The Halloween Blizzard of 1991

Holy smokes the memories! I can still remember the night of the storm. I was babysitting for the neighbor kids down the road that day, and all seemed normal enough, I cant remember if they predicted the storm or not, but it did take us all by surprise. I had been getting the little ones into their costumes while it started to snow and was prepping them with the possibility that their mother may not be able to take them out trick-or-treating whan she gets home because of the weather. She eventually came home and decided she would take them out if I went with to carry them through the snow. I agreed to go with, (mainly because I wanted candy too). We went to about 8 houses, and she saw how I was struggling carrying the 2 kids (18mos and a 3 yr old) through the snow, and I was just a kid myself so she decided to call it a night. The kids didn't know any better, and I could see that she was having a hard time driving too. It truly was unbelievable. I sit here looking at the clear sky, and the sunny day remembering that day so very clearly. Everyone was snowed in for at least a day and many were without power for a week or more.

My father worked at the Intl. Airport in Mpls, and whenever there was bad weather he would be required to stay and work. He never made it home that night. He had to work a mandatory 18 hours that day because the next shift of people could not make it to work. He got home at 6 or so in the morning and left again at 10 in the morning to get back to work for his regular shift. I have no idea how he drove in the snow that deep when everyone else claimed they were stranded, but he did. (He had a little Ford Escort at the time that was phenomenal in the snow also).

Does anyone else from the Midwest have a story from the Halloween blizzard of 1991?

Happy Halloween!

Please Don't Do That Ross....

Quotes from Thursday night when our friend Ross was here picking up my husbands Halloween costume from last year:

"We gotta stop talking about scrap, or you are going to be here for another 2 hours." Was said as we were seeing him out the door.

And:

"I wouldn't do that if it's going to be cold this weekend. How the heck would you get your wiener unstuck?" (I'm just not even going to say what that pertained to.)

And:

"We don't want that back after you're done with it. You can keep it." (Again, I'm not even goin' there)

All of those things were said to Ross last night. Yeah...Ross kicks ass. That's why we have him over.

Teachers Need Tip Jars

I had a most interesting day today. This is the first time I have stayed the whole class period at my sons pre-school. Dear God that poor teacher doesn't get paid enough. Today was the big Halloween party, where the kids get to come to school all dressed up in their costumes, and they had games and special treat time at the end. I went to drop Shorty off at school like I always do, took him up to the classroom, helped him with his locker, the usual stuff. I decided to wait around for the rest of the class to show up to see the rest of the kids' costumes. (Very cute by the way!) Anyway, the teacher and the teachers aide were getting these special games out for the party and it looked pretty fun so I stayed a little longer.....Holy Mayhem. 4 year olds are crazy, just crazy. All hell broke loose as the kids were playing the bowling game, and the bean bag toss, and the fridge box trick-or-treat shack. The poor teacher and aide were taking turns getting kids into their costumes (these are the kids that go from daycare to school, and then back to daycare, so they had to carry their costumes with.)

The other mother and I went into action. She took hold of the bowling game, and I took the bean bag toss. We made sure the kids took turns, kept track of who got to go next, helped them find lost bags, etc. We ended up staying and helping out for the whole class time. We just stayed out of the way while the teacher held group activities, and stepped in when things got crazy. Which happens within a blink of an eye with 4 year olds. It worked out really well, and we did not interfere with the activities or get in the way, we were just helpers. I enjoyed it immensely, and my boy thought it was cool that I was there. That won't last forever, so I know to cherish the time I have to still be 'cool'.

By the way, Power Rangers seem to be the most popular this year with that age group, seeing as out of the 9 boys in the class there were 3 red Power Rangers, one dog, a duck, a ninja, a pirate, and a cowboy. (my son was the cowboy.) The girls costumes were: a snow princess, Cinderella, regular princess, rock star, and the girl who had no costume.

So there you go. Little kids are insane, and teachers don't get paid enough. Teachers should have tip jars. Amen.

Job....Job.....What to do?

I will not beat around the bush. I really need to work. I have been cooped up in this house for 5 years raising our boy, and it is driving me insane! And I want some money...

I have had a job since I was 15 years old, and never went a week without a paycheck. I helped put my husband through college, sold antiques on the side, have cleaned hotel rooms, babysat, cleaned house for an elderly lady, worked at the local flower shop doing arrangements when I was 15, worked fast food, worked as a survey telemarketer, priced smelly clothes for a thrift store, was a service writer for an ambulance repair shop.

I am a worker bee. I like my money. I want money of my own again.

The first Christmas that I was home with the baby, I wanted desperately to buy my husband Christmas presents. With money that was mine, not his. (I don't like the thought of buying him presents with his own money. It doesn't sit well with me.) So how did I get enough money to buy presents when I had a little baby with me? I went out after dark with the baby in the stroller on garbage nights and raided the recycling bins for aluminum cans. Yes I did. We had 2 garbage nights per week in our town and I would end up hauling home about 8 black trash bags full a week. Then, because that many cans take up so much space, I crushed cans every afternoon when the baby was napping. That was about 2 hours a day, all week until the next garbage day when I would do it all over again. I did this for WEEKS! Finally took all my cans to the scrap yard and got about $120.00. I was proud to have earned every cent of that money, and was glad that I did, because then I felt good spending every cent on my husband who works so hard to give us everything that we could need or want.

The point of this is that I need something to do until Shorty goes to school full time, and I am willing to do just about anything to pass the time and make a buck. Things I am good at are:

Cooking and baking
Quilting
Braided rag rugs
err...collecting aluminum cans
Finding and reselling antiques

Are there any ideas that anyone else has of things that I could do with my son tagging along, or stuff I could make at home that would sell well? It is kind of hard to find something that has almost no overhead, that will pay anything at all. I am just looking for ideas folks. And keep in mind that I live in a tiny little Minnesota town where there is almost no market for anything because everyone seems to be either old or poor. This is tricky, and that is why I am fishing for ideas. Anyone have any ideas?

Sally the Crippler

My cat Sally (he is a boy cat with a girls name, yes) has taken to sleeping on my knees when he comes to bed with us. Perhaps I am a sissy, but 18 lbs of fat man cat parked on ones knee hurts after about 4 minutes. The bugger doesn't want to move either, so I weasel my leg out from under his mass and am left sleeping in some weird position to avoid "The Crippler", because of his rotund size he takes up a lot of real estate on the lower part of the bed. My husband was singing about "The Crippler" last night to the tune of Trogdor. Dear god that had me in tears! Too funny! At least Sally doesn't like sleeping on my chest or stomach. I can be thankful for that.

Rocks and Sticks And Deer...Oh My!

I had a great weekend! That is something that doesn't happen very often, but we certainly had a blast this time. My husband and I and Shorty went to a local nature/walking/history trail for a walk, and it was pretty cool. We walked the mile with our son, and the little guy did very well considering his legs have to move a lot more than ours to walk that same mile. He busied himself with finding sticks to carry around and poke us with.

I discovered something interesting after we deviated from the trail so Shorty could climb a giant rock. A little farther up than my head (I'm about 5'6) there was what appeared to be a fresh buck rub. I grew up in the woods, and have hunted so I am quite familiar with what these look like. I have never seen one so high up before. I know we were along the river, and that could make for bigger deer, but that would be a giant! Also found some tracks in the mud that came from a hoofed animal very near the tree with the rub. The tracks were about 6-8 inches deep, and seemed about twice the size of any large deer track I have ever seen before. I almost don't want to run into anything that big in the woods. From what I can tell, it has legs way too thick around, and a rack 3 Ft tall, and probably just as wide. Big guy probably has a rough time getting around with all that on his head.

At any rate, I kind of want to go back again to look for more signs of him. When I was there in the spring, I found tracks from a bear or giant cat(?), and since I did not grow up with those kinds of critters, I am not certain what it really was. I would really like to know. Maybe the tracks were from a huge dog, that could be too. (That would kind of ruin the story then wouldn't it!)

It was a lot of fun for all of us, and I hope to go back soon. hint..hint..Mike...

The Time Has Come

I finally broke down and bought some reading glasses on Saturday. This has been coming for about 4 years. (I am stubborn) I have had Mike use the handicap accessibility settings to override font sizes on the computer for me. What I really need to do is go to the eye doctor, but maybe I will in the spring of something. It isn't too big of a priority, as I said before, this has been going on for a few years. I am pretty used to it. It is pretty cool to be able to see stuff with these cheezy glasses. I look like an old lady with them on, but that's OK. I don't look at myself often!

Sunday Booze Post

Did you know....

The age recorded on a whiskey bottle refers to the number of years it aged prior to it being bottled. Once it is bottled, it does not improve with age.

I am sure many of you knew that, but it is interesting.

STD Alert

One has to eat 11 pounds of potatoes to put on 1 pound of weight--a potato has no more calories than an apple. The potato was not known in Europe until the seventeenth century, when it was introduced by returning Spanish conquistadors. At first potatoes were thought disgusting and were blamed for starting outbreaks of leprosy and syphilis. As late as 1720 in America, eating potatoes was believed to shorten a persons life.

It sure would suck to get syphilis from a potato. Sure would.

I Wonder if This is True?

It is possible for any American citizen to give whatever name he or she chooses to any unnamed mountain or hill in the United States. The only stipulation is that the person does not name it after himself. To name a hill or mountain, all you have to do is obtain a U.S. Geological Survey topographical map and find a peak that has no official title. After writing to the Chamber of commerce or the county clerk to make certain that the hill is still unnamed, send your suggested name to:

Donald Orth, Executive Secretary of Domestic Geographical Names, U. S. G. S. National Center, Mail Stop 523, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia 22092.

Approximately a thousand new names are accepted in this way by the secretary each year.

The book I got this out of was published in 1983, and I just have my doubts about this. But I guess it might be worth a try...If you feel the need...

What would you name a hill if you could?

Movie Trivia!

What movie had the line:

"Unicorns are pretty kick ass."

Here is Something Gross....

Apparently....Tibetans drink tea made of salt and rancid yac butter. Tibetan women carry a special instrument with metal blades for cleaning their ears and picking their nose.

This fascinating fact came from a book called 2201 facts. Indeed it is fascinating.

Cold Dreary Skuzzy Day

Looks like a winner of a day today. Cold, dreary and skuzzy. Wonderful man that my husband is, got the pellet stove running first thing this morning, and as we were sitting/standing around waiting for it to finish with its startup cycle, what do we see in the fire box, but a gasket that the auger drug through the system. White paper-like pretty gasket sitting in the flames. Well that's not good. Shut 'er down. My job today is to remove the 40 lbs. of pellets out of the hopper in the back to try and expose where this thing came from. It was a floor model, so I am hoping that it is just an extra that was stuffed in there. I know it is a long shot, but I can dream...right?

For My Buddy Rosssssss

This is for my buddy Ross:


Thank you for springing for the beer

Kareoke guy was a little queer

Serenity was a blast

Pontiacs are fast

I think I owe you thirty dollars

How many pitchers did I drink?

Can we work out a payment plan?

How about a free van?

For Mr. Moneybag Man?

THE END

Remember: A 37 year old married women with 2 kids and husband sitting at the bar jealously leering at you because she is putting the moves on you is just plain funny. For the rest of us. Always. Go get 'em Cowboy!

Seriously, you want a van?

Something Else You Never Wanted to Know How to Make...

Head Cheese

Clean pigs head thoroughly under running water. Place in cold salt water and boil until tender, about 3 hours. Leave in the liquid until cool. Then remove meat from the bones. Place a clean cloth in loaf pan. Cut meat into strips and arrange on the cloth, alternating lean meat and fat meat. Season the meat with salt and pepper and allspice to taste. Roll up cloth as tight as possible to make a "sylte" roll. Wrap string around the roll and tie firmly. Place heavy weight on roll and press overnight. The cloth may then be removed and the head cheese will retain its shape. Place rolls in brine for 48 hours before using.

No thanks. I do have my limits. I don't even know where one would get pig heads. A farmer I suppose. *shiver* How do you get the eyes out? uhhh....no way. How many heads does it take to get enough to bother making a batch? A trunkload? 2? *bigger shiver* I'm going to stop now. I should not have written this post. Sorry. But not that sorry :-) I am not done being gross.
What would the garbage man think, finding the can full of picked clean skulls? What would the police think after the garbage man told them? Would you go straight to jail, or would they listen to your story? So, lets say you took the 'clean' skulls out to the country to dispose of them in the ditch, and someone catches you pitching skulls out of the trunk? WHAT DO YOU SAY THEN? You will have a lot of explaining to do, and with the search warrant, this could cost you some serious time. And embarassment. What do you do with the eyes and all the other 'dirty parts'? Save 'em for Halloween, and give them to the teenagers that are too old to be trick-or-treating? That'll learn 'em.

Oh No...

Here is a question for all of the parents, and non-parents out there.

What does a parent do when the 4 year old falls asleep 3 hours before bedtime, (needed a nap too because he was being a super pain)?

A) Wake up the cranky one right away as soon as you see that he fell asleep, and deal with him being fussy, and perhaps put him to bed a little early?

B) Let him sleep for a while and try and convince him that he should go to bed at his regular time even though he is "not sleepy"?

C) Carefully carry the passed out child to his bed and tuck him in and pretend it is bedtime. When he wakes up at his actual bedtime, what do you tell him?

There are no real answers here, just some seem better than others. I can tell you that this situation sucks and you are going to pay either way.

Another Coffee Post

I found this very old recipe for coffee, and I thought I should share it.

Egg Coffee

Bring to boil 6 to 7 cups water. Add 3 Tbsp. coffee which has been mixed with part of an egg. Boil coffee until the foam disappears being careful so it doesn't cook over. Fill the remainder of the pot with boiling water. To settle the grounds add a bit of cold water.

I copied this recipe exactly, and it just doesn't sound right. I have never tried it, but maybe someone else knows something about it.

TV Show Trivia Quiz....

What show is this line from:

"The man is the man, and that's just the way it is."

Anyone?

What the F*** Is That Stink?!?!

I made tuna salad this afternoon for us to eat for supper. Mike just got home a little while ago, and the first thing out of his mouth was "Dear god, what the f*** is that stink?!?! Smells like something died in here!! Jesus. No seriously, what the hell is that rotten smell?"

The look on his face was priceless when I told him that it was dinner. Just priceless. "Oh sh**, no way does tuna salad smell that bad." No, tuna salad does not smell 'that bad', but cooking hard boiled eggs for the salad smells something fierce, and that was the smell he was smelling and freaking out about.

"It smells worse than my ass. Man, it smells like something really dead is in the garbage. No way is that the smell of the salad." Well, I used some onion from the garden, and it is really strong because it is so fresh? Maybe that smells too? So he sniffs the garbage, and asked me to get the onion skins and tops out of there. No, he actually said "Throw that crap outside in the garden, it has to get out of here. Jesus that stinks."

I find the most humor in the fact that he just wolfed down 2 big bowls of it. "Just don't sniff it, and it tastes OK." Is what he had to say about it. He surely was upset, and I found it most amusing.

Lady Bugs

Today the sky is clear, and the sun is bright. The lady bugs/Japanese beetles(?) are swarming the south windows of my house. Driving my cats nuts. What the heck is that chirp-twitch-seizure-thing that cats do when they see a bird? My cats have been doing that all morning watching these bugs, and it is just so funny! Chirp-chirp-seizure-chirp-twitch-seizure.

Good stuff!

Whiskey Sauce

Here is a recipe for whiskey sauce to pour over chocolate cake. Yum!

2 cups sugar
2 sticks of butter
1 teaspoon REAL vanilla
1 cup Jack Daniels Black Label
pinch of salt

Blend sugar and butter and vanilla until mixed completely. Then add whiskey bit by bit, mixing until it is a nice, loose, creamy sauce. The sugar is supposed to be grainy.

Pour over a good chocolate cake, and you won't be sorry!

Annoying Parents Strike Again

We had my folks over this weekend to help get the pellet stove in the house, and get it up and running. They are really obnoxious house guests. I have made a list of incidents

They always bring their own food. Cereal, banannas, candy, hamburger, spaghetti sauce, cheese, bread, pop, etc. It burns me up to no end. What the hell is wrong with MY food? I have those same things here. Not the candy and banannas though.

Whenever they come for like 2 days, they bring a carload of crap with. At least 4 trips to the car hauling stuff in. What the heck are they bringing that they can't live without for two days?

Mom gathers up all the ashtrays that I have strategically placed around, and washes them all. We all smoke, (including her), and the hunting around for an ashtray starts, because there is a pile of clean ashtrays sitting by the sink. None anywhere else.

They move my stuff around. I can never find my shoes when they are here. (I am barefoot most of the time, and only wear shoes to go outside) They pick up my shoes where I leave them, and put them out of the way. The only thing that does is confuse me, and make me hunt for them for a couple of minutes. And tick me off.

My mom is a 'Yes Man'. No matter what crazy thing you have to say, she agrees with is whole heartedly, and overly enthusiastically. You can't believe anything she has to say about anything. She also never wants to 'hurt anyone's feelings', so she will lie about stupid stuff just for the sake of not hurting your feelings. That one REALLY makes me mad.

My parents live in a house that is so full of knick-knacks, and so much stuff hanging on the walls that you can hardly see the walls anymore. Lets just say that for the past couple of years I have not been able to find a spot to set my pop down in rooms that are meant for visiting. No available flat surfaces due to the over 'decorating' my Mom and Dad feel the need to do. They come over here, and see that there are five pictures on the wall in the living room, and a clock. My knick-knacks consist of some pottery, and antiques in the built-in cabinet, which is also full of my favorite books. They are obviously uncomfortable in these surroundings, and they make no attempt to go with the flow. They can't figure it out that I don't 'want' my house decorated like monkeys on crack.

They have a real problem with the recycling containers being in plain view in the kitchen. "It doesn't look good." So. It's MY kitchen. I'll have it how I want it, and that is the most convenient for us. Pfft.

My Mom can't stand the fact that I wash the dishes and leave them drying on the dish drying rack until they are dry, and then after they are dry, I put them away and leave the rack and drip tray sitting by the sink. She always wants to know where the rack gets put away. IT STAYS RIGHT THERE. Waiting for me to do the next load of dishes. Just another example of "It doesn't look good." Man. What the heck? Why does she care how I do stuff? Crap.

My Dad ticks me off on a whole different way, and I don't have it in me to start in about him just yet. Don't get me wrong, I want to, but I need a little break from thinking about them and their habits. Man, they really get me going. Damn.

What Insulation?!?

We had my parents over this weekend to help install the pellet stove in the living room. (another post entirely)

Upon cutting the hole in the wall for the chimney, we discovered the insulation.

A WHOLE INCH of it. 1/2 inch drywall, 1 inch thick batt type insulation, then 3/4 inch sheathing, a layer of thin felt, cedar siding. That's what is keeping Old Man Winter from storming into the house.

Bloody hell.

1700 square feet of late 1940's quality crap. Damn. And another 1100 square feet of basement. Double damn.

Good Morning Indeed!

Woke up this morning to Shorty creepily hovering and milling around our bed. At 6:05 AM. He said he heard a noise. A BIG NOISE. And needs to watch a movie.

OK then, what movie do you suppose he wants to watch? Christmas Story, the one with Ralphie and the BB gun, and the cussing Father. It is one of his favorites, and has been since he was 3.

I left him out on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket watching the movie, and I went back to bed. It was still dark out. I just don't get up when it's dark. He never came back to fetch me, just waited until Mike got up, and then had his cereal.

It is a good morning indeed!!

Nasty Stuff

About a month ago I had 2 wisdom teeth pulled. Should have been an uneventful situation, maybe 20 minutes total for the one I went in there that I wanted pulled, so I mentioned, "Hey, while you are in there pulling that one, you think you could pull that bottom one quick?" X-rays lie sometimes. Big lies. A quick little cut of the gum, (because the tooth was still hiding under the gum) and pull of the tooth was what he saw on the x-ray. He gets me numb and gets to work. Finally after lots of poking and scraping of bone and looking at the x-ray some more, he tells me he can't find the tooth.

Apparently I had a good amount of jawbone grown around, or on top of, (or something??) this elusive tooth. Full bony extraction?? is what he called it.

An hour and a half later, after he removed part of my jawbone and had to cut the tooth apart where it lay (conveniently horizontal-aimed at my ear) to get it out.

I am still recovering a month later. Did not want to write about it earlier. Sucked too much. Absolutely worse than recovering from childbirth. No question. And childbirth recovery is brutal.

The point of this post is to share with you the fact that I apparently have had dry socket for 3 weeks. There is a giant hole next to where the tooth had been, (which confuses me why it is next to the 'tooth') and the jawbone was exposed (it finally started to grow tissue and heal a little last week). And this hole fills up with tons of food. Tons.

2 days ago I flushed out 3 pieces of rice, and 5 unidentifiable items

Yesterday I flushed out 2 more pieces of rice, 3 friuty pebbles, and something questionable.

Today I have flushed out 2 chunks of bread from a sandwich, 2 chunks of spaghetti, and a piece of meat.

It is amusing yet incredibly gross, making sure my mouth does not turn into a compost pile. This is going to be an issue for a very long time I suspect, judging by the size of this hole. X-rays lie sometimes.

Thought people would like to hear something gross on this fine Friday!!

Have a good one!

Norwegian Apple Pie

Here is a quick good one for ya!

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup diced baking apples
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup walnuts

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in apples and nuts, put in a greased pie tin and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Served with ice cream, there will not be any left, better bake two!!

Homemade Laundry Hamper

My husband is the type of guy that will 'make' something with the junk around the house before he goes to the store and buys one. If he needs a garage heater, he makes one. Parts washer, makes one. Cannon that shoots tennis balls with MAP gas and oxygen....makes it. The store is the last place he looks.

So when he asked me last night if we had a laundry hamper, and I said no, and his response was "ooh...I'll make one then." I got a little curious.

Wondering what materials he would use to make this masterpiece, I asked.

"Oh, remember the old aluminum awning thing that got broken off of the house 2 winters ago because of the weight of the snow? I still have that in the garage, and I'll use parts of that."

I didn't see that one coming, I really expected him to plan on using wood scraps or something. I promptly told him that I had a hamper in the basement with a broken lid that he could use, and he really did not need to make one.

I can visualize this thing in my head. Thank goodness I saved that broken hamper in the basement. Thank goodness.

Husbands are People Too. I Think.

Me: Have you noticed anything different about my face lately?

Him: Is it something I should have noticed?

Me: Not necessarily, I noticed something and was wondering if you noticed too, that's all.

Him: Your face is starting to look old. That's what I notice I guess.

Me: *fists clenching* what did you say? OLD? WTF is wrong with you? OLD!

Him: Well...

Me: Damn, I'm glad you are honest, but for cripes sake that is not what has changed with my face, dumbass. OLD?

Him: What changed with your face then?

Me: I LOST SOME WEIGHT, AND IT IS THINNER!! Don't you look at me AT All?? Crap.

Him: Hey, don't get all worked up, you are just starting to look your age, that's all. Not old, just older. It's not bad or anything, just older I guess.

"Your face is starting to look old."

Thanks jerk face. Same to you. Old. pfft.

Crummy Deal

Today is dedicated to dishes and laundry. Housework sucks. Somebody has to do it though.....

(WARNING: bad poetry below)



Curse the dirty dish. Curse the dirty underpants.

You sneak out of the cupboards and drawers. I find you crumpled on the floor or crusty on the table.

The minutes you steal from me can not be replaced.

I will deal with you swiftly, and with skill, for we have done this dance a hundred times before.

Some of you will go into the washing machine with a bit of bleach, and some of you will go into the sink with a bit of dawn.

I will scrub with all the fury of an angry housewife.

Come dark, no one will ever know you were here.

Curse you dirty dishes!

Curse you dirty underpants!

Cheap Old Woman

My Mother In-Law is so cheap, she takes the water from the de-humidifier in the basement, and puts it in an old milk jug, and uses it for her iron. Yuck. I'll bet she has to run it through a sieve before she puts it in the jug to get the dead spiders out of it.

Seriously--Parts of her basement are just dirt floor and rocks. (the house is like a trillion years old.) Yuck.

Maybe I should buy her a jug of distilled water for Christmas......hmm...50 cents....hmm...big ol' bow...

Tasty Cheese Sauce for Eggs

3 Tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika (or less depending on personal tastes)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup chopped or shredded cheese

In a double boiler:

Melt the butter; add the flour, seasonings and milk, gradually, like when making a white sauce. Add the cheese and stir until melted.

Serve in a gravy boat when serving any sort of eggs, even a egg-bake casserole. Quite impressive to guests! (Especially ones from Wisconsin who need their cheese fix.)

Spousal Quote of the Day

Him: "Can I borrow a safety pin?"

Me: "What For?"

Him: "The elastic on my underware is all worn out."

Me: "Throw them away!!" "And no you can't borrow a pin from me."

Him: "What's wrong with pinning my underware?"

Me: "Throw 'em away!"

"What's wrong with pinning my underware?"

Just Cool

Does anyone else worry about the upcoming cost increase for natural gas? Our gas and electric provider is predicting a 71% price increase up here in Minnesota. Boo. Not cool.

We purchased a pellet/corn burning stove for the living room last weekend. Seems we were not the first to think that was a good idea since my husband could only locate 2 floor models available within driving range. He put his name on one of them sight unseen, and it is the same one that my parents have! That makes me happy, because they have had it for 3 years now with great satisfaction.

Mike also bought 2 tons of pellets for it, and 350 lbs. Of corn (we will buy more corn later, because that will not be enough.) We should be set for the winter. It will probably cost us a little over $100.00 per month to heat the house, and that is a far cry from what our heat bills were last year even, not to mention what they could be this winter. Dang thing might pay for itself this year! They are also predicting a worse than normal winter, however I don't know how they figure that.

I don't want to come off like all those people who went and bought generators and 2 years worth of food for Y2K. You will not see me selling it in the spring if the price of gas doesn't go up.

I will be saving money this winter even if the price of natural gas drops 20%. I see this purchase as good money sense either way. And it is entertaining, because you can always sit and watch the fire. Bonus!

Shorty's Cereal

I got Shorty up this morning, and he is a little bit 'fragile'.

'Fragile' is the term I use to describe the days where anything and everything will set him off. Goodie.

Got him his cereal, and he had trouble choosing which bowl to use. Then after he chose the cereal, I filled up his bowl. He went ballistic. Flipped out. I asked him what the heck was wrong with the cereal and his crying relpy was "That's not a kid size portion, that's why, I can't eat that much that's why, ohhhh not THAT much cereal" Dramatic hand gestures and flailing and stomping and all.

I then told him that I better pour some back in the bag then, and he agreed. I proceeded to pour 10 pieces back in the bag. "THAT'S ENOUGH!! STOP MOMMY!"

He ate all of his cereal, and is now peacefully playing. No more gripes after that. What the heck? I find him hilarious sometimes. Sometimes not so much.

Funny Way to Wake Up

I just woke up a couple of minutes ago to my 4 year old son climbing up on the bed with a wad of cash in his hand.

"I have gas money!" He tells me.

"oh yeah? Where did you get that?" I ask

"Daddy gave it to me, it's for the truck." he explains to me like I am stupid.

"What do we need to use the truck for?" I ask, still having trouble keeping my eyelids open.

"For you to take me to school, but I am not going to school because I am not going to let you take me."

"What? You don't have school today anyway, I'm going to take you to school tomorrow."

"I'm not going tomorrow, not any day, not ever." "I'm not going."

"Whatever. I'm taking you to school tomorrow and that's how it's going to be." I tell him bluntly.

All of this, and I could not even keep my eyelids open, and he is sitting there ready for the bickering competition. Oh, please not first thing in the morning, I have a hard time being sharp enough to hold my own.

"Good morning Mommy, I love you!" Nope. Not today. Maybe tomorrow I will get woken up nice. I doubt it. It'll be something weird again.

Ahh...Motherhood...

Girl Scouts at My Door

The girl scouts came over last week. Turns out that they sell candy now. I told them that I was sorry I could not buy any because I am poor.

They do not know how to react to that response. I found it hilarious. Just hilarious. I don't know why I find humor in that but I do.

Since when do they sell candy now too? What the heck do they need all that fundraising money for? Camp? What? I am not familiar with what they do, but I find it hard to believe that it could cost that much money to have a good educational club.

Whenever these kids come around selling stuff it almost always ends up setting me back ten bucks. Boy scout wreath, a couple of boxes of cookies, frozen cookie dough, tulip bulbs, wrapping paper etc...

I think that is just too much money for crap I don't need or want, and it sucks that it is little kids I have to shoo off my step. I would be a lot happier if they just told me what they were raising the money for, and I would give them a couple of bucks, instead of trying to sell me overpriced stuff. I just don't think I should be expected to shell out that much money.

When I was in 4-H as a kid we would do the adopt a highway thing, and all the aluminum cans that we found we would take in for scrap. We relied on free stuff like county-wide softball games and potluck picnics, swimming at the state park, demonstrations at the town hall, Christmas caroling at the country homes of the elderly, the county fair.

Occasionally we would have a rummage sale to raise money for rollerskating or something. Parents were encouraged to supervise and lead activities, and it was an unspoken but fully understood that no child would be left out and I saw many times that a older kid or a understanding parent would buy a poor kid an ice cream cone after softball, or at the end of walking in the local parade. No one expected the kid to have any money, and they just casually took care of it. Everyone just made it work.

I learned a lot about being a responsible adult by being in 4-H. It took almost no money at all to show 20 or 30 kids how to be good people, and better people.

Spiced Cider

Does anyone have a good recipe for spiced apple cider? I want to make it in a crock pot, but I do not know how much of the spices to put in.

2 Thanksgivings ago we went through two gallons of the stuff before dinner, and the house smelled sooo good. Pretty good work for 5 adults. We had a mix last time.

I was just reminded of that because the local grocery has 64 oz. bottles on sale for $1.00. Got me thinking...

Soup For Fifty People

Cheese and Corn Chowder

combine in a large kettle...

(4 c.) water
(3 1/2 qt) diced potatoes
(2 qt) carrots -sliced
(2 qt) celery -chopped
(2 T) salt
(2 t) pepper
Cover and simmer 10 mins. Add:

(3 1/2 qt) cream style corn
simmer 5 minutes. Add:

(3 1/2 qt) milk
(1 lb) cheddar cheese, grated

Stir until cheese melts and chowder is heated through. Do not boil.

Serve with lots of warm fresh bread.

Oh Dear...

Does anyone have an educated guess on about how many processed deer will fit in a 5 cu. ft. mini chest freezer?

I'm thinking 3 deer will fit, but I am wondering if anyone has tried it.

Weekend From Hell

I have not had a weekend like this in a very long time.

Friday was the beginning of it all. We have had a houseguest for the last week. He was going to live with us until he had his life in order, because he recently quit a 10+ year love affair with alcohol. I admire people that want to improve themselves, and I also am impressed when someone will ask for help.

We gave him the chance he asked for and proceeded to *F* it up in the first week. Seems that this fella is not as serious as he seemed a week ago. I had some things to do and he asked to be dropped off downtown. I am of the opinion that I should not have to worry about an adult when he is put in public. Apparently I was wrong. He knew that no one would be available to pick him up until 7 or 8 pm. He said he would be fine, and said that he would take a walk in the park, and he would try to get ahold of his Aunt on the phone because he wanted to get ahold of her. Fine.

About an hour after I left him downtown, he was calling my MOM on the phone drunk as all hell, swearing and carrying on about how someone needs to drive into town and get him, and bring his cell phone charger to him. He called 4 or 5 times, getting more rude and more drunk, wanting MY MOM to give him the phone number for Mike's mom to come pick him up, and my mom wouldn't do it by that point, and proceeded to tell him to find a phone book and look it up himself. Thankfully he was too drunk to find a phone book. Mike got to my parents house after work and immediately went and got him from the park to find that he was trashed and in no condition to be in public, or around my parents so he drove his drunk ass another 2 hours back home. Completely screwing up all the plans for the weekend.

Keep in mind that the only reason he had come with me on my little trip back home (I live about 2 hours away from my parents) is because he was hot to cut some more firewood with my dad. Had been talking about it for a couple days. I had to go there anyway to have some follow up wisdom teeth mayhem taken care of, and had just invited him to come along. His priorities took a 180 as soon as we got into town however.

I will not put up with a 26 year old acting like an ass. I will not be lied to. I will not be used. I will not let anyone live under this roof if I do not trust them. I do not appreciate someone being utterly rude to my nice parents. I kicked him out of the house when I got back home on Saturday night.

I run a pretty tight ship in this house, and you better not rock the boat. I have no sympathy for someone who makes conscious self-destructive decisions. I had a problem the minute his bad decisions have a negative effect on our family. Not cool. I am not the type of person to give someone a second chance on something like this either. I do not appreciate being deceived. I skip the feelings being hurt thing and move right on to rage.