Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Saturday, April 23, 2011

If you've ever been owned by a cat...

...you'll appreciate the clear and elegant depiction of Solange by Brooke McEldowney. He creates one of the funniest and most thought provoking cartoons around...9 Chickweed Lane. It can be found on the web here:
http://comics.com/9_chickweed_lane/  I highly recommend it.
In the meantime...here are some of his "Hallmarks of Felinity" from over the years:
http://www.student.ipfw.edu/~osbodr01/hallmarks/hallmark00.html
Enjoy!

In case you haven't caught it yet...

There's a new Simon's Cat video...


And I've been challenged! 'Stine, over at Kristine's Place wants me to do the list of Four Things. I think I'm up to it, LOL.

Four Places I Go:

1. Craft Warehouse - Papercraft junkie that I am...
2. Michael's - Ditto
3. Powell's City of Books - Dangerous! Too many choices, not enough $$$!
4. Dollar Tree - Cheap kitchen/bath stuff and the occasional good deal.

Four Smells That I Love:

1. Sandalwood & Amber - The shop where I used to have my own personalized scent made is still there, I just drove by it the other day!
2. Bread baking - I should start making bread again!
3. Lemons & Oranges - Limes too, actually...that sharp citrus tang just smells 'happy' to me.
4. Wildwood Recreation Area - On the slopes of Mt. Hood...when you walk down to the Salmon River amongst all the trees and natural undergrowth, there's a clean, clear, green scent that is so fresh and inviting.

Four Favorite TV Shows:

1. Warehouse 13 - Between seasons now :(
2. Haven - Ditto
3. Ghost Hunters - Love Jason and Grant!
4. Dirty Jobs -  Mike Rowe, need I say more?

Four Favorite Movies:

1. The Fisher King - Jeff Bridges & Robin Williams...I can't explain why.
2. Boondock Saints - Um, yeah...
3. Boondock Saints II - Same reason...
4. Iron Man/Iron Man II/Sherlock Holmes - Yeah, I'm ALL about Robert Downey, Jr....even if he could be one of my kids...sigh...

Four Recommendations: 


1. I Can Has Cheezburger - At least one smile a day, if not more.
2. Pioneer Woman - Because she ROCKS!
3. National Geographic - Amazing photos and so much more.
4. Pandora Radio - Kinda like StumbleUpon for tunes...

Four People...Seriously, I don't know that many people to 'tag' with this. If you feel like it, go for it!

That's it for me...have a great weekend, all! And Hoppy Easter!

Monday, April 18, 2011

I swear, I just blinked...

...and this happened!
Boo at about a year....     

...her engagement ring, that she designed... 

...her wedding dress fitting...

My Boo-Boo, my first grandchild and ONLY granddaughter will be 21 on Tuesday (4/19)! This can't possibly be right...it seems like only a little while ago that she would come to my place for sleepovers and we'd take the bus into downtown and spend all day window shopping and having lunch at Newberry's or Woolworth's counter. We would spend an entire day just hangin' out together and having a great time. We were BFFs...
Now she's all grown up and getting married in 2 months. I'm happy and excited for her, yet I'm sitting here typing this with tears in my eyes...I miss you, little girl...

Monday, April 11, 2011

I'm really kickin' myself now...

over what could have been a HUGE money-making opportunity! Or possibly not...
See this? They're selling it in Germany at 4,95 Euros per bottle...
"Anti-Monster-Spray unter das Bett, auf das Kopfkissen und in dunkle Ecken sprühen."
(Anti-monster spray under the bed, spray on the pillow and into dark corners.)
cute kawaii stuff - Stay Back, Monsters!









When Booger was about 3, he was having terrible nightmares and night terrors. He complained of monsters in his room and under his bed, in his closet, etc. So on my way to Jen's one afternoon I stopped at Dollar Tree and picked up an empty spray bottle from the cleaning supplies section and a small bottle of Plumeria after-bath body spray.
When I got there, he told me about how scared he was at night. I told him I had JUST the thing! Umma's Magic Monster-Stay-Away Spray! I mixed about half the (small) bottle of body spray in the larger spray bottle, filled about halfway with tap water, and shook it up thoroughly. I told him that monsters could NOT stand the smell and that they wouldn't come anywhere near where it had been sprayed...
Needless to say, he led, and we covered ALL the bedrooms and closets, cubbys and corners where there could POSSIBLY ever be a monster lurking! And it WORKED! Another 'spritz' now and then when the scent faded...but no more monsters. They used it in the new place when they moved, too, and it worked just as well there.
So why didn't I think of putting it in cute little bottles with a cutesy label and selling it at 5 bucks a pop?!?!?! Really, it's a rhetorical question...I have no idea why. But I don't think it ever occurred to me that anyone might actually BUY something like that...I can't help but wonder what their sales are like. Are there more monsters under German beds?
I missed out on the Pet Rock thing too...sigh...

Saturday, April 2, 2011

No Crocodiles were injured...

...ever, in the making of 'Alicious Crocodile...promise!
When my daughter Jen was pregnant with her twins, she had lots of issues that involved sudden trips to the E.R. and sometimes overnight stays to get them resolved. When that happened, I would watch her oldest for the duration. Quite often, I would leave work and head to the hospital, pick up Booger Bear and take him back home to their place, make him dinner, keep him entertained and then get him to bed before Jen & her (ex, now) hubby got back home. He was about 2 and a half when he renamed this particular dish...Jen had some chicken thawing for dinner before she had to leave, so I just decided to make Coffee Chicken, somewhat of a standby in our family for years.
So I made dinner, and we sat down to eat...and a few minutes into it, Booger announced "Umma, this is 'alicious!" (he couldn't pronounce Grandma, so I've been Umma since he learned to talk) and a little later, while gnawing on a chicken leg, he said "We're eating croco-DILE!" and had this HUGE smile on his face. So...therefore...it's been "'Alicious Crocodile" ever since.

So here's the recipe for it, also known as Coffee Chicken...it sounds odd, but believe me, it's GOOD! It's also one of those things you can easily adjust for the number of people you're feeding...just add more chicken and potatoes as needed.

You need pieces of cut-up chicken, we like legs and thighs at our house (we buy the family packs and freeze them in bags of 4 to 6)...you need potatoes, however many it takes to fill up YOUR particular bunch...we use LOTS! And you need a pot of coffee...freshly made is best, but this morning's leftovers are fine too. Just DON'T use flavored coffee!! Oh, and Nature's Seasons too...can't cook without it, LOL. That's it.

Brown the chicken thoroughly...you want a nice color on it, as the last bit of cooking it'll get is actually steaming. We just brown it in a bit of Pam and season it with Natures's. Peel and quarter however many potatoes you need and throw them in a large pot...we use the all-purpose Dutch Oven. Pour brewed coffee over the potatoes to the point where some corners of them are sticking up ABOVE the liquid level, and season liberally with Nature's. You want your chicken to rest on top of them and not be submerged in the coffee, if possible. Place the browned chicken pieces on top of the potatoes in the pot, clap the lid on, bring to a boil...reduce the heat and cook till the potatoes are done, and there you have it.

We usually have some green beans (with bacon grease and onion, of course) alongside this, but spinach is good too...we love canned spinach, LOL. This is one our favorite ways to have chicken, and if you don't tell them, guests will never figure out what that yummy broth is that the potatoes cooked in.
Try it, you'll like it!