pet peave
I don’t get it…just don’t get it.
A family down the street can not afford to feed the kids, seriously…they are unable to provide for their home in the most basic of all basic ways…and what did they do??? They bought a dog. I don’t get it.
Kids are hungry. Water and electricity turned off almost every month. No adults with jobs. Cars that don’t run.
And they needed to buy a dog??? Frustrating!
June 24th, 2009 That's what I think about that! 1 Comment » UncategorizedMy sister is hilarious…
…it is never wise to open an email from my sister when your bladder, shall we say, “needs attention”. NEVER WISE and now you have been warned, should your bladder need attention…NOW would be a good time to make that happen. Just sayin’.
This is what was in my email box today…please note: my email comes to my Blackberry so I read email in the car, at the office, walking around the house or even while wandering around a store. Today I was reading this as I was walking from the car to the house…just after getting home from the office…with yes, a FULL bladder!!
Some editing has been done, not to protect the innocent…but for the sake of family peace, love and harmony…
From my sissy:
OMG you should have spent the evening with the OLDER generation around here!! Some men never grow up!! Mark has a new ‘Smoker” (fish & meats, etc). While he was choosing which smoker he wanted at the store (so many to choose from, electric or propane, BBQ style or small closet looking, etc etc) after at least 45 minutes of him wanting this one, or was it that one? We go home with an electric smoker that looks like a small closet – we get it home and find that the instructions are really poor and what few (3 to be exact) receipts are included – that we really do know more about smoking than what has been supplied. So we decide that we will smoke some whole chickens! Should be easy and WE DO KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING! So Mark goes to the store and picks up the chickens – I asked him to get 4 chickens, since we are going to use it, we might just as well put more that one chicken in it! So he gets 3 whole chickens, 1 turkey breast, 4 Cornish game hens!!! Oh, I forgot the 2 pkgs of ribs!! I asked for 4 chickens!!! I come home from work and he has all of this in the smoker!! – Not the ribs – but everything else is in the smoker!! Wow, it all fits and looks like there is room for more….From what Mark is telling me, he has put all of this meat in the smoker as of approx 2pm – it is after 5pm and Mark is telling me that the smoker has not even started to smoke yet!! Well what is going on??? The instruction manual says it will hold up to 40 pounds. I look at the temp gauge and it is approx 200 degrees – for over 3 hours, the temp is only 200!!! What is going on?? OK, like every nite when I get home, I have to go to the bathroom – so I ask him to give me minute and I will come back down and see what is going on. So upstairs I go – well the patio door of our bedroom is open and the smoker is down on the lower deck – so I can hear (from the bathroom) what is going on down stairs. And what do you think I hear??? He has opened and closed the door on the smoker at least 3 times since I have gone upstairs!! Oh, now why is it not getting any hotter than 200 degrees – let me guess!!!
So I go back downstairs and SUGGEST to him that he should leave the door closed so it has a chance to heat up. And of course he replys – I don’t open the door that much to make a difference. OK, now I am talking to a man who has pulled up a chair and is sitting right in front of the smoker – I mean you can not walk between him and the smoker cause he is sitting that close to it!! So I decide to stay a bit closer to the smoker to see what is happening…. So I camp out in the TV room and sit in a chair so I can see Mark. It is now about 7pm and the smoker is really not warming up that much – we have a big discussion about weather we have loaded it correctly – have we put it in the best spot for it to cook (on the back porch and was concerned if the wind blowing was a problem) –did we buy the wrong smoker - reread the manual, nothing more that what we had already known. At this point I am getting kind of hungry, so we decide to take some of the meat out of it and put it in the oven in the house. So we take out the 4 cornish hens and the turkey breast. Leaving the 4 whole chickens in the smoker. So at about 8:30pm we eat Cornish hens from the oven in the house – yummy good and a little bit of smoke flavor – but not much. Oh, I forgot to tell you that this smoker also takes wood chips to help flavor the meat. The wood chips have not even started to burn – what is going on???
Dinner is good – a bit late for me to eat, but what can I say! After we eat, we open the smoker to check on the chickens, the smoker is now smoking up a storm and the chickens are cooking and looking, smelling wonderful. But the chickens are not done yet. So I tell him DO NOT OPEN the door until 9:30 and we will make a decision as to what we are going to do with them.
It appears that he had too much meat in the smoker and it was just not working – the 3 chickens did cook and smoke up just great. And Mark now knows not to sit in front and watch the smoker, cause he is not able to leave the door alone!! So last night well after 10pm we are putting the cooked chickens away in the refrigerator….
I have asked him to take a chicken to his mother, one to eat of the kids & their families – we have so much cooked meat in the house, we will never eat it all. And I had already thought we would take the chickens to others…just wanted to cook something in the smoker.
Next time you send your honey to the store for meat – make sure he only gets 4 chickens – otherwise you will have so much cooked meat. He is already talking about doing Ribs this week end……..and an evening with the OLDER generation around here…..almost the same as an evening with the YOUNGER generation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crack me up….here are some thoughts:
- Ed puts the smoker outside our bedroom window…Ladies~~~DO NOT LET GUYS DO THAT…everything in the bedroom will smell like smoker food for ages
- Mark, haven’t you heard….A watched smoker never smokes?!
- What the heck was he thinking??? LOL
Momma taught us to laugh…and laugh…and laugh…and to find the humor in everything…My sissy does just that, she cracks me up (has sent me running for the potty a time or two) and has the bestest of all bestest stories to tell.
Our Grandpa Sam was a storyteller like you can’t imagine. A Master Storyteller indeed!! He has been gone for 28 years now. How I wish we had a few of his stories written down, recorded on tape or preserved somehow…sadly that is not the case. From time to time one of his stories will crop up in conversation and us grandkids get a kick out of the memories. What a great man…loved to watch him dance a jig…boy howdy could he ever dance a jig!
And…now I ask you all…isn’t my sister hilarious??? Do you think she should have a blog??? Farm wife for years and years, now working woman with semi-retired hubby, 1 wonderful granddaughter, 3 super terrific grandsons~certainly she has enough blog fodder.
Love you SOPO!!!
June 16th, 2009 That's what I think about that! 2 Comments » Ed & I, Family“Honey,” he said quite hestitantly.
It had been a good day. We had an outside project that required both of us to work together on, figure out and finish up. The sun was out to keep us company, we had enjoyed a nice lunch break….the afternoon had moved along quiet nicely.
With our project completed (and both of us completely happy with the outcome BONUS!!) it was time to kick back and enjoy a few minutes of rest while birdwatching and waterfall listening before starting on the next project. I decided I would take the Dr. Schols footbath out to the deck and give myself a quick pedicure. Ed decided he would sit under the Ash tree for a few minutes and keep me company. This is the life!!
Ah….nice….just the two of us…along with the turtles…the fish…the cat…the birds…ah. Nice afternoon. Nice break in the middle of a busy day. And then….
“Honey, I’ve been thinking.“ The tone of his voice said he just may have been thinking and not sharing for sometime …hmmm.
My ears perked up a bit. He continued, “Since you work in an office,” *which I have all my working career* “if you want to color your hair you can.”
OMGoodness…I just about fell out of my chair. Crack me up!!!
Saturday was a pretty warm day so I had my hair pulled into a bun ~ exposing quite a bit of gray that is underneath. LOL I think maybe he had been a bit shocked by how gray I have become over the years.
Years ago…many many years ago… we promised we would grow old together ~ we would stick together through thick and thin ~ through many situations and scenarios ~ one of which was, when we turned gray we would turn gray together. We made a promise to not color our hair…(there is a story behind the promise…another story for another post LOL LOL LOL~think comb-overs and blue hair LOL LOL LOL).
About eight years ago, during a wild girls wknd, I scummed to pressure, joined in with the crowd and had a few highlights put in my hair. Ed was furious…absolutely furious. It took forever for us to get back on track. He felt like I had betrayed a promise. I really didn’t consider a few highlights to be “coloring” my hair, but he did. I shouldn’t have done it, I knew that then…I know that now. It has nothing to do with his anger…I broke a promise…plain and simple. A promise is a promise.
We don’t speak about, make reference to, or hint at “the hair issue”.
That was a few years ago. Since then I have gained *one or two* more gray hairs…just one or two 
. I blame each one of them on someone else. There are a few named Edward…quite a few named for each of my kids, some for my precious grands..but just a few for my grands…my parents have a few named after them (not too many, but a one or two ) my sisters brother gave me more than a few! You get the idea.
Yes, my hair has turned gray. Fortunately, I am a redhead, strawberry-blonde if you will. Redheads tend to be able to blend the gray a bit better than some. (I think my redhair came from my Grandmother Leona who was a redhead as well…my hair color is very similar to hers).
So…what is the verdict? I’m keeping my gray hair~ yep….gonna continue growing old with my hubby. We are going to see this through to the end…through thick and thin, gray hair and all.
But I do have to wonder…this has caused me to think…does this have anything to do with my sisters recent visit? She had just done her hair and it was really pretty, got just the right amount color on it. Livened up her hair, was shiney and perfect for her. I’m wondering…hmmmm… stay tuned, I am prone to change my mind at the drop of a hat.
June 16th, 2009 That's what I think about that! 2 Comments » UncategorizedMonster Cooies~Yumm
So…here you see a batch, yes a single batch of Monster Cookies…that is 32 cups of summer time yumminess. Once each year I mix up a batch of Monster Cookies and Ed bakes them up. Just one batch per summer.
With a recipe that calls for 18 cups of oatmeal, 3#’s of peanut butter and a dozen eggs among other things, one batch will see us through unexpected company, picnics, day trips, grandkid visits and a whole host of other summer time events.
Today Ed baked up about a third of the batch, this is the result…sorta…
there were a few more but you know you gotta test ‘em when they come out of the oven…and then we had a couple of starving college girls show up ~ they ate a couple and took a few for later.
About half of these will be stacked in ziplock bags and put into the freezer…the other half don’t have a chance of making it through the next week.
I put about 2/3’s of the dough in the freezer and will pull it out in time for Gpa to bake up fresh cookies when the three youngest grands show up mid July for a few days. They are the real cookie monsters!
Summer…wow…this wknd it dawned on us we have 4 free wknds this summer…sorta…one of those will be saved for a visit from my niece and her children, one will be saved for a camping trip with my sisters brother which will leave just two free wknds ~ which I am guarding with my life. Thankfully the majority of our booked wknds are going to be spent at home, this summer we will have more company than we usually get in a years time.
I love entertaining, we live in a very beautiful part of the state, there is always something going on or nothing at all if all you want to do is sit and visit. We’re serving Monster Cookies should you be in the neighborhood and wanna stop by.
Monster Cookies
1 lb nucoa
3 lb creamy peanut butter
2 lb brown sugar
4 c granulated sugar
1 T corn syrup
8 tsp baking soda
1 dz eggs
Mix all together ~ if you have a 5+ qt Hobart all of this will fit…if not, well elbow grease works.
ADD:
12 oz of semi sweet chocolate chips
16 oz M&M’s
Again, mix well. Then add:
18 cups of regular (not quick) oats~~ 2 cups at a time ~~ this is a good time to call in all available muscle…adding this much oatmeal is not for the faint of heart.
Drop ¼ cup per cookie on cookie sheet, flatten slightly, bake @ 350 for 16 minutes on lightly greased cookie sheet. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing from pan.
June 14th, 2009 That's what I think about that! 1 Comment » Family, HomeOh Yeah!!
Low key weekend for us coming up. I am feeling a major LIM attack coming on so will be sorting through some things we have been storing. I know some of it will be reboxed and continue to live in storage…some of it however will be headed out the door. I’m sensing a thrift shop run in our future. We also have a small amount of remodel trash that needs to go to the dump. This is the weekend to make that happen!
I would like to sew with the FABs this wknd…we’ll see if that happens or not. One thing I know for sure…I WILL BE SEWING WITH THE FABS IN TWO MONTHS! Our long awaited (over 10 yrs for a couple of us!) gathering is quickly drawing close. The closer it gets the more excited we get.
Requested funny:
Yesterday my niece txt’d me to help her set up her bluetooth connection. We (Grands, Ed, I…etc) use bluetooth to swap files all the time and Mandy was wanting to set up their bluetooth devises as well. I gave her the needed codes and she got it all worked out. Techno-Lady was feeling pretty good about her accomplishment so….
After I got home from the office Techno-Lady asked me to help set up her daughters webcam. Between phone, texting, IM chatting, email (pretty much everything but the Pony Express) we managed to make it happen…not sure how much “we” was actually involved as I think she pretty much had it under control to begin with and probably only needed someone to cheer her along.
((An Aside: Macaroni’s dad is going to Iraq in a few months, having her own laptop with webcam and email will be a great way to keep in touch while he is gone…isn’t technology wonderful?! I think so!))
Mandy has 3 adorable children…precious, precious, precious! The character of the bunch? GM~aka~Gabeman. He is Mr. Predicable. A Daddy’s Boy 100%. Certainly NOT a Aunnie Pami’s Boy. No…Not, Never.
Enter the WebCam. As soon as we were connected Mandy asked GM to ‘come say Hi to Aunnie Pami’….he, in all of his 2-year-oldness, wasn’t interested. Nope, he and his dad were playing Wii. He didn’t have time for second class citizen Aunnie Pami. When he heard my voice but counldn’t see me he became a bit more interested. I kept calling his name and pretty soon he took time away from his Wii game and his joined-at-the-hip daddy ;-) to actually look at the computer.
Crack me up…what a funny boy! Forget that Wii…Daddy? Daddy who??? Heck after seeing Aunnie Pami on the computer he only had eyes for me! He waved, he chatted, he rubbed LB~aka~LukeBoy’s fuzzy head and gave him kisses so I could see. GM would walk away from the computer but keep his eye on it and as soon as he could no longer see me he would run back and wave, chatter…LOL funny boy!
Much later last night, after we had ended out WebChat Mandy txt’d me to tell me GM was still sitting infront of the WebCam but instead of chatting to me he was chatting to the baby on the screen. What he was seeing was his own picture and he was having the best conversation…
Uncle Eddie and I laughed until the tears fell! LOL
Hilarious…
June 12th, 2009 That's what I think about that! 2 Comments » Family, I Love Friday!They said it wouldn’t last~~~
But we keep provin’ ‘em wrong!!! 
Last week Ed and I celebrated 32 years of love and laughter~sprinkled with tough times to help us grow. Neigther one of us will say every day has been a bed of roses and on the same hand each of us will say the thorns along the way have been worth growing together, learning to tough it out when needed and enjoying the easy ride when the opportunities came along.
So…how did we celebrate? Ed surprised me with a trip to Prospect Hotel, a wonderful B&B in Southern Oregon, just South of Crater Lake. This B&B was at one time a stage coach stop and many famous people have stay here over the years. Rooms are named after some of the more famous people: Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryant along with many others, we stayed in the Jack London room. Ed INSISTS that Mr. London actually stayed IN THE SAME ROOM we were in or why would they have named it the Jack London room. LOL cracked me up, he was thrilled to pieced to be in the Jack London room as London has always been one of Ed’s most favorite authors. Hilarious!
During the weekend we enjoyed hikes to three different falls, trails along the Rogue where it disappears under lava beds, had lunch at Becki’s~a must for anyone traveling through Union Creek. We were exhausted by the time we got back to the B&B each evening. The weather was perfect…not too hot, not too cool…and the evenings were warm enough to sleep with the windows open, listening to night animals and waking to the beautiful sound of birds singing each morning.
We enjoyed our weekend, sharing memories of the past 32 years, being thankful for where we are in our lives now and anticipating the future.
***
Here is the requested funny story~certainly a “you had to have been there” event…
When we arrived at the B&B we took a look around and enjoyed visiting with Fred & Karen (the owners) for a few minutes. Our room (according to DH~~~THE VERY ROOM JACK LONDON SLEPT IN lol lol) was upstairs so we made a couple of trips up the steps as we unloaded the car. Ed needed to sit down to get off his feet so he plopped his fanny on the end of the bed…which promptly collapsed. LOL cracked me up!!! All of the furniture at Prospect Hotel is antique. All of it is in excellent shape. We thought he had broken the bed, but in actuality the foot board had just come loose from the side board. We both went into immediate shock…Ed is feeling pretty bad, I am totally dying. Neither one of us could utter a word.
After a couple of minutes he decided he would need to get Fred to check it out and either move us to a different room or see if he could fix it. Moving to a different room would have really been a downer for Ed…think JACK LONDON. Magic man Fred came up and put the bed all back together and then gave Ed “the talk” about how much activity that old antique bed would take…Oh my poor shy hubby….needless to say he was the brunt of many jokes throughout the wknd.
June 8th, 2009 That's what I think about that! 4 Comments » Ed & IFriday!!
Crazy busy times for us right now.
- Today my baskets come home from my friend Mary’s greenhouse! I saw her last night and she assures me they are wonderful~I am so excited!
- This evening and all day tomorrow is district track meets~yes that is meets as in more than one. High School meet will be in Bandon, Jr. High meet will be in Coos Bay (30 minute drive). We will be bouncing back and forth between the two…crazy busy! Deepening on how Rex does we might be in Monmouth next wknd for High School State Track next wknd.
- Mother’s Day we will have a small crowd here, the weather forecast is in our favor ~ whoo hoo…BBQ ~ Hillbilly Golf~Laughter and fun times!
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Other stuff:
My Booty Swap has been sent, it is going to Australia and as soon as I know it has arrived I will post a picture of it as well as the mini quilt that has already arrived at my house from Cheryl in MD. This was a kitchen themed swap, Cheryl used some ME prints to make me a quilt…you know she hit they nail on the head!
I Love Small Town America!!! Small Town America’s Got Talent tucked in hidden places!! Last night the Mid-school (grades 5-8) put on a talent show. Two hours of talent, not so much talent and just plain sillyness. Was a good time for our little town. The school was packed with family members, kids were wound up tight. Very touching time as our KatieBug and a classmate sang a song about living life while you can. The classmate has battled cancer, has lost his eyesight, misses more school than he attends. He has had a crush on Katie for 4 years. They did a great job and the audience was wonderful. **this will age me, but when I went to concerts we held up lighters and waved them back and forth…we were cracking up last night to see the stands full of cell phones waving back and forth…hilarious!!
May 8th, 2009 That's what I think about that! 5 Comments » UncategorizedQOTW
May 1st, 2009 That's what I think about that! 2 Comments » I Love Friday!
Yes, I do! I love Friday and it’s been a while since I have expressed that to you…too long infact. Do you like my new and improved Friday logo? I think it fits me to a ‘T’ as Mary Engelbreit is my most fav of all fav artist and Friday is my most fav of all fav days.
Let’s see, what has been going on in Pamland? A little of this and a little of that and then a little more of each.
- Three oldest grands are all thick in the middle of Spring sports, the boys in track and KatieBug in softball. We haven’t been to as many track meets as we would like to go to. A couple of years ago Oregon changed up which schools played which other schools in various sporting activities, because we are rural our kids have to travel hours and hours to get to another school. Frustrating for everyone concerned. I won’t go into all the ways this has changed everyone’s life (too frustrating to even think about bus drivers out on the road at 2 a.m.!!) but I will say it has eliminated a number of family members (including this set of grandparents) as fans in the stands whenever the kids are competing away from home. GRRRR Stepping down off my soap box.
- My sister and great niece were here a couple of weekends ago…it was our annual potting party weekend. She spoils me horribly by planting all of my baskets for me so I don’t get dirt under my nails. Don’t give me a hard time over this…she LOVES dirt, I don’t. This is a gift she gives to me each year and I do so appreciate this gift. Thank you again SOPO…you are the bestest!!
- KatieBug spent the night while Mac was here. It is fun to look back over the years as these two have grown up. Look for a pic of the two of them soon. Goofy girls…that is about all I need to say.
- Baseball season is here and if there is a Mariners game on TV my fanny is parked and I am cheering my team on. I am really liking the new guys that have joined the team this year. Yes, Ken Griffey Jr. is back on the team but I am most impressed with Franklin Gutierrez…keep your eye on him, he is really a great player.
- Our oldest grand was inducted into the National Honor Society. That was a fun evening, with three kids going in various directions Ed and I were called on to step in and take Rex to his induction ceremony and celebration afterwards. We are so proud of this young man and are hoping to have lawyer in our family someday!
- My 4th year of blogging came and went without notice…had big plans for that milestone…will shoot for the 5th year milestone.
- I’ve been reading…A LOT…I go through reading blitz from time to time…anything and everything I can get my hands on I will read and read and read…staying up ~ MUCH TOO LATE and no kidding, I will even dream about reading. This usually happens during the dead of winter and will last for a couple of months. Read a good book lately? Pass on the title, I might be interested in reading it myself! Current book series is an Amish Mystery Series by PL Gaus.
- Not spending much time in MCM of late, between spring sports, reading and baseball there isn’t much time for sewing. That has got to change here very soon. I need a new jacket before vacation in just 7 weeks so will need to get that going. I have a couple of minor things that need to be finished up but nothing too terribly taxing.
- Sadly realizing that I will not be making down to Mexico again this year, I boxed up and sent 49 more quilts to my friend Lydia at AMOR Ministries. Lydia will see that each quilt is given to a child or family in need. A very heartfelt Thank you to Jeanne, Pat, Norma, Cher, Elsie, Linda, and Cleta for your gracious and unselfish giving. It always touches my heart when a quilt is donated to the children of Mexico.
- There you go a bit of what I have been up to….more later. HAPPY FRIDAY everyone!
Fresh from the Hands of God
Tonight we are celebrating a gift from God…Luke Alan, born to my niece and her husband…
Welcome LB…Aunnie Pami can’t wait to get her hands on you!!
