Thursday, May 29, 2008

9/80 work-week -- SOOO worth it!

Yep, tomorrow is my Friday off, so I've had a 3-day week. I almost feel like a teacher this week -- I know ya'll are ready for the kiddos to get into summer, and I'm ready for the weekend.


Heading home to Shiner tonight for a weekend with the fam. Mom and I are "doing lunch" in the Big City (of Shiner that is) then who knows what else. Probably something low-key which is GREAT!


Saturday will be spent pool-side, weather permitting. I missed the pool this past weekend over Memorial Day so definitely NEED it this weekend. The Tucker's are having their 50th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday, so I believe I'm heading to that with the parents.


It's just going to be a nice weekend away.


Robert has the boys this weekend, and they are off to Lake Livingston for fishing, jet skiing and who knows what else. I hope the weather holds up for them too!


I'm looking forward to taking the ole Beemer for a drrrriiiiiiiive! Woo Hoo!
(not a great picture but it was Day 2 with the car and the sunset was GORGEOUS! I detoured off I-10 and snapped a photo!) :-)

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Fascination

Ok -- so those of you who know me know I'm small-town TX through and through. Well, I like to think so. I'm pretty proud of my roots!!

I believe I fascinate some city-folk to no-end with the adventures and life in Small Town, TX. Just today I was talking to a colleague about the upcoming Frio River trip. He learned about toobing, Frio Bingo, Bunco and Washers. He was in awe, I think! :-) Granted, he's a Jersey Boy from awhile back. I've been told my stories often entertain him and his Brooklyn crew. Good stuff!

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Pictures coming soon (requires me stealing Robert's camera for the day, but he won't mind!)

Happy Tuesday!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

how could I forget?

Rodeo Drive

We didn't pop in this time -- but maybe next! :-)

Los Angeles - 2008

Here are a few pics from my surprise trip to LA! Robert and I had a GREAT time!

Us outside Dodger Stadium -- going to watch the Astros put a whoop on the Dodgers: 5-0!
Walk of Fame -- Robert in front of Mickey Gilley's star
Me in front of Lucille Ball's star

Venice Beach

Santa Monica Pier



curious little things

DID YOU KNOW THIS? - ALL INTERESTING STUFF

Bananas - leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster. Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.

If you store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer
and not mold!

Peppers with three bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with four bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple chop them up with t he food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.
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1. Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.
2. Easy Deviled Eggs:- Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of the ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
3. Expanding Frosting:- When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
4. Reheating Ref rigerated Bread:- To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
5. Newspaper Weeds Away:- Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
6. Broken Glass:- Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
7. No More Mosquitoes:- Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
8. Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.
9. Flexible Vacuum:- To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
10. Reducing Static Cling:- Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- at DA! -- static is gone.
11. Measuring Cups:- Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and wat ch how easily it comes right out.
12. Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
13. Conditioner:- Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the condi tioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...
14. Goodbye Fruit Flies:- To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
15. Get Rid of Ants:- Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
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INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS:- The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sh eets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well t his stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way t o keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share! Note: I went to my dryer & tested m y screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right Thru the screen! There wasn't any pudding at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Last Night


Some things that start so simple and innocent usually always lead to a 3 a.m. night!


So yesterday my good friend Paul Kessler called me to come out and watch their band play at the Magnolia Bar & Grill. I have been wanting to make it out there for this for a long time (years in fact) and last night it worked out - finally!


So I rallied the troops (Robert, Stephanie, Taylor, Karena & Drew) to join me for crawfish and tunes. We got there and had a great time. (K & D were slackers and didn't join us) ha! But of course it couldn't stop there -- out to Moe's in Katy for Karaoke. The beer was starting to put me to sleep so I switched to margaritas and Robert just HAD to get us all a jaeger-bomb -- and well, the rest is history. Although we never made it on stage -- we sure did have fun!


Of course that meant we got home at almost 3, just to have my alarm (which I remembered to set last night - MIRACLE) rang at 5:19 a.m., which I managed to cut it off. At 6:25 I got up -- just at the time I'm usually BOARDING MY BUS into downtown! I made it in by 8 and have been watching the clock ever since!


Here's to another night like that soon!

Sweet Home BBQ Cook-Off 2008

The debut of:

2 Farm Boys & a City Slicker


We had SO MUCH fun!!!! The weather was great, the food YUMMY and well -- I believe we've started a good thing! :-)

I'm baaaack!

Hello ladies & gents -- my Blog LIVES!!

I figured it was time for me to get back on the bandwagon since I'm addicted to checking everyone else's site!

Lots has gone on since my last blog (july 2007 -- pathetic, I tell you!). But I'm back up and running .... so come back soon, come back often.

PS - I may even get some pictures on here!!! (I know -- I may be putting too much stress on myself in my sudden return!) ha ha