on the nightstand on his side of the bed. I dealt with it last night by stacking 3 pillows where his shoulders should be.

Just call me Survivorman. Or Bear Grylls. Or whoever. I made it through by sheer will.

Not a lot of people could do it.
Oh and last night I dreamed that I was introducing Ann Burrell to Guy Fieri, so things are definitely looking less dire.

We were planning to go get our Christmas tree last night, but because of the rain (RAIN!) and the cooler temps and The Chief's under-the-weatherness, we put that off. If you've never experienced he and I shopping for a Christmas Tree together, I invite you to witness a little treat. Or debaucle. Although we've not even gone to get the tree yet, I could go ahead and write the post about it. It will include the terms chubby, expensive, "Oh My Gosh Lu please make a decision"," I'm never doing this again" and (I'm sorry, but it pops up here and there) crap.
So look for that riveting post in the next few days.

And two other quick things:

1) I've made the most fascinating discovery about eyelash curling. Set your blow dryer on hot and blow hot air on your eyelash curler til it's warm. NOT HOT, PEOPLE. WARM. YOU COULD HURT YOURSELF. Then after you test it to make sure it's NOT TOO HOT, curl as usual. You will elevate your curl to a cosmic level.

I KNOW. So exciting.
And So Very Critically Important In The Scheme Of Things.

2) Oh ya'll. I've been receiving your favorite things and you are in for The Treat Of Your Life. I want to include them all, so it looks as if I may need to break the FANCY PANTS PARTY post into two days. Do you know how long it's been since I partied for two days?

I have never partied for two days.

And if anyone wants to actually send me (in the regular parcel post mail or UPS or Fed Ex or by your very own personal delivery service!!!) your actual favorite things, why YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO DO THAT.

I will give you a special shout out in the post and would even put your name in all caps and BOLD IT.

I think we can all agree that's some pretty special recognition.

So keep your favorite things coming in! The Fancy Pants Party:Thursday Edition is just a few days away!

Lu

Dust Off Your Fancy Pants. We're Having a Party!

2011-12-02T09:33:00.001-06:00

I'm just so darn excited about this that I might break my very own personal record for USING ALL CAPS FOR EMPHASIS.

A HARD HAT might be in order for Safety's sake.

Or Pete's.

I'm throwing a party and you're ALL invited. And you don't even have to put on your fancy pants! But hopefully you'll feel led to wear at least pants of some sort. Or a dress or p.j's or a robe or whatever you want because you don't even have to leave the comfort of your home.

I'm not kidding.

IT'S A PARTY ON THE BLOG.

AN OUR FAVORITE THINGS PARTY.

Remember when Oprah had her favorite thing parties and Everyone Gets a Car!!?

EVERYONE GETS A CAR!!

Well, our party is going to be JUST LIKE THAT without the cars.

NO ONE WILL GET A CAR.

Or anything. EXCEPT IDEAS!! We'll get IDEAS.

Which we all know is better than a car anyway because you don't have to sell the car to afford to pay the taxes on it.

Here's how the whole PAR-TAY will go down.

All of us have our very favorite things, right? Things that you like so much that you want to tell all your friends about their glory. And we're all friends, right?

So, all you have to do is pick out one or two favorite things that you use all the time. Household things. Or cooking things. Or that awesome beauty item that you just could not live without.

But here's the thing. We're not Oprah. So the cost limit is 10.00 per item.

BUT, I suppose I should say in all kindness that if Oprah does happen to read this and wants to join in (Hello, Ms. Winfrey) she is more than welcome to join us.

We might all be able to figure out a way to handle the taxes on an automobile if you feel so led...

Anyhoo.

Pick out one or two items.
REMEMBER, you're not required to actually buy them or take them anywhere.

Tell us why you love them so much. Just a sentence or two. Take a picture of the item (or send me a link to where I can go lift a picture) and e-mail this info to

ludolan8@gmail.com

In the party post, I'll include pictures of everyone's favorite things (I'll use your first name if you say it's OK) and what you like about it.

For example I might "bring" one or two of the following (or even more because I am the host after all and I can do whatever I want) I'm kidding. I'm a big ole kidder.

My favorite grater! Love the soft grip handle, the sharpness and the fine grate that you get on oranges,etc. It's also perfect for fresh nutmeg. And it's the nutmeg time of year.

And now that I think about it, I couldn't bring this to the party because it cost 12.99 I think. Let's just say there was a sale. YES A SALE. AND I HAD A COUPON.

or I might bring

My very favorite counter spray in the Lemon Verbena scent. Or in the Pine scent IF I COULD FIND IT.

Or I might share my old stand-by and much loved

My eyelashes would fall off and die without it.

Amen.

Remember:

1. Send a picture (not the actual item) and why you like it to ludolan8@gmail.com.

2. Keep it under 10.00 per item (or at least close).

3. Keep it in good taste (I'm lookin' at you Kev.)

4. Don't put your favorite things in the comments or on FB because that would just spoil the surprise. I mean we all need a special reason to get out our fancy pants.

5. But feel free to leave a comment here or on FB about how EXCITED you are about attending the party. Sometimes I need the encouragement.

Please encourage.

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE PARTY. And just think, my eyebrows are freshly waxed. Now I'm going to take my fancy pants to the tailor. I haven't worn them in a while.

Lu

Matches Made in Heaven. Or in the Kitchen.

2011-12-01T09:57:00.001-06:00

Everyone's aware of some classic pairings.

I say Mutt. You say Jeff.

I say Peter. You say Paul. And OK, Mary.

I say High. You say low. (Except The Chief said credit card bill...)

I say Sonny. You say Cher.

And just because I like them I say Huey Lewis, and you say "who?" No, you know you say the Sunshine Band.

Wait. No you don't. You say and The News. You only say Sunshine Band when I say K.C..
Got it? (I can't believe no one called me out on this before I caught it.)

Well that was just embarrassing.

When speaking of classic taste/ flavor pairings, we all know the standard tomato and basil, apple and cinnamon, peanut butter and banana, lamb and rosemary, chocolate and well, anything, and

Tab and Cheez-Its.

Amen.

Another great combination that I especially love around the holidays is cranberry and orange. I know a lot of people aren't particularly partial to fresh cranberries as they can be a tad tart.

(I wonder if Tad is still on All My Children?) Yes, I know his last name wasn't Tart. Ha. But it should have been. And he should have hooked up with Particularly Partial.

Anyway. If you're not careful with fresh cranberries you can drive right through tangy town and head into bittersville.

Please don't visit there.

This is the easiest and best muffin recipe. The crumb is tender and fine-grained. No tough muffins here. There's just the right amount of cranberries and orange, and a little sprinkling of coarse sugar on the top to make them look extra luscious.

Here's the recipe. But don't forget to follow along with me in picture and song in the tutorial.

Not really on the song.

Cranberry OrangeMuffins

8 T. (I stick) butter ½c. (4 oz.) milk

1 cup sugar 1tsp. vanilla

½ tsp. salt 2 c. fresh cranberries

2 large eggs Coarsesugar for sprinkling

2 tsp. baking powder 2-3T. finely grated orange peel

2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream together the butter,sugar, and salt until light in color. Add the eggs one at a time beating wellafter each addition. Add the baking powder, then add the flour alternately withthe milk, beating well after each addition. With a wooden spoon stir in the vanilla, the cranberries and the orangepeel.

Fill 12 muffin cups evenly with the batter and sprinklecoarse sugar over the top of each.

Bake for 25-29 minutes.

Let cool just a few minutes and then carefully run a knifearound the sides of each muffin and turn the muffin sideways in the muffinpan. This keeps steam from formingatough crust and it keeps the muffins from sticking to the pan.

Let's do it.

First you go buy a huge bag of fresh cranberries with the intention of making cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. Then you leave it at your house and forget to take it to the farm as you do every year.

I am nothing short of predictable.

Oh, and did you notice? They're good for you. It says so on the package.

Next. Cream the butter, sugar and salt in the mixer.

This is not quite creamed enough. You can do better.

Now add the eggs one at a time. Make sure to beat well after each addition.

This looks pretty good.

Now add the baking powder and add the flour alternately with the milk.

I seem to have lost my "adding the milk" picture.

But anyway, alternate.

Take the bowl off of the mixer, and use a spoon to stir in the cranberries and the orange peel and FOR HEAVENS SAKE DON'T FORGET THE VANILLA BECAUSE YOU ARE EATING THE BATTER WITH YOUR FINGERS.

Oh wait. That was me.

Now divide the batter evenly in the muffin cups and then sprinkle the coarse sugar over the top.

Bake. Don't let them get too brown.

Why yes, this is perfect.

Please enjoy!!!!!

Lu

Seclusion Certainly Has It's Place

2011-11-29T12:39:00.001-06:00

I'm hiding out y'all.

Hiding in my own home. No. I haven't robbed a bank or caused an accident of any kind. Although I do need to go to the bank. But not to rob it. I have a check to deposit.

In case you're wondering I do try to remind myself that you just simply do not care about all these little details,

THEY DO NOT CARE, LU, THEY JUST DON'T.

But for some reason I am simply unable to stop myself.

I'm hiding so no one can see me for the next hour or so. First, let me say I do hate these times when I have to burst your collective bubble about all the glamour and sophistication I am known for. But like it says in the Bible we are to build up our brothers and sisters, so I feel a responsibility to all of you. A responsibility to make sure that you don't feel any sort of inferiority when it comes to your glamour and sophistication-related issues.

So here goes. I get my eyebrows waxed.

I KNOW.

You thought it was all natural. Well no.

Several years ago I realized that I could no longer, you know, SEE. Well, I could see, but apparently not well enough to continue to groom my own eyebrows. (As evidenced by the UNSPEAKABLE SHOCK I RECEIVED WHEN I LOOKED AT MY EYEBROWS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A MAGNIFYING MIRROR.) I mean I could (and still can) see fine far away, but not up close. In other words if my eyebrows had been located say, on my feet, everything would have been easy and doable.

But I believe the magnifying mirror thing is a story that you have already suffered through.

(COLLECTIVE SIGH OF RELIEF)

So now, I try to check underneath my bangs periodically, assess the situation, and then schedule a visit to the salon if maintenance is required.

Because, how do I say this? I have been BLESSED with healthy eyebrow hair growth. To the point that if I did not take the critical steps to stop it, I would be sporting what I believe has been referred to in the tabloids as a mono-brow or perhaps a uni-brow.

OH YES. It is very glamorous and also MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.

So I took the big step a few years ago and decided it had to be done.

I know you'll be surprised to hear this. I'm not much of a researcher. No. I prefer to just jump into something new completely blind and ignorant. So keeping with that theme my first eyebrow waxing experience was on a whim at the nail salon. I was having a pedicure and staring into the very large mirror that lines the opposite wall from all the pedicure chairs and realized (from quite a distance) that in my plucking pitifulness I had apparently ended up with one eyebrow about an inch longer than the other. So with that realization I said to the salon worker "when you finish my pedicure I would like to have my eyebrows waxed". I had seen other people getting it done there. They just sat you in the back in one of the manicure chairs and wham bam it was over in a few minutes. Besides NO ONE ELSE was in the salon at the time. No one would know.
Well, something was apparently wrong with the chairs in the back because she kindly ushered me to the very first chair up by the front windows. Then SHE OPENED UP THE FRONT CURTAIN so "the light was better". And just luckily the salon was located right in between a Subway restaurant and a Sports Clip hair place, so the front sidewalk was packed to the gills with mostly men going about their lunchtime business.

I was thrilled.

But being a person that avoids making waves or conflict like she avoids the plague, I just let her continue.

I really don't remember much of the process because of all the PAIN INVOLVED, but I do remember her asking me when it was over (I think it was her, I really couldn't use my eyes at that point) if I was OK. I do remember saying "OH YES, I'M GOOD, BUT DO YOU THINK THAT I COULD HAVE THOSE PIECES OF WAX THAT YOU PULLED OFF? I'LL PROBABLY TRY TO SALVAGE THAT SKIN AND HAVE IT SURGICALLY REATTACHED."

But Thanks.

So anyway, since then I've learned some things. One is that some people are really, really good at pedicures, but not necessarily equally good at waxing. Kind of like I can cook you a humdinger of a good meal, but you probably don't want me changing the oil in your car.

Or shaving you with a straight razor.

I've also learned that there are places that are a little more discreet with their waxing services and actually put you in a room with a door.

Amen.

And finally I've come to realize that my sensitive skin is always going to look like I've been involved in some sort of caustic chemical explosion for a while after the waxing process, but now, instead of looking that way for two weeks, it usually only lasts about an hour or so.

Thus my hiding. I'd like to congratulate myself on that IMPRESSIVE overshare.

I apologize.

I'll go check the redness now, perhaps I can venture out to Zumba.

The glamour never ends.

Lu

And I Have Lived To Tell About It

2011-11-28T14:34:00.001-06:00

Perhaps I've mentioned this before but it bears repeating:
1) I love to cook
2) I love to eat
3) Self-Monitoring is not my strongest personal attribute.

I mean we just had so much to be thankful for! The boys were home! It rained at the farm! Weegie entertained everyone with his attempts at playing Aerobie!

He practiced making regal shadow figures while relaxing in the Mule.

He of course, reserves this for only very special occasions.

So.

At least that's how I justified my four straight days of eating with what might be described as "abandon".

I ate with abandon.

And evidently Abandon is not the best dinner companion.

Because Saturday night my stomach (whose feelings I had heretofore not necessarily considered) whispered quietly to me

"Uh, excuse me Lu? This is your stomach. Uh, you need to ditch Abandon and PLEASE. STOP WITH. ALL.THE. EATING."

And then you know what my stomach did? It taught me a lesson that's what it did.

Y'ALL.

And that is why last night I desperately wanted to give my stomach some nice soup as a token and pledge of my recommitment to our new and improved relationship.

It's really so easy. And so important.

Put 2 (14 oz.) cans of diced tomatoes in the blender and puree. Add about a cup of chicken stock, 1 tsp. salt, 1 T. maple syrup and 1/2 tsp. pepper (I used white). Blend it all together. Heat it up on the stove. If you think your relationship can handle it, stir in about 1/4 cup heavy cream. Make some croutons out of dried up bread left over from Thanksgiving.

Now, with great tenderness and feeling feed it to your stomach.

Vow to do better.
Promise your undying devotion.

Like I've said before. Do not be me.

Lu

Me and My Homegirls

2011-11-20T22:49:00.001-06:00

Hi y'all.

My name is Lu and I have Thanksgiving Dinner Multiple Personality Disorder.

Or TDMPD.

(I KNOW. It's always really bad when it has an acronym.)

Let me introduce you to a few of my friends. Over here is Too Scared to Choose Lu. She's concerned that everything is perfect, everyone's favorite food is on the table, it's all hot and ready to be served at exactly the same time, and everyone raves about the meal. Too Scared Lu has already decided on 4 different menus, but changed them each time she bought and read the latest "Thanksgiving Special Edition Magazine" filled with the perfect place settings, the most elaborate meal suggestions and the latest adaptations of the classic Thanksgiving offerings. Is it appropriate to have multiple starches on the holiday table? There must be sweet potatoes, Then of course, mashed potatoes. But how about a rice dish? Is that starch overkill? Does some organization keep track of these things? Does the National Data Base for Starch Registration and Service actually exist.
Surely there is some ruling body.

Too Scared specializes in total and absolute paralysis. Why do ANYTHING at all when you know you're going to wish you had chosen to do JUST THE OPPOSITE? I mean isn't it just easier that way?

Then there's much more logical It's So Good Just to be With Family Lu. She really thinks that the most important thing about the holiday is just being with those you love, enjoying each others company, and being thankful. AHEM, isn't what the whole name of the holiday implies? But Family Lu loves her People, and she wants them to enjoy the holiday and what better way to make that happen than to serve an awesome, unforgettable meal that everyone just loves? A meal that fills their stomachs and stirs their memories. A meal that makes her People wonder how they could possibly live without her and her Red River Fruit Salad and Fresh Apple Cake.
But then again, if her People feel the same way about just "being together" and the sentimentality of it all, why would they care what on earth she served? Wouldn't they be just as happy with a Swanson's Frozen Turkey Dinner, by golly? Served with the same DADGUM LOVE as all that fancy stuff?
And then it seems Everybody Gets on My Very Last Nerve Lu shows up and things get pretty dicey. The Chief says he's seen her around a lot these days, but I personally think he sometimes mistakes Too Scared or one of the others for Last Nerve.

He's not real observant sometimes, you know.

Anyway, every time Family Lu starts to plan one of these "it's just about your People" meals, Too Scared Lu tries to pitch in and help.

I think you can probably understand that things begin a somewhat downward spiral from there.

And. Oh. Yes. Procrastination Lu loves to hang out with the rest of us. She has the most AWESOME way of finding all kinds of INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT things to do instead of making any kind of hard and fast decisions about the whole Thanksgiving dinner mess. You know important things like rearranging all the shirts in her closet to make sure that none of the T-shirts with writing across the front get mixed in with any of the plain ones. She researched the location of various Texas cities for a while this afternoon (although she has absolutely no plans, or even desire, to visit any of them). But you can never be too "up" on the general geography of your home state. She sat and watched two NFL football games, not really knowing which teams she was watching, nor really caring. She spent a little time Googling Jake Locker, one of the quarterbacks on one of the teams because, well, she just did. He went to the University of Washington, by the way.

They're the Huskies.

So. We've all been hanging out. Too Scared, Family, on occasion Last Nerve, and Miss Procrasti-na-she-own (as Doug Heffernan would say).

The home girls.

The Chief has been threatening some type of counseling. But in true "Engineer-type" form, he's been holding out for a discounted Group Rate.

Gotta go. Too Scared has apparently called some sort of meeting. I need to go find Miss P and try to make sure she's not late. That really sets off Last Nerve.

We have so enjoyed meeting you.

Lu (and the gang!)

Weegie's Thoughtful and Theoretical Thursday

2011-11-17T08:20:00.001-06:00

Yo people.

The Weege here. It's been a while. I've had a rough few months, what with The Vet basically trying to remove my leg and all. Just kidding. I'm a kidder. The Doc. He's a pretty good guy. Did you know he's a deacon too? A servant at heart. I made it absolutely clear to him before the surgery though, that he needed to concentrate solely on me during the procedure and to please eschew any ideas about going out and visiting somebody and inviting them to church or taking care of a widow or anything before he made sure my leg was good. Even a deacon needs his priorities reviewed.

May the Lord have favor on deacons everywhere.

Anyhoo.

I've had some thoughts lately. And not shallow, unimportant ones like Mom tends to have. Deep thoughts. Thought provoking thoughts. Observation-type thoughts. That's what 6 weeks of near total inactivity and boredom can do for a dog. Make them thoughtful. Full of thoughts.

I have chosen ten of these thoughts to share with you today. You know, the number ten starts with a "tuh" and after all today is Thoughtful and Theoretical Thursday. I also hope to use the term "dipthong" in some form, but I admit, working it in is going to be tough.

So here goes.

1. When someone cuts open your leg and saws straight through the bone there's gonna be some hurt involved. Please don't make me explain further.

2. Me and the heavy narcotics? We.Are.Not.Pals. Just the smell of those pain pills made me throw up. Other than the joy of watching Mom clean up all the spots where I upchucked there was nothing good about the pain pills. When cheese or chicken can't disguise the things you know I have a problem.

3. Mom is a sucker. Plain and simple. For a few days all she did was grind up freshly boiled chicken for me and thinly slice my cheese treats. She talked sweet to me all day long. Honestly, she wouldn't leave me alone. It got terribly annoying, but the chicken and cheese (and yes, blueberries) were great so I was tolerant.

4. I have a primal need to be "up on things". The couch, the top of the stairs, my two leather chairs, the patio furniture. I mean when your legs are as short as mine you enjoy the extra elevation. This was one of the toughest parts of my recovery time. Staying on the ground.

5. The chick with the razor at the Vet's office needs some training. OMGosh. Did you see the number she did on my leg and back? And I don't want ANYONE to ever mention what she did to my buttocks fuzz. Just don't.

6. Don't tell Mom but several times when we were at the farm and Mom was in town to see Granny, The Chief let me run around and chase the cows. He'll say he didn't. But he did.

I heart The Chief.

7. Did I mention that Mom is a sucker? Cause she is.

8. Have you ever watched the show Person of Interest? I like it. And don't even try to tell me that the main character isn't modeled on Clint Eastwood and his character in all those Westerns. He is, and you know it. Make my day and all.

9. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and the prospect of a hearty portion of that large chicken they call Turkey. I am also a fan of dressing and mashed potatoes. Last year Mom tried to fancy up some brussel sprouts and The Chief still wouldn't eat them. I mean who would? Syrup and nuts and salt cannot disguise their evil. She's a funny one. Bless her heart for trying.

10. All these weather changes have the squirrels and the raccoons and skunks and such all riled up. I've been busy. And loud. SO HELLO NEIGHBORS ON MY STREET, MY NAME IS WEEGIE AND I BARK CONSTANTLY. Mom is working on it.

Uh. That's all. I have things to do.

And oh yea, dipthong.

And I Wonder, Still I Wonder

2011-11-16T15:01:00.001-06:00

No.

Not who'll stop the rain. I was fine with the rain. Delighted even.

(Those of you too young to have a clue that I'm referencing one of Creedence Clearwater Revival's biggest hits won't understand what I'm talking about. I could explain and then maybe reference Proud Mary, or Born on the Bayou, or even Down on the Corner but that might bring up other things I needed to explain and that might end with some other unsolicited thoughts and feelings on music of the early 70's, and that is CLEARLY NOT WHERE I'M HEADED HERE.)

(If anyone happens to be using a GPS at this juncture, you might want to shout out some directions...)

Anyway.

I just wonder why some things happen, don't you? Why, why, why.

Like:

1) Why is it that I seem to be the only person in the world who cannot keep the little ear buds (?) on my headphones in my ears? Are my ear openings deformed? Do I not understand how they are to be correctly placed in my ears? I don't know. I just know that when I am using the treadmill or the elliptical, or the trapezoidal or the parallelogram machine they keep popping out. I do believe if you went to the front desk of the gym and asked anyone there if they knew me, there would be a head-nodding consensus followed by a "Yes, she's the peculiar lady with the ear-bud problem."

2) Why is it that out of all the boxes of aluminum foil on the shelf (and there are lots right now) do I pick the only one that after opening it at home do I discover that some freakazoid chemical/physical reaction has caused it to meld into one solid piece of aluminum?

I mean try to wrap that around a turkey.

3) Why is it, do you think, that when many people get in a large crowd at a shopping venue (let's say, Oh, The Nutcracker Market at Reliant or the aisles of a very packed Wal-mart) that they feel led to stop in the very middle of the aisle to oh, I don't know, talk to their friend about their shoes or their bunions or their children or their feelings about the state of the economy and totally forget the fact that there are a gabillion people right behind them at a complete standstill?

I wonder, still I wonder. I do. You are welcome to wonder with me.

4) Why do you think it is that today, looking forward to Wednesday's "Flavor" section of the Houston Chronicle, do I discover that the "Flavor" section is the only section MISSING from our copy. Is there some lesson to be learned from that?

5) And I won't even pretend to think that most of you have not already come up with a #5. Which of course, we have to have in order to have the proper odd # of whys.

I'm guessing your #5 has something to do with why on earth have you as a fairly capable and intelligent person read all the way to this point. And honestly, I can't help you with that one.

Perhaps we should call John Fogerty. Or his brother Tom.

And so now I see

It's early in the evening, just around suppertime....

And I should back myself out of this one somehow.

Lu

(Before any of you get all bent out of shape or your britches twisted, I have an announcement from Weegie. He has a post ready for tomorrow. Thursday. I know it's not his regular day, but he says the title rhymes with Thursday or something and that's what he wants. And who am I, excuse me, to argue with that logic)

As It Turns Out, I May Have a Future As a Fence Post

2011-11-13T20:46:00.001-06:00

"Lu, I need you over here. And wear some shoes you can run in."

Argh.

It was The Chief calling me on his cell phone from the cattle pen over by the barn. He was there early Saturday morning moving the cattle into a particular pen in preparation for loading some of the older calves to be hauled to the sale barn. Before the guys arrive with the trailer, you need to have all the cattle in the pen. Once they see the trailer and catch on to what's about to go down, anything can happen.

And sometimes it's not pleasant.

I had done my best pretending to be very, very busy preparing a nutritious and delicious breakfast when he announced that he was headed over to the pens.

"Oh, OK Chief, you just let me know if you need me to help..." I said. Immediately adding a whispered plea to God. "Oh puh-leez God, don't let him need me to help..."

Loading cattle makes me very nervous. Probably not as very nervous as it makes the cattle, but still.

Resigned to my fate, I turned off the skillet where the sausage was already sizzling, pulled on my running shoes and headed over.

"I've got them all in except those three," The Chief yelled while pointing toward one older cow and two extremely agitated young bulls. Two young, agitated bulls sporting impressively LARGE HORNS.

Crap.

I'm not sure if I said it out loud, but I definitely said it.

I sincerely apologize.

"I'll go down and come up behind them and you keep them going in the direction of the gate," he politely suggested. " And WHATEVER YOU DO, don't let them run back down toward the woods."

"WHATEVER I DO, I will not let them run back toward the woods," I kept repeating to myself,
just in case I forgot what I was NOT WHATEVER TO DO.

It went surprisingly well. I made the appropriate "HUH" noise when one of them started to turn down toward the woods, waved my arms, and just like that, they were in the pen.

(I can be hired out to help you pen your cattle for a very reasonable, dare I say, bargain price.)

"Well, that was easy," I almost gushed. "OK, I'll be headed back to finish up that sausage now. You take care Chief."

"No, Lu, that's just the first pen, now we've got to move them through that little shoot there into the pen with the rest of the cattle."

Crap.

Again, my apologies.

The shoot, as it turns out, was not actually a shoot at all, but an oddly shaped little area with the opening to the desired pen on one side, and a pesky little open area between two large oak trees just down from said opening..

"You just need to block that opening Lu." "WHATEVER YOU DO, don't let them go between the trees." "We'll lose them for good if you do."

"Oh, OK Chief, just let me make sure I understand what I'm supposed to do, OK"? I mean I like to be clear about exactly how my last few minutes on earth are about to play out.

"I'm supposed to stand here and block the opening between these two trees while you run the cattle,
(the cow, and the two young, agitated bulls with the VERY LARGE HORNS) directly toward me. And then if things go as planned they will all make a very sharp turn to the left and run right through that gate instead of going straight ahead, the direction they will most likely prefer to go, and come right between these trees, trampling me in the process."

But WHATEVER I DO, I should not let them through the trees.

"Is that the plan Chief"?

"That's it in a nutshell, Lu, are you ready"?
"It will all be easy. Just stand there like you're a fence post- they won't know any difference."

(And in a twisted irony type thing, right at that very moment one of the young, agitated bulls used it's VERY LARGE HORNS to do some major damage to a large cedar fence post while searching for a means of escape at the other end of the pen) Seriously.

So anyway, I did my very best impression of a fence post (albeit a very pale, sweaty fence post) and apparently successfully fooled those cows into thinking that their only exit was the open gate to the pen as they one by one navigated almost Olympic-worthy sharp left tuns.

And WHATEVER I DID, I did not let them run through the trees, Amen.

"OK, thanks, Lu, that's all," said The Chief. "What did you say you were making for breakfast"?

After I was safely back at the house and was finished preparing breakfast, I stepped outside to see if I could get a few shots of the whole loading process.

I took great pains not to get close enough to look available to help.

Loading and hauling cattle always involves lots of pick-up trucks.

It also always involves some very skiddish, nervous cattle. And in this case one pretty shaky donkey.

And as much as I dislike it, it also requires the use of the "hot shot" or cattle prod.

The donkey breathed a sigh of relief as he was cut-out into the pen of older cattle that would not be sold today.

Thankfully, on this sale day there were no major catastrophes (well, except when one of those two young bulls jumped the fence into another pen and had to be forcibly retrieved...) or injuries to man or beast.

The older "Momma" cows will moo and search for their calves for a day or so and then go on about their business and have another calf.

Such is the circle of cattle life.

It makes me unhappy sometimes, but clearly not as unhappy as I get when I have to imitate a fence post...

Like I said. Call me with your cattle herding-related needs. I'm what they call "a professional."

Lu

Some Mid-Week Observations

2011-11-09T13:52:00.003-06:00

Welcome to all of you looking for the Pumpkin Muffins! Scroll down to yesterday's post and enjoy!

Now.

I thought I should check in with a big OH MY GOODNESS IT RAINED HERE YESTERDAY.

Weegie had the best time trying to drink every drop of the water that was pouring off the house.

And I don't mean to brag or anything, but we got enough rain to actually register in the rain gauge. All of my plants were singing praises.

Even the lemon tree which has lost a considerable number of leaves lately seemed a little perkier after the downpour. And please get ready for a whole bunch of lemon recipes in your near future because the lemon yield this year? Prolific.

Especially for such a small tree in a container.

Other things going on around here? On the last trip that The Chief and I made to New Mexico we came across three absolutely beautiful photographs taken by Bo Svensson.

I just had them framed and love the way they turned out. We The Chief hasn't had a chance to hang them yet (I help, but we have determined over the years that I might possibly have some sort of picture hanging, well, handicap, which causes any picture I hang to be two or three inches off to the left). I totally attribute this to the fact that my right foot is slightly larger than my left.

I KNOW!

Anyway, here are the photographs all framed (albeit not hung yet).

Of course my photography certainly doesn't do them justice.

Love this! And even though we wanted to group them on a wall in the living area, or the hall, they look so good with the light mattes and the dark frame on our saddle brown bedroom walls we think they may stay in there.

When they are all neatly hung, I'll give you a tour.

And let's see....

Oh yes. I didn't mean to, but yesterday I made the BEST cookies. I really had no intention of making cookies and only regained consciousness after the whole thing was over. The Chief was quite upset that I had made them and only ate two I think.

That is his way of protesting my "bad baking habit".

He's a tough one, The Chief.

Tomorrow I am spending most of the day at the Nutcracker Market and I should probably go find my very most comfortable walking shoes and while I'm at it, rob a bank or two.

Hope all of you are having the very best of days- AND DID YOU HEAR?? We're getting a Trader Joe's in The Woodlands!

Happy Wednesday,

Lu

I Don't Believe They Throw The Canned Version Out Of Planes

2011-11-08T09:57:00.000-06:00

I recently saw an article about people in California throwing pumpkins out of a plane. A celebration of sorts. And while this most certainly doesn't qualify as the oddest thing our friends over on the West Coast are known to do, I just really couldn't get into the whole, you know, WOO-HOO of it. To be honest, I've never really had a burning desire to throw anything out of a plane.

Unless, of course, you consider that flight attendant we had on one particularly memorable trip to New York.

Anyway, they throw pumpkins out of a plane and try to hit a target. My guess is that it makes a really big mess. And probably nowhere near said target. I mean who gets to clean that up??

At the end of this post I'm sharing with you my original recipe for Just Right Pumpkin Muffins. But before we get to that, I have some thoughts about Pumpkin. And honestly, no, I haven't really counted them, so let's hope there's not an even number-something we would have to deal with right away.

I've never been a huge fan of Pumpkin Pie. It's the texture. And the appearance. And maybe the taste. But I'm sure a lot of my disdain for the Pumpkin Pie came from the time early in my marriage when I was determined to make a Pumpkin Pie (his favorite) for The Chief, and somehow while rearranging several things in a already overfilled oven, I spilled the entire still soupy pie all over the bottom and sides of the electric oven. The "goop" stuck to and burned on the heating element and I had to remove everything from the oven for over an hour, let the oven cool, then clean it.

So anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! "You people just munch on these Pork Rinds while I dismantle and clean the oven and then put the turkey back in to cook for another 3 hours!"

And there was also that time when I had an unfortunate run-in with the rotten interior of a pumpkin. I believe this is where the Wikipedia people get their definition of "slime". And also probably "nauseating".

So. I know you're just aching now to make something with pumpkin, what with that appetizing lead-in and all.

Sorry.

Trust me. If I have pumpkin issues and still feel strongly enough about this recipe to share it with you- well, SCORE! Right?

*I didn't include step-by-step photos, because they're just so simple to make!!!

Just Right PumpkinMuffins

2 cups flour, sifted

1 T. plus 1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 ½ tsp. ground ginger

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp. vanilla

½ cup milk

½ cup heavy cream

¼ cup orange juice
1 T. orange zest

¾ cup canned pumpkin puree

1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

¼ cup butter, melted

Walnut halves

½ cup brown sugar

1 Preheatoven to 400. Lightly grease one 12-cupmuffin pan and one 12-cup mini muffin pan (or whatever floats your boat…)

2 Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt,cinnamon and ginger in a large bowl.

3.In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, egg,vanilla, milk, heavy cream and orange juice and zest. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir. Fold in pumpkin and chopped walnuts. Gently stir in melted butter.

4 Fill each muffin cup (you should have enough forabout 18 large muffins or 12 large and 12 minis). Place a walnut half (or two)on top of each and sprinkle with brownsugar. Bake 20 to 22 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

An Odd Number of Thoughts

2011-11-07T16:08:00.000-06:00

Many times the experts tell us to group things in odd numbers. Like in flower arranging. You should always use three roses or five dahlias, never two or four.

So being what some might term "a little crazy in the head" I tend to try to always think an odd number of thoughts if at all possible. I usually try to stick with just one, because one, after all, is a lot easier to work with than say 29. But sometimes I get way ahead of the game and by mistake end up with TWO thoughts, in which case I am either forced to forget one of them or just go ahead and come up with another one just to make sure I satisfy the "odd number" rule.
And quite frankly all of this usually requires a lot more thinking than I originally set out to do.

This, I guess, is the curse of the rule follower.

So before I am forced to come up with 5 or maybe 7 thoughts I want to go ahead and share 3 with you now.

AND ALL GOD'S PEOPLE SAID: "Lu would you please just get to the point."

Fine.

1. Weegie is simply delighted that he is now allowed to jump up on things again.

It delights him to no end to sit on the ottoman and look out toward the backyard at the squirrels. Sometimes he sits on the ottoman and "talks" to me while I cook.

And sometimes he just gets totally lost in his thoughts in which case I just continue on our conversation all by myself. I don't have a problem with this at all.

We all need our alone time with our thoughts. All 5, 7, or 9 of them.

2. Everyone needs to go to the store and buy some canned pumpkin (if you don't already have some). Tomorrow I'm going to share the recipe for these scrumptious muffins and you'll want to make them right away.

I also think it's best to hold to the odd rule in muffin consumption, so it's either 1 or 3 but not 2.
That would just be wrong.

3. I continue to enjoy my Zumba classes and would like to state for the record that I do believe now without a doubt that I AM NOT the worst student in the class, but it's pretty close. I am BY FAR the palest member of the class and am forced to view the glare from my non-tanned skin for the duration of the class as we are in front of mirrors. Sometimes I remember to take extra sunglasses for those unfortunate few who are forced to Zumba beside me. But it is all good my friends, all good.

And now before I accidentally have another thought and have to bump this list up to five, I'm signing off....

Oddly,
Lu

Spicy Beef Enchilada Stew

2011-11-02T21:49:00.000-05:00

It's November people.

I thought it was about time for a soup or stew or chowder or gumbo or something.

I took it upon myself to invent something from what I had in the pantry and the fridge. This just happened to turn out great.

Unfortunately I was the only one around to try it, but it feeds a crowd!

A step-by-step with pretty photos follows!

Spicy Beef Enchilada Stew

Lu -Serves (at least) 8

1.5 lbs. stew meat in smallish (less than 1 inch) cubes

Vegetable oil

1 cup flour

Salt and pepper

2 stalks celery coarsely chopped

6 large white mushrooms, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 med. white onion, coarsely chopped

1 large sweet potato, in ½ inch cubes

1 T. Better Than Bouillon (beef)

½ tsp. Chipotle Chili Pepper (powder)

1 can (15.oz) Hatch Fire Roasted Tomato Enchilada Sauce

1 can (15 oz.) Tomato sauce

3 cups beef broth

½ c. crushed tortilla chips

Sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

Cut the stew meat into cubes and remove any excess fat andconnective tissue. Mix together theflour, 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. pepper andcoat the beef cubes . In severalbatches, brown the beef (on all sides) in about 3 T. of vegetable oil. Add more oil as necessary. Remove beef and place on a paper-towel coveredplate. Add more oil to pan and add all choppedvegetables and the Better than Bouillon and the chili pepper powder. Saute’ for about 5 minutes. Return the stew meat to the pan and stir intovegetables. Add the enchilada sauce andthe tomato sauce. Stir well. Cook on med-low for about 5 minutes. Add the beef broth. Stir well. Cook on low for about 1 hour. Addthe crushed tortillas and cook about 15 minutes more. Serve with lots of shredded sharp cheddar.

1. Cube and trim the stew meat.

Keep in mind that stew meat (packaged as such) is the ends and pieces of various meats. Some of it is tender, some not so much. Make sure that you try to get all the pieces fairly uniform in size.

That looks pretty good.

2. Mix the flour, salt and pepper.

Coat all sides of the beef cubes in the flour mixture.

3. In small batches, brown the stew meat in the vegetable oil, adding additional oil between batches if necessary. Make sure it's brown on all sides.

4. Remove the beef and drain on a paper-towel lined plate.

5. Add more vegetable oil to the pot (if necessary) and add all prepared veggies. Saute'.

Add more salt, pepper, the Better than B and the chili powder.

Add the beef back into the pot and stir with the vegetables.

6. Add the enchilada sauce and the tomato sauce.

7. Add the beef broth and cook for about an hour.

8. Add the tortilla chips and cook about 15 more minutes. Just dump them in. Stir.

9. Serve with lots of Sharp cheddar!

Hope you all enjoy it!

Pride Obviously Cometh Before the Rich Dessert

2011-11-01T09:03:00.000-05:00

I think you'll all agree that I don't mind being relatively transparent.

I've openly discussed my unhealthy obsession with TAB and Cheez-Its. I admit that I talk to my dog and conversely, that he generally responds in kind. I have freely admitted that I am married to and dearly love a man that is my complete polar opposite. He is methodical and proactive and organized. He's a logical thinker. A brilliant person really. Which, I have to admit looks really bad for me because the polar opposite of all that? Not too flattering.

I'm not embarrassed to tell you that I love bugs. I'm a procrastinator. I hate board games. I vehemently dislike the color purple. I'm a conflict avoider.

And oh yes, I still occasionally (OK, almost every day) use my perfume bottle as a "microphone" and pretend that I am a famous singer. Most recently it's been Adele. But last Friday it was K.C. (you know, of "and the Sunshine Band").

(I KNOW)

You see, I typically have no problem sharing at all. Let's see what's left?

Oh yes, I am a total fashion disaster. I wear my jeans several days in a row without washing them. I eat peanut butter (and Nutella) oh (and Marshmallow Creme) out of the jar with my finger.

I sweat.

Like I said. Typically I lean heavily toward the OVERSHARE.

So, you see, I think you might be surprised to learn that there's one thing I can't bring myself to share.

My cheesecake recipe.

Yep. I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit that I'm totally prideful of My Cheesecake recipe. Usually, you know, I am decidedly in favor of giving out all of my recipes. I mean it's not like I want to have to fess up on Judgement Day that I was so stingy and arrogant that I held on to that sucker til the bitter end. It's a dessert. Not like the key to any kind of human-kind mystery or anything.

I made two cheesecakes recently. I took photos of all the steps. I typed out the recipe and saved it. It is no longer just enclosed in the iron trap of my mind. I had every intention of posting it today, and then I had my own small, private panic attack accompanied by excessive sweating and realized that I just COULD. NOT..DO IT.

So I guess I'm asking for your help, your counsel so to speak to barrel past this obstacle.

I want to be a better person. I do. One that you'll be proud of....

And I should probably ditch the kitchen security cameras I had installed for the recent cheesecake making session. That was probably wrong too.

In my weakness,

Lu

Just Call Me a Malcontent

2011-10-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

It's Friday y'all.

Now's the time to wrap-up the week and gloat about all our accomplishments.

You start.

Or we could talk about last night's World Series Game 6 and how it gave me hives. Really. During the last three innings I began breaking out in itchy bumps on my arms and chest. (Could I possibly paint a more attractive picture of myself?) I was here at the farm alone in the middle of nowhere alternately jumping up and down in front of the TV and running out the door to DEMAND! that the wind stop blowing out the satellite reception. I actually missed the home run by Josh Hamilton. Missed it.

And he's so cute and such a great guy and all.

Occasionally I would also have to tear myself from the TV or computer to kill a scorpion or catch a gecko that had darted inside during one of my trips out to GIVE THE WIND THE WHAT'S WHAT.
And there was also that creature thing that was wandering around out in the back near my car - I kept hearing something and I saw the figure of some animal-type thing in the dark but I simply did not have time to investigate.

I was in a baseball frenzy.

And my goodness sakes, could the Rangers just not get it done or what? Or was it just that the Cardinals did get it done? The whole winning and losing thing is SO hard to figure out don't you think?

Anyway, I'm not sure if I can stand another game like that one- at least not until I go get some kind of prescription medication for the hives and also a bottle of Benedryl.

The good thing is I slept great as the weather here is, I believe we used to call it COLD, and I turned the ceiling fan and!! the oscillating fan on high and slept under some BIG, FAT, COVERS as The Chief was not here to suggest that I do otherwise.

Take that Chief.

Living on the edge...

Lu

Every Moral Has a Story

2011-10-26T09:26:00.000-05:00

So.

I know you've all been wondering what's up around here. You probably all thought I was swept away on some exotic vacation or had been spending the week at a spa.

You did, didn't you?

So sorry to disappoint.

I'VE BLOWN MY KNEE OUT. Or is it, I'VE BLOWN-OUT MY KNEE?

Not really. I just like saying it. It sounds like I just made a touchdown and/or also ran a marathon.

My knee hurts, but I don't think it's a major thing - I simply got a little too wound up on the treadmill yesterday and before I knew it I couldn't bend my knee. Which led to another unfortunate injury in the dark last night when I got up to go to the bathroom and all the hobbling caused me to catch my toe on the bathroom door. I think I may have whimpered or SCREAMED AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS in pain, but The Chief didn't seem to hear. The man has ignoring down to a science. Which is very surprising to me because, as you are well aware, I never say anything unless it is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT.
Anyway I was pretty sure that when I woke up this morning and actually saw the extent of the injury I would be headed to the hospital and maybe asked to guest star on one of those "how did you survive the awful pain" shows on the Health Channel, but sure enough my toe is fine and there seems to be no ill effects from the injury except that maybe I really resent the fact that The Chief didn't offer to go outside and get some snow so I could ice it down and all.
I am quite obviously still delirious from the pain.

And speaking of going to the bathroom, I have yet another story. Because, hello, WHAT ELSE COULD BE MORE EXCITING?

I took The Chief's truck to have the windshield replaced yesterday morning and in the 45 minutes or so that I had to wait, I had to go to the bathroom approximately 17 times because I had wisely chosen to drink a HUGE Diet Coke on the way to the glass place. And to top off the fun of all those public bathroom trips (in a house that had been converted to a business) all of the currently non-busy glass/mirror technicians sat enjoying their coffee at a table approximately 3 inches from the door of the bathroom. And the moral of this story is once again: YOU WOULD THINK I COULD FIGURE OUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF DRINKING ONE HUNDREDY OUNCES OF LIQUID EARLY IN THE MORNING BEFORE GOING TO A PUBLIC PLACE.

And although I know that you mourn the end of my bathroom tales, I really need to go get ready for ZUMBA.

Because today I plan to just DAZZLE everyone with my sassy and salty Latin dance moves made even more attractive by the bulging swell on my knee and the large white mummy-type bandage I have lovingly placed on my toe.

Don't be jealous of all the glamour.

Lu

Did I Mention I Have ZUMBA Arms?

2011-10-21T13:06:00.000-05:00

Sadly, I don't mean Zumba arms like all toned and in shape.
I mean Zumba arms as in sore and barely able to lift them.
And while you could probably care less, I relay this information to explain why there will be no exciting action shots in the step-by-step recipe that follows.

It was all I could do to hold the camera. Much less a spoon or whisk at the same time.

But listen.

Y'all all need to come go to Zumba with me. It was fun. We did the merengue, the salsa, the samba and mostly the sweat. After the whole treadmill/pork butt debacle of earlier in the week, I completely got through the class without creating any kind of spectacle. So SCORE!

To celebrate, I decided to bake something.

I am nothing if not a puzzle.

(And as The Chief would say, "with a few pieces missing")

But I see absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating my introduction to the spicy, Latin, exercise world with a seasonal baked good.

I think you'll all agree.

But first, I need to talk about pumpkin.

I'm not the biggest fan. The taste in baked goods can be too pumpkiny, too pumpkin-ish, and sometimes a little overly pumpkin-esque for my taste.

So, I'm always intrigued when I find an appropriately season-celebrating recipe that has a little twist to it. Like the Pumpkin Cheddar muffins I plan to share with you next week, or today's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf.

Here's the recipe, but the pretty pictures are after....

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

From Baked Bakery, Brooklyn, New York

3 ¼ c. flour 1cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. cinnamon 3cups sugar

½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg 4large eggs

½ tsp. ground allspice 1tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ ground ginger (optional) 1½ cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. salt

1 ¾ cups (one 15-oz. can) pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350. Butter two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans. Dust them with flour, and knock out excess flour.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg,allspice, ginger, baking soda, and salt.

In another large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree andoil until combined. Add the sugar andwhisk again. Whisk the eggs into themixture, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Add 2/3 cup room-temperature water and whiskuntil combined. With a rubber spatula,stir in the chocolate chips.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Do not over mix.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Gently knock the bottom of the pans againstthe countertop to even out the batter. Use the spatula to smooth the tops.

Bake in the center of the oven until a toothpick insertedinto the center of the loaf comes out clean, 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30minutes, rotating pans halfway through the baking time. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and cool for15 minutes. Invert the loaves onto wireracks and cool completely before serving.
**********************************************************************************

Here's what's what.

Butter the pans, dust with flour.

Gather your ingredients. I used Canola oil instead of regular vegetable oil, and vanilla bean paste instead of regular vanilla. Why, you ask? Because it's what I had...

Whisk the dry ingredients together...

Use your favorite big bowl.

Uh. I hadn't whisked yet here. My arm was hurting.

In another bowl, also a favorite, mix together the pumpkin puree and the oil.

Now add the sugar and whisk well.

Yick. Kind of Halloweenish, no?

This is much better.

Now add the eggs, one at a time.

Whisk until each egg is combined.

Now add the vanilla.

Stir well.

Now add 2/3 cups water and the chocolate chips- stir well.

Then dump in the dry ingredients and mix 'er all up...

Here's what you get...

Divide the batter evenly into the two baking dishes. Bake in 350 degree oven.

Bake for between 1 hour and 15 minutes and 1 hour and 30 minutes, depending on the disposition of your oven...

I may or may not have eaten a piece in celebration - you know, of the Zumba arms and all...

I won't say either way - one would be an unnecessary confession, and the other a complete lie.

I think you'll like it.

Have a great weekend,

Lu

A Few Little Things and Some Other Stuff

2011-10-20T09:52:00.002-05:00

1. Ahem... Have you been outside? No, like I said...Do not thank me. I did it for all of us. I think it's clear that I frightened Mr. October into compliance. I know some of you didn't think I had it in me. I've told you before I can be sufficiently bold when the occasion calls for it. Like when the shelves are empty of TAB at the HEB or when Weegie entertains some wild idea about cavorting around with the skunks. We all have to speak up when we see things that are wrong.
So remember, don't thank me. Unless of course you've already purchased the gift card from Pottery Barn or loaded up your truck with TAB.

Far be it from me to seem ungrateful...

2. Speaking of shopping. I recently had a discussion with some girlfriends about their favorite make-up foundation. The votes were more or less evenly split between some of the really expensive brands purchased only at a department store or on-line, and the pretty cheap stuff you can just pick up yourself at the Wal-Marts or pharmacy-type establishments. I've been pretty determined to find some new foundation because, y'all... Something has happened to my skin. It has been in a decidedly-non rosey/youthful/firm state for a while now and it seems unable to find it's way out. I'm pretty sure that I could solve most of the world's major political and other problems if I could just discover the right base make-up. Well. I was in Wal-Mart yesterday and after I jogged by the pharmacy area holding my breath (look people, it's already flu season and people were coughing up a lung...) I determined that I would look for one of the foundation brands that someone had mentioned during our little discussion. I'm just sayin', but I suppose one of the little perks of those white-jacketed cosmetics experts at the department stores is that they test out the color shade and everything on your skin, because it became clear when I got home and tried out the shade I selected that just like paint in a 5 gallon can, it's easy to make a major mistake.

The shade you see through the pretty little make-up bottle is going to be considerably different when you slap it up on your living room wall - or whatever. I like the little spongy-roller thingy, and the easy application, but Sweet Mother of Pearl... You should see the color. I have a very light complexion. OK, I'm really drab and pale. I took about 20 minutes deciding between Buff Beige and Lighter Than You Wanna Be.

Last night before taking off my make-up and taking a bath I decided to try out the new stuff. Well. Evidently Buff Beige is for those lucky people with a more zombie-like skin tone because, MAJOR COLOR FAIL. I even frightened myself. I think I can salvage the $9.98 and use it as under-eye concealer/HIGHLIGHTER, or perhaps desert camouflage or something.
No harm. No foul.

But honestly if I have to take a couple more shots at the color-matching, I may as well go buy the high dollar stuff from one of the ladies. Oh, and also the blush, lip gloss and face firming exfoliating scrub/hydrating/anti-aging creme that she talks me into, Amen?

3. And now the really exciting stuff. I joined a gym. I did. I went in on Tuesday and had a little tour. The lady who showed me around was so nice and normal and not all buff and fit ( of course she wasn't not-buff and not-fit, but you know what I mean...) and what I saw was exciting and scary and made me very nervous- but a good nervous, you know. And anyway, I won't go through the whole tour/joining story but I know you all want to hear it, because, hello, REALLY WHAT COULD BE MORE EXCITING?

Anyway, I went yesterday for the very first time and you know what I was most nervous about? Using the lockers. Yep. If you're a longtime reader of this little blog you know I have some horror stories/situations in my personal history that involve lockers and combination locks and forgetting and books and some possible locker demon possession that have molded me into the very odd and highly paranoid person I am today.
I was very concerned that 1) I wouldn't be able to safely lock my stuff into the locker, and 2) I wouldn't be able to get my stuff out of the locker.
But. I'd by lying if I didn't admit to a little smidge of pride in being able to say that I conquered the whole locker thing without so much as a hitch.

Thank You.

The only real problem came in when I was on the treadmill and couldn't understand why several very slim and trim and fit and perky ladies were giving me the eye. Were they intimidated by my very obvious physical superiority or maybe the big grease stain on the front of my gray workout shirt? I think I stumbled upon the answer when I realized that my earphones were not completely plugged in the little hole all the way and the volume on my treadmill's fancy personal TV was blaring the Food Channel's Pat and Gina Neely explaining how to correctly season a pork butt.

I guess after I thought about it a while it was somewhat ironic. But no less tragically life-altering.

Today I'm trying Zumba. I'll let you know how it all goes down.

Lu

Don't Look Now, But You've All Been Behooved

2011-10-18T08:58:00.003-05:00

No need to thank me, but I believe that it will become quite clear to all of you today that I've taken care of this whole unseasonably, unacceptably, un'autumn'ish weather issue we've been having.
Once and for all.

I mean I've wondered for a while if it wouldn't behoove me (and of course, you too, my friends - if in fact it is possible to do something that behooves someone else- I think you'll agree that the whole "behooving business" is nothing short of a conundrum) to just call October on the carpet, so to speak, and give him the what for.

And although I know you all must be very curious, and I suppose also a little, well, in awe of what I have done, I feel an obligation to protect October's reputation as the traditionally fine and upstanding month that it usually is, so some of the little "tete a tete" that he and I had will have to remain confidential.

I know you understand.

Here's a little of what I said:

"Look. October. Dude.

You've always been my favorite month. Really. I'm not just saying that. You're the month when my bare legs usually no longer stick to the leather seats in my car. The month when I dare to wear things with actual sleeves. Sleeves, October! The month when I don't just admire my cowboy boots on the closet shelf, but I actually pull them down and put them on. You're the month when I venture outside during the day and no longer cry when the sun touches my skin.

The good month, that's what you are. I've always felt this way.

And it's not as if you've been completely bad this year. We did have a little rain a week or so ago and LOOK October! Look what happened in the front yard!

The mums bloomed. On your watch October!

This was just excellent work on your part. It even inspired me to do some things to encourage you along.

I put up Fall Wreaths, October. I did.

I thought it might motivate you.

Don't you like the wreaths, October? I'm wondering because you've really disappointed in the last week or so with the unseasonably warm weather. The hot sun. The humidity. The sweaty car seat leg thing.

If I thought there was something else that I could do, something more from me that would help you along I'd do it. But I'm tired October.

Tired.

Tired of the shenanigans from you and your little friend Mr. September. Simply exhausted from your blatant insubordination. Your reluctance to cooperate.

So let me tell you how it's gonna be. And listen good, October, because I'm only saying this once.

Today you're gonna cool off. You might even provide a little rain for some folks. You are going to make it possible for me to open my windows and let fresh air blow into my house.

Non-humid air, October. Do you hear me?

Then you are going to let loose with some days when I not only dare to wear sleeves, but I might even wear a sweater.

Yes, I said a sweater.

And listen, Sir, maybe even my scarf.

The kicky one.

So don't get any funny ideas about returning to your rebellious ways. They're over Buddy.

This is just the way it's gonna be.

And while you're at it, you may as well just go ahead and warn your upstart homeboy, November.

I'm gunnin' for him."

So, that's just a little of what we I talked about. Really, what could he say?

I'm just a little bummed that I didn't read the riot act to July and have a little "sit down" with August.

Like I said though, I was happy to do it.

Please Forgive Me, Mr. Governor

2011-10-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

When we were packing up on Friday to go to the farm I made a point of cutting a cookie recipe out of the newspaper and packing it along with some other food-type items to take on our trip. I thought it might be nice to try the new recipe out on Saturday evening after I helped The Chief build fence.

Somehow I always forget how tired, dirty and just generally worn out I'm going to be after building fence.

On Friday, before getting to the farm it's easy to imagine leisurely whipping up a new recipe for tasty cookies on Saturday evening while The Chief and Weegie sit on the cool front porch and enjoy the lovely view to the lake.

Of course I also packed several changes of clothes and even a kicky little scarf that coordinated with a kicky new blouse I just bought. On Friday, before arriving at the farm it's easy to imagine changing into these fashionable outfits and enjoying myself as I frolic through the green fields and photograph the cattle and the donkey. Maybe even having The Chief photograph me as I frolic or lean back against the mule in a smug pose. Looking, of course, very kicky.

It's so easy to imagine these things on Friday before arriving at the farm.

And then we get there.

And the lake is dried up. There is nothing green in sight. The cows have all wandered over into some other pasture and are nowhere to be found. The scorpions have taken over the farmhouse. We high-side the Mule on a fallen tree while trying to get out into the dried lake bed to build an extension on the fence. We have to use the come-along (a fencing tool) to winch the Mule off the tree. The weather is not cool. The cracks in the dried lake bed are so deep that the first time I accidentally step into one it reaches my mid-thigh. I pray that my leg is not broken. It takes me at least 15 minutes to carry 3 steel fence posts (my maximum carrying capacity per trip) out to The Chief where he is beginning to extend the fence. There are 50 posts in all...

It never occurred to me even once to change clothes. I do believe I changed socks on Sunday morning. The kicky clothes were still folded neatly in my bag when we got home Sunday night.

I did manage to drag myself into the kitchen Saturday evening to make the cookies.

The Original Recipe was for Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies.

I didn't have enough butter for the recipe.

The main ingredient was oatmeal - didn't have any.

But by golly, I was making ~~those~~ some cookies.

So, say Howdy to "The Fenceman's Farmhouse Cookies"

(and church friends, these are the cookies I brought to the picnic Sunday)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat 2 sticks butter and 1/2 cup shortening on med. speed about 1 minute. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar. Beat about 3 minutes.

3. Add 3 eggs one at a time.

4. Add one tablespoon vanilla.

5. In a separate large bowl stir together 3 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir until combined.

6. Add the flour mixture slowly to the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla mixture.

7. Stir in 3 cups chocolate chips, 2 cups shredded coconut, 2 cups Rice Krispies cereal, and 1 cup slightly crushed Special K cereal, and about 1/4 cup Oatmeal Crisp cereal...

***Note: I was pretty desperate at this point to find some things to replace the oatmeal originally called for in the recipe. Just combine whatever dry cereals (within reason please, no Fruity-Tutti things!) that you have.

8. Stir in 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts and 1 cup toasted pecans.

9. Drop by 1/3 cup measurements onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes. Don't let them get terribly brown.

They even taste good from an orange plate.

Did I mention Gig'em?

Lu

A "Two-Fer"

2011-10-13T11:18:00.002-05:00

This is a two part post. A double whammy so to speak.

The first part? A little sneak peek at The Weege.

The second? A plea from me.

So all you Weegie-acs! don't forget to check out the end.

Thank you.

First...

"Mom, I asked you not to take any pictures of my hindquarters."

"And seriously, Mom, do you realize how boring it is to be confined to this courtyard as my only outdoor option? There is NOTHING to do out here. No squirrels, no skunks, no opossums, no nothing. How am I supposed to occupy my time?"

"And your really bright idea about me playing hide and seek with myself? Boring. That's what it is."

"I beg you, Mom, REALLY. Puh-leez let me out in the back yard. Do you realize what has been GOING ON back there since I've been banished?

"Well let me tell you. All kinds of UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES, that's what. Activities that are banned, frowned upon, and just generally unacceptable. Am I the only one who sees it?"

"And Mom, could you get the Windex? I've slimed up this window pretty bad."

So that's a little re-cap of Weegie's situation. Please pray that he can find contentment (at least for another two weeks or so) - he does so enjoy being part of a prayer chain.

**************************************************************************

Part Deux.

Please promise me something. Promise me you will go to the HEB or Sam's or something and buy some of these

Honeycrisp apples. I got these at Sam's. They aren't nearly as big as some that I got at the HEB last season, but still - go get some. I don't ask for much, do I?

Then, make this cake. I've already posted this recipe, but it is good enough to post again. Trust me.

The Fresh Apple Cake

1. Chop and toast 1 1/2 cup pecans (or walnuts). The toasting is SO important. Let them cool completely.

2. Peel and chop 3 cups Honeycrisp apples. Pour 1/4 c. fresh-squeezed lemon juice over the apples. Set aside.

3. With a mixer, combine 2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 c. vegetable oil, 2 tsp. vanilla, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp. salt. Just mix until well combined.

4. In a separate large bowl combine 3 c. flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg.

5. With a wooden spoon, mix together the sugar mixture and the flour mixture.

6. Stir in the apples and pecans.

7. Bake in a well-greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

8. Allow to cool in pan for about 5 minutes. Run a sharp knife all around the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan.

9. Invert onto plate. Glaze with a mix of powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice.

So good. So so good.

And all because of these...

Let me know how it turns out.

Lu

A Totally Fictitious Tale

2011-10-11T11:36:00.000-05:00

Just a Note: Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful little event celebrating my friend and author Bev Nault. Bev is a talented writer and just an all-around lovely person. She's recently written two popular books (one fiction and one non-fiction) and is set to release another fiction work in the very near future. I encourage you to click on her name to visit her website!

I had the chance to ask Bev a couple of questions about how you go about writing fiction, and as everyone knows, I'm a really, really quick study so I think I have the whole fiction-writing thing down to a science now.

I think you'll all agree.

Here's my first piece of fiction. File this under Sub-genre "Really Short Story".

First, a little business: This is a work of fiction. Names characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

And while we're at it - No part of this really short story may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form.

That's a road that can lead to what I like to call a "plagiarism lawsuit" my friends.

OK. Here goes.

A Tail of Two P's

Once upon a time there was a dog. (See, the whole point of fiction is to catch you off guard - you would never expect me to write about a dog). Anyway, there was a dog. His name was Partial Pants. He had acquired this name recently as a result of an unfortunate hair shaving incident necessitated by a "corrective surgical procedure". One leg, hip and most of one side of his buttocks was now exposed. Shorn of the lovely reddish brown and white fur for which he was often admired. And also which constantly covered the upholstery in the home in which he lived. At first he was embarrassed by the haircut. Double P had been known to struggle with an inflated ego problem. But he had come to enjoy his attention-getting "do". It made people notice him. It even generated what you might call a sympathy response from some passers-by, frequently resulting in an extended tummy rub. And 2P kind of liked how as a result of the shaving, you could better see the muscles in his leg.

Now 2P was much improved/recuperated/rehabilitated from the surgery. He was feeling good. But unfortunately his Mom (let's call her Lo-D, because she so strongly resembled the popular J-Lo in looks and in talent (look people, this is fiction - anything goes...)) still insisted that he not 1) run 2) jump on the furniture or 3) use the stairs. And Lo-D insisted on these things because 1) the doctor said, and more importantly 2) Cochise (Lo-D's husband and 2P's favorite person in the world) had emphatically stated that he would not be paying for another "corrective surgery" if in fact 2P did not behave himself and screwed up the first one...

Anyway 2P was getting very hard to live with. He could not be let out into the backyard alone to lay on his chaise lounge chair because he was not disciplined enough not to chase every bird and squirrel in the neighborhood. He tired quickly of being confined in the courtyard area in front of the house as really there just wasn't a lot of action up there. He wanted to be with Lo-D all the time. He liked to walk so close to her legs that she tripped over him three or four times a day. He liked to bark at the top of his lungs at his Squeaky Toy that he so slyly pushed under the furniture. He liked to bark at the birds that he spotted out the window. He liked to bark at Lo-D while she broke his antibiotic capsule in half and mixed it with some chicken and a little broth. He barked at Lo-D when she had no chicken. He barked at Lo-D while she made dinner for Cochise and dared to use cheese.

And of course, Lo-D always got down on her hands and knees and rescued the Squeaky Toy, assured him that the birds were not out to get him, boiled some more chicken and gave him some cheese.
She even, without fail, rubbed his tummy on every quarter hour.

Because Lo-D? She had a heart for the pitiful.

And quite honestly, she just wasn't very smart.

The End

P.S. Bev, I know you're proud.

Armed and Dangerous?

2011-10-07T11:42:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me personally know I'm not a big talker. And I've never once in my life been described as what you might call "bold". Never.

So you can imagine my shock and surprise when one day (in Sunday School no less!) one of my friends described me as a "word assassin".

Well, excuse me, WHAT?

I was, needless to say, completely taken aback and I daresay a little dumbfounded. I mean it sounded like something for which one might be arrested. Or at the very least something you might want to stop by your friendly CVS and get immunized against.

I could tell he meant it in a very kind way (because this person, he is, one of my VERY favorite people) but I needed a little more clarification. So after class I expertly wound my way over to him and ask him

"What Up, Dude?"

I'm kidding. I politely ask him what he meant by comparing me to a killer with a gun and a penchant for rooftops. Wait. That's a sniper. Nevermind.

Oh Bless His Heart. He spent the next 10 minutes trying to make sure he hadn't hurt my feelings, all the while explaining that he meant because I don't say much it's as if I lie in wait for an interminably long period of time before saying something and then shoot with deadly precision.

All of which, quite frankly, made me snort Diet Coke out of my nose and choke on the lovely cinnamon roll (which in fact contained the absolute perfect ratio of sugar to cinnamon!) that had been provided for refreshments.

It was a compliment. Albeit a somewhat misplaced one since my tendency to stay silent has a lot more to do with the fear of messing up than stealth.

Isn't it funny how differently we sometimes see our own actions? Or those of others?

I love words, I do.

I love the way some of them sound ( skirmish, for instance, or perfunctory), I love the emotions they can evoke (beloved, lingered or quiescent) and some that are just plain fun (like squishy, loopy and cackle).

But most of the time words simply stay in my head or on this blog or maybe in a letter or an e-mail. My tendency to err on the side of timidity or shyness when it comes to saying words usually results from two questions that always flash in my mind before I speak:

1) Will it hurt someone's feelings?
2) Will it make me look like an idiot?

And although things slip out sometimes (oh the regret...) I usually decide to just hold off. Many people consider this a weakness, and I guess it is. Especially given that some of my very favorite people in the world are unquestionably bold and somewhat outspoken (I love you Chief!).

But I suppose in the end "it takes all kinds to make the world go around" don't you think? I mean how exciting would it be if everyone clammed up like me all the time, or always had an opinion about every single little thing?

Anyway, I say all this to tell you how much I love it when someone comes up with just the perfect way of saying something. Just the right words in just the right way. That's one reason I love Pinterest.

Not only do you find the best little sayings, but someone has also gone to the trouble to pretty them up into spiffy posters, etc.

Here are some of my recent favorites:

Well, isn't that the truth.

Oh my goodness, yes.

Call me guilty!

Dori had such a positive outlook!

Anyone????

The Chief.

Except The Chief. He's always there BEFORE punctual. Darn it.

When I'm feeling like I need to be pampered...

And finally, this new one from pioneer Steve Jobs

Words. Use them wisely.

Have a great weekend!

Lu

Please Call Me Ivana

2011-10-05T11:27:00.000-05:00

I've always said that if I ever suddenly became a gabillionaire the only indulgence I would allow myself would be fresh flowers in my house every day.

Well, I think I said it once and then The Chief said "Trust me Lu, you shouldn't waste a lot of time worrying about it."

He's such a stinkin' realist. A bubble burster.

Anyway, I love fresh flowers. Have never been a fan of the silk, plastic, or other synthetic varieties. Most of the time I just cut something out of my yard (like roses or coleus) but sometimes I can't pass up one of the little bouquets at the grocery store, especially if they're on sale. Anyone who's ever bought one knows you get one or two "fancy flowers" and the rest is all filler greenery.

Bummer.

So one must let one's creative juices flow. Or basically just grab some other flowers out of the yard and "embellish".

My courtyard is looking a little overgrown these days, but I just don't have the heart to cut anything back since there's so little living plant matter that has survived the drought.

Check out the lemons on my tree- I have over 30!

I don't even want to cut back the blooms on the coleus - I like the extra color!

Even my pretty coral roses have been hidden by the monster coleus.

The more I cut, the bigger it grows.

I clipped a few pieces here and there, got stung by two bees in the process, and ended up with this.

And just think how much better it could look if I had any kind of clue about floral design!

Like shape, and dimension, and form!

So today, I say spoil yourself like you were well, the Trumpster's ex!

Or whatever.

Just don't let The Chief hear about it.

Lu

Did I Hear Someone Mention the SEC?

2011-10-04T10:16:00.002-05:00

I was hoping to start this post with a rousing "Well how about them Aggies!"

But of course that's typically reserved for a situation in which your team either a) wins or b) actually participates in some physical form during the last, let's say 30 minutes or so of the game.

Even though defensive football strategy is a little 'outside my wheelhouse' so to speak, I'm going to climb way out on a limb and say that the Ags might want to re-think theirs.

Defensive strategy I mean.

Oh, and not necessarily the first half kind. I'm thinking maybe the second half kind. The kind that makes you lose.

Just call it wild conjecture on my part.

Granted, I'm most likely not the first person you'd think of when it comes to football knowledge, although I can say with purpose and abandon that I am quite the fan of the shotgun formation, the single set back, a nice gap crush and yes, the touchdown.

I always enjoy those.

So it's really not like I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. Although you might argue it's pretty close.

And I do love my Aggies. Win or lose.

We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we.

But there always comes a time when we all need to re-visit a plan that we've made, or may have just completely forgotten to make.

And I think for my Aggies that time might be now.

Before it is no longer this year and it is in fact next year and we show up at the big party still dressed in our pajamas. Or worse, having completely forgotten to dress at all.

Gig'em and God Bless!

Lu

I KNOW. I Should Slow Down.

2011-09-30T10:13:00.000-05:00

It's Friday y'all.

I don't know about all of you, but I've had some thoughts this week.
I KNOW.
Thoughts about a lot of things, but mainly the following:

1. Martha Stewart - This whole topic can be overwhelming if you spend much time on it.

Here's the thing. She determines what the guests in the studio audience of her TV show wear. She literally coordinates the clothing of the people who show up to view her show. I feel sure she might have a problem with my tennis shoes and my propensity for "army green" since she prefers to see her audience in bright pastels with coordinating scarves.

Like I said. Don't think about this too much.

2. The unbelievable amount of powder that can be crammed into an antibiotic capsule - No, I'm not doing anything illegal. But seriously, have you ever opened up any kind of capsule and poured the contents into a little pile? Do it. I bet you'll be surprised at the volume. I was. My guess is that they use the same technology as the "Space Bags" vacuum storage bag system. It's a little disconcerting to think that after you swallow a capsule the contents could potentially turn into 2 winter coats, a blanket and a very large stuffed bear.
I'm giving Weegie these antibiotics that unfortunately come in HUGE CAPSULES and the only way I've found to successfully administer them is to break the capsule in half and then hide the powder in some form of chicken or cheese. All I'm saying is that the powder does a number on the malleability/ductility/tensil strength of Velveeta. Or for all of you non-chemistry geeks, it makes Velveeta not stick to itself.

Where else can you learn these kinds of things?

That's right. Nowhere.

3. Cheese Crackers - Anyone who has read this blog for very long knows about my fondness for the Cheez-it. I also have an ongoing admiration for the Flip-Sides Crackers in the Cheddar flavor.
Well I would appreciate all your help in kind of passing around the rumor that the Flip-Sides Cheddar is well, HORRIBLE or something, because darned if the HEB isn't sold out of them all the time. I had a very long and dare I say productive talk with my cute little HEB assistant manager during which I made him aware of the problem, and he was very receptive. I also took the opportunity to address my concern with the small amount of shelf space devoted to TAB and he assured me that "corporate" would be hearing about the whole problem soon.
I kindly offered to appear at the next corporate meeting and do a little talk/slide show followed by a lively discussion. Don't ever say that I am not willing to be a part of the solution.
Unfortunately, it seems the agenda for the next meeting is already full, but he would definitely keep my offer in mind.

Anyway, back to my original concern - remember, tell all your friends... Flip-Sides Cheddar? Awful.
Don't buy them.

4. Fall Decorations - You'd never know it by the weather but it's Fall. I perspired all the way up to Hobby Lobby the other day where I hoped to " Get My Autumn On" by looking at all the seasonal decorations while trying my best TO IGNORE THE FACT THAT THE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS?? THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. Do not get me started.

Anyway, I thought about buying some pumpkin things and a few leaf things, and then maybe some straw and cone things to festively scatter about, but I didn't.

I bet that makes you want to come celebrate the season at my house, doesn't it?

So, clearly, I've had AT LEAST 4 thoughts this week. What about you?

Lu

Any Resemblance To Actual Persons is Entirely Coincidental

2011-09-28T14:08:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time there was a blogger.

Let's just call her Low D. Now Low D had been feeling kind of down. Kind of in a funk. And yes, I suppose you could say somewhat out of sorts.

Low D had every desire in her heart to give her readers something interesting. She did. But darn if she could come up with anything.

She became so distraught about the whole thing that Low started noticing some things about herself. Disturbing things.

For some reason, for the last few days Low had become inexplicably attached to a styrofoam cup from McDonalds. She enjoyed drinking her TAB out of it so much that she just kept washing it over and over again and using it as her primary drinking vessel. Nevermind that Low D had all kinds of lovely and utilitarian glassware in her cabinets.
Kinds that other people drank out of.
She even owned a whole set of Tervis tumblers that no longer intrigued her with their insulating qualities and their big Aggie 'Howdy' on the sides.

Low D was concerned that she soon might start saving aluminum foil. She would wash each used piece, carefully fold it into small squares, and store it under the toaster oven on her counter. Oh wait. That was her grandmother.

But anyway. She was concerned.

Low D's husband Honcho was also concerned. He mentioned to her one day that several times as he left for work early in the morning he discovered that Low had left the front door unlocked all night.

And the back door.

And that she had also set up a flashing light in the front yard backed by a sign that said "Welcome! Low D lives here and she's in a funk. Please feel free to come in and steal all of her belongings. And while you're at it you might want to take Honcho's stuff too."

Not really about the sign. But according to Honcho, that would have been her next step on the road to their ruin.

And Honcho also warned Low D that she had been leaving the ceiling fans on all night in the living room and the sunroom. And then he called her a watt-killer. As in killowatts.

"Oh, and by the way Robbers - we've left all the fans on for your comfort!"

And then he pretty much tried to make her feel responsible for the poor state of the national economy.

And oh yes, the drought.

Not really. But almost.

Anyway, Low D just felt antsy.

She cried when she realized that she had a brand new box of Big Cheez-Its in the pantry and she JUST REALLY DIDN'T CARE.

Low D had worn her tennis shoes everyday all day long for the last two weeks because her foot hurt, and she wasn't even sorry about it. She didn't even blink when she passed well-dressed women with regular shoes or even HEELS. Women with coordinated jewelry.

Ladies with kicky scarves.

Low D decided that she SO DIDN'T CARE about her fashion faux pas-ness that she would even be fine with wearing her tennis shoes with a sparkly sequined halter evening gown to all of the fall and winter social events that she and Honcho would be invited to. She would not be embarrassed of her orthopedic footwear.

She was above all that.

Then she remembered that she doesn't go to social events much as evidenced by the one time when she and Honcho actually were invited to a party that she blogged about it for an entire week.
And posted pictures of what she was going to wear.

And she also remembered she would never be caught dead in anything sequined.

But she would still be perfectly happy wearing only her Nike's with the hot pink laces.
Oh, and Low D didn't mean JUST the Nike's, because that would pretty much kill all the festivities right out of the gate.

Low D thought she might have come across the reason for her sorry state of mind when she noticed in the shower that she had been using Aveda Sap Moss Shampoo.

Because, really?

What could be more uplifting than starting your day by rubbing sap and moss onto the top of your head?

Low D just doesn't know.

The End.

This Is Not Even An Orderly List

2011-09-26T09:19:00.000-05:00

I thought something might come to me while I slept. An idea. A story. A bestseller for goodness sake. But still, here I sit with no plan. No outline. No purpose.

How's that for capturing your interest? Reeling you in?
You're hooked now.

For some reason I'm having a hard time organizing my thoughts. You laugh. I know. I think we'll just go by topic - make no attempt whatsoever to tie anything together. It's the Monday way of doing things and it is oh so much easier than than the other stressful, thinking-required way.

The Weege - The Weegster is so very much better. After I finally figured out that I couldn't even get the smell of the pain medication anywhere near him without him gagging and throwing up, things improved quickly. He doesn't even need any pain meds. He looks kind of funny and is beginning to wonder why on earth they shaved SUCH A HUGE AREA OF HIS BODY JUST TO WORK ON HIS LEG, but I've assured him that his hair grows really fast and not to worry. He'll be looking all sauve and sophisticated again before you know it. It does seem I may have considerably complicated my life by starting the practice of heating up boiled chicken and rice for him at each meal, but this was a necessary evil in order to mix in his antibiotics.
And besides he really likes it.

The Aggies - Well. And well. Um. OK, yes, in case you were wondering it was actually worse watching it in person. But we were the guests of someone this week with really awesome seats which were in the shade the entire game, so at least we didn't have to sweat while witnessing the whole terrible 3rd quarter implosion thing. And the new friend that I sat with and I had plenty of time to talk about pork roast and soup and opening our own bakery. And there was a cute young family sitting in front of us with two adorable kids with red hair and one on the way and they were all a good distraction for when things started to tank on the field. And I continue to wonder how it is girls can sometimes be 8 and a half months pregnant and still look like SUPERMODELS OR ACTRESSES or something when I clearly was unable to pull off a similar look after about Week 2.
Oh I kid.

The Ants - The creatures have decided to invade my laundry room (also known as Weegie's confinement area) evidently looking for water. I mean a little rain would help in so many ways, don't you think?

The Racoons - They've really been on a roll taunting Weege. Knowing full well that he's not supposed to run out and chase them out of the yard, they've set up a veritable recreation area out there complete with a fine-dining restaurant and casino. We're just waiting for the day the skunks all roll in on some Big Texas Tour Bus to join the revelry.

The Bathroom Scale - Something is quite obviously wrong with mine. I need a new one. Help me....

The Weather - Hot. Again. I die.

The Plan - If someone could please come up with some kind of interesting plan for my blog posts this week including topic and outline that would be so great. I'm more than willing to just more or less work with whatever someone throws my way.
I do believe I am fresh out of ideas yet again.

But don't worry about it. I know you all have things to do.

Languishing,

Lu

Please Send Chicken And Blueberries

2011-09-22T15:35:00.000-05:00

I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the inquires about Weegie.

I brought him home today around noon. To be honest, he's just pretty miserable right now. I thought briefly about taking a picture and posting it, but that would be well, wrong. He looks pretty bad what with the huge cone around his head (which has for the moment been removed) and the large portion of his buttocks and abdomen that have been shaved. Not to mention, of course, the incision, and then the pain patch on his other leg. All in all my friends, not a pretty sight at all. I think he would hate for the whole world (or at least all 3 of you) to see him like this. So I choose to respect his privacy. In a few days when he's feeling perkier and we've had a chance to do some kind of respectable styling of his hair, we'll give you a photo update.

The whole trip home from the Vet was a tad on the STRESSFUL side. The dog kennel that I took for him to ride home in would not begin to accommodate both The Weege and his kicky new collar accessory, so we had to resort to him riding beside me in the front passenger seat which even in a fully reclined position was not what I'd think you'd consider even remotely therapeutic.
Or what you'd call a good idea.
Either his head (cone) or his leg (with staples) always seemed to be sliding off into the floor and it was all I could do to concentrate on driving in all the TRAFFIC while at the same time trying to soothe the poor little guy because y'all he was whining...Every breath. It was almost more than I could bear.

Now he's only whining every other breath which is an improvement, but it's killing me because I know that he's hurting.

He has a pain patch and pain pills.

But still.

Bless his little heart.

For those of you that didn't know, although the surgery was successful the Vet found some pretty severe damage and arthritis in Squeegums little leg which will probably mean that he will never be completely pain free in that area. But instead of being all depressed and anxious about it like I was yesterday afternoon, I've decided to be positive.

After all, It's The Weege we're talking about here.

I'll be back tomorrow - I think it's time for a recipe or something!

Lu

Weegie's Big Day

2011-09-21T06:56:00.001-05:00

This is it. Weegie is off to surgery early this morning.

He was WAY too nervous to write anything, but I took a couple of photos last night.

Here he's on his favorite chair looking out over the backyard.

Squirrels fear him.

They really don't, but I try to build his confidence...

And this is him after we had a long talk yesterday afternoon about the whole recovery period and what he will and will not be able to do for the next six weeks or so.

See how his bad leg is extended? It's breaking my heart.

Anyway, y'all think about him today if you get a chance!!

Thanks!

Lu

The Dressing (And a Bonus Double Entendre)

2011-09-20T13:32:00.000-05:00

Listen.

For a while now I have been wanting to do a fashion post. You realize it's going to be fall soon (I continue to hold out my last hope for temperatures as low as the 80's!!) and I do so love a really good fashion update/forecast/or whathaveyou.

So several times lately I've sat down and starting organizing my ideas, sticking post-it notes on particularly intriguing ensembles and accessories in the latest fashion magazines, and pulling things out of my closet for a photo shoot.

And then I remember.

I know absolutely nothing about fashion, have not bought a fashion magazine since before I had children, and do not have anything at all fashion-photo worthy in my closet, unless we consider my cowboy boots, in which case I would probably need to scrape some stuff off the bottom of the soles before I took a picture.

I mean the fashion police do not even bother we with me anymore. I am what you might call "a cold case".

So in my perpetual fashion fog, you can understand my excitement when I was asked to provide the food for a big ladies event at my church which featured a real live "Fashion Expert and Personal Stylist" as the main speaker.

Rebecca Matthews is just a doll, y'all. Just one of those ladies that truly has her look all together. Attractive, poised, and funny. The girl knows her fashion, let me tell you. She had a delightful and fast-paced presentation that was appropriate for even the wide age range of ladies at the event (from early 20's to late 80's) and she did it while keeping us all laughing at ourselves!

Did you know it's good to laugh at ourselves? Yes. Yes, it is.

Anyway in an hour and a half or so she previewed the fall fashion scene, showed some great tops (and appropriate bottoms!) and demonstrated some sassy accessories. I was still in the kitchen at the beginning of her presentation, but was able to sneak out and grab a seat at one of the side tables to try to absorb some of her knowledge.

I am nothing if not a fashion-void sponge.

So, no sooner had I positioned myself at a table than did she get started on THE POLKA DOT.

And in case you were wondering? They're out. Especially big ones.

And I couldn't help but notice the other ladies at my table sneaking a polite glance at my apron which JUST HAPPENED TO BE COVERED WITH THE LARGEST TURQUOISE, GREEN, AND GRAY POLKA DOTS SINCE THE LIKES OF LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE.

And when, in my shame, I excused myself a few minutes later to "take care of something in the kitchen" and coincidentally came back to the table without the offending apron, it was only after I sat down for the second time that I saw that the entire front of my bronze-colored blouse was COVERED in chocolate.

So really people. EPIC FASHION FAIL ON MY PART.

It's perfectly OK if you are just a little bit embarrassed for me.

But I gathered up my pride and tried to really listen with conviction to some of the last bits of advice she had to offer.
And I was nothing short of thrilled to pieces when she tossed out the following, because they just also happen to be some of my own particular "fashion pet peeves".

And yes, in case you're wondering, it is in fact possible to be totally unfashionable and yet still peevish about some fashion-related things.

It is the dichotomy of mankind.

1) It is possible to wear too much black. Thank you Miss Rebecca. Don't all of us know someone that does this? I think they believe it is slimming (which it can be) and dramatic and sophisticated. But really? Everyday? For every occasion? And as a self-professed fashion disaster, I am proud to say that this is one rule I do not break.

Score!

2) After a certain point in the fall (she generously extends the traditional Early September -you know, after labor Day- deadline to October 15) you should NO LONGER WEAR SANDALS OF ANY SORT. Face the facts. No one wants to see your toes. She was especially adamant about not wearing flip-flops of any persuasion. Also a score for me, because I have always believed the main point of fall was to rest your toenails from the polish...

3) And (please cover your eyes if you don't want to see anything about unmentionables) everyone should wear the appropriate undergarments (top and bottom) for every outfit. And I know you most especially do not care to hear anything at all about my own personal undergarments, so I'll simply say I have made friends with The Spanx.

And since some of you probably have A LOT OF THOUGHTS about the irony of someone of my ilk offering any kind of fashion advice, just remember that I am simply passing along the suggestions of an expert.

Which is not me.

But, since we're talking about "dressing" so to speak, I do have a wonderful recipe for "The Dressing" which was a big hit on the green salad at the dinner.

Don't you just love a good double meaning?

Or a somewhat desperate segue?

(!!)

Honestly, I do feel more confident talking about this "dressing" than that "dressing".

You can probably even trust me to know what I'm talking about now at this very juncture.

Beginning....now.

"The Rosemary Dressing"
(original recipe from Rebecca Rather "The Pastry Queen")

I've changed it a bit...

Blend 1/2 cup fresh rosemary leaves, 2 cloves garlic, 1 T chopped red onion, 1 T spicy brown mustard, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper in a blender about 15-20 seconds. Then pour 1/2 - 1 cup olive oil (you just have to experiment and decided how much you like) through the feed tube of the blender and blend until it all emulsifies.
Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

At the Ladies event I served this on a mix of Spring greens, very thinly sliced Gala apples, crumbled Maytag blue cheese, and candied pecans.

And while I suggest you completely ignore me if I ever dare to throw out any fashion advice again, don't ignore the "dressing". It's that good.

Lu

Oh My Sweet Mercy Sakes

2011-09-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

People.

I could not possibly be more tired. I think I cried a little when I dragged myself out of the bed this morning. I cried when my sore feet hit the floor, and cried some more when I looked in the bathroom mirror and saw just how bad the sunburn was on my neck.

I know y'all were holding out your very last hope in the world to read about Weegie's account of the weekend and the final countdown to his surgery.

But he's tired too. Dog tired.

He spent most of the day Sunday helping The Chief and I build an electric fence to try to keep the cows in the pasture. And to make matters worse, my nephew has now reported siting alligators in Weegie's favorite swimming hole (or what's left of it...).

He was confused. And understandably nervous. Especially after I began to hyperventilate and scream every time he got close to the water.

Do you see this? Every bit of this should be the lake. Except for the tall trees in the very back of the photo, ALL of this should be lake.

And since many of our fence lines run out into the lake, and the lake is well, GONE, the cows have taken to wandering willy-nilly, pell-mell, and yes, helter- skelter all over creation.

So to attempt to contain them The Chief put up an electric fence that runs out into the dried lake bed. Far out into the lake bed.

At least maybe it will keep the cows out of the yards of the lovely lake homes in that direction.

Ahem.

You see this? This is the footwear that every highly professional fence-fixer-assistant always wears. And yes, you always wear them with really baggy jeans that have to be rolled at the cuff. It just makes you look more proficient.

And the hot pink?

The Chief requires all his assistants to wear the hot pink laces in their work shoes.

But more importantly, you see those huge cracks among the columns of dried earth? That is what I walked on for hours and hours yesterday carrying, toting, and fetching.

And do you remember way back when the first Mario games came out? How Mario and Luigi and all their buddies hopped along on little things that would drop out from under them as soon as their little animated feet touched them? That's what it's like. The gray, dried looking part on the top is hard, but if you'll look a little deeper you'll see a darker bottom on each of the little columns.

Sponge. Total sponge. So as you're walking, with each step, your foot sinks about 4 inches while the top stays completely solid. Creepy. And tough if you're trying to carry fence poles and a fence pole whacker-downer thingie and at the same time WATCH TO MAKE SURE WEEGIE ISN'T BEING EATEN BY AN ALLIGATOR.

So anyway. I'm pooped. And Weegie's pooped.

We do have all kinds of riveting posts in the works about Weegie's surgery, and recipes from last weeks big Ladies Dinner , and Hummingbird updates, and even a little about the Aggie game on Saturday.

Whoop.

Just not today.

And just so nobody's disappointed I'll even post a handy-dandy electric fence installation tutorial in the next few days.

I KNOW.

You can just get everything your little heart desires here.

Can't you?

Please say you'll come back.

Lu

The Overthrow of a Regime

2011-09-14T09:26:00.000-05:00

For those of you who really enjoy Weegie's posts a lot more than mine - please accept my apology.

Wait.

NO. IT'S NOT MY FAULT.
IT'S WEEGIE'S FAULT.

And he needs to man-up and take some responsibility here. He had all kinds of time to work on a post for today, but instead he has chosen to while away the hours monitoring the kitchen floor for morsels of food I've dropped, sleeping on the lounge chair on the patio under the ceiling fan, and asking The Chief over and over "when do we leave for the farm"?

Frankly, he's just not very good with time management. And since I struggle with the same malady, it just doesn't seem right for me to reprimand him over and over. I believe that might be a teensy bit hypocritical on my part, perhaps an instance of "the pot calling the kettle black" and a lovely and telling illustration of the whole plank removal/speck in the eye teaching from Matthew 7:3.

And I certainly want to avoid being judgmental and all. We all have our faults.
Weegie among us.

So I told him it would be just fine - even "fine and dandy" if he had his post ready for either Thursday or Friday because do not let it be said that I cannot encourage a slacker in their time of need.

I believe this calls for an Amen.

And quite honestly, there's also been this

Which seems to have captured some of his attention.

And then this

Which had him so fascinated that he single-handedly set up a little viewing area at the back of the family room, printed up some tickets, and sold popcorn.

I mean it was fun to watch. And I think even The Chief (although FOR HEAVEN SAKES HE WOULD NEVER ADMIT HIS PARTICIPATION IN THE WHOLE THING), was cheering for the Anole Lizard, because really, Mr. Grouchy Pants (and just so everyone is clear- that is the pet name we I have for the head honcho hummingbird, and should not in any way be mistakenly confused with The Chief, because, you know, The Chief WOULD NEVER BE GROUCHY. Ahem.) had been WAY too heavy-handed with the monitoring of the feeder, and sometimes

God just chooses to send along someone whose main goal in life is to well, teach you a a little life lesson.

Knock you down just a peg.

Put you in your place, so to speak.

I believe there may be a new sheriff in town y'all.

Have a great day!

Lu

I Believe There's a Life Lesson Involved Here

2011-09-12T15:09:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, it's Monday.

It's been pretty difficult to accomplish too much around here today with Mr. Grouchy Pants at work. He's a fascinating study. This hummingbird immediately and forever appointed himself protector and keeper of the feeder just after I relocated it to a new spot in the yard.

He's one possessive guy.

Very unfriendly.

On occasion, he relents and allows one of the others to touch down briefly...

And get one blessed drink of the nectar before he scares an IMPRESSIVE BACKFLIP right out of them...

Y'all be civilized out there, you hear!

Lu