GROW THE F**K UP...

...or step away from the keyboard until you can at least behave in a socially acceptable manner! Wow, it never ceases to amaze me how petty and immature people can be online. These are alleged ADULTS...and astonishingly (to ME anyway) is that when you take them to task for it, their almost uniform response is "It's just the internet!"
I've said before that my daughter spends a great deal of time in internet chat rooms...that's her connection to the outside world. She has two auto-immune diseases, so her body isn't really able to deal with the germs that most of us come into contact with regularly...a cold can put her down for over a month! So she doesn't go out much...it's a giant Petri Dish out there as far as she's concerned.
Some of these "alleged adults" in the chat rooms are the most belligerent, hostile, selfish, rude and just plain nasty people I've ever seen or heard! And their justification...? "It's just the internet!" Holy Shit! That makes it O.K.?! Having internet access is NOT a license to be an asshole!
And I know it's not just chat rooms...a friend blogged recently about a friend of HERS that has started a fight on Facebook.
What is wrong with these people?! Don't they realize that there is a PERSON in front of the screen at the other end of their vitriol? Would they say the same things if they were face-to-face with the other person? Yes, I know, in some cases they would...but the other individual would at least have the satisfaction of being able to respond accordingly...be it to walk away, or to punch them in the throat!
This is not Trolling...an Internet Troll can be ignored, and will usually go away if no one responds. This is often a vicious personal attack from the safety of their home/space, secure in the knowledge that the other person CAN'T reach through and punch them in the throat! I wish we could petition the ISPs of these morons to have them put in a "Time Out" when they abuse the internet! And it IS abuse...there's no other way to put it.
Jen is a Moderator in the chat room she hangs out in, and she's gotten very good at NOT allowing people there to be contentious or abusive there...and if they are, she DOES have the means to put them in "Time Out"! And she uses it. I'm very proud of her, and I guess what I want to say is: We, as parents and internet users, have a responsibility to teach our children and any others who might learn from us that interaction and conversation on the internet should be just as civilized and polite as it would be in our own living room.
That's pretty much how our kids first learn to interact...is by watching and listening to us converse with others. Maybe there needs to be a course in 'Internet Communication' starting in Middle School, that teaches common internet courtesy and respect for others. Yeah, I know...it's pretty much up to US...
OK, I'm getting down from my soapbox now...I've ranted long enough...but DAMN, I do wish those people would grow up!

Local news and weather...

"Portland's rainfall so far in 2011 has measured just over 47 inches. That's 10 inches over the entire yearly average." (Courtesy of KGW.com)
Yeah...it's been a wet year so far...and there's more on the way...sigh... It's hard to be upbeat and cheerful when it's unremittingly cloudy, gray and dark... Good thing I have bloggy friends and interwebby stuffs to make me smile!
I laughed my ass off at 'Stine, she's taken to Pinterest like a duck to water! I think it's possible that she spent an entire DAY pinning! Kind of like me, when she turned me on to StumbleUpon...
So yeah, it's cold, wet and rainy here...but PB's car is fixed and running very well (it WAS the timing belt), so she's happy. I have a touch of some kind of bug...VERY achy muscles and just tired all over. Got to the store, but didn't get my Chicken Spaghetti made...that'll be dinner later this week.
I'm just gonna be a lump, I think...maybe Stumble some and maybe Pin some...have a great rest of the week.

It's not my fault...

...it's Kristine's fault! Seriously! I've seen references to StumbleUpon around forever, but had never bothered to go check it out until 'Stine recommended it. Holy Crap! I've been all OVER the interwebs for the past week or so, and it's eating up HUGE portions of the day just sitting here clicking away, ROFL! And then I had to go and join Pinterest, so you know, there's another chunk of hours gone...OY! I think I may have an addiction problem. BUT...I now know how to make my own liquid hand soap from bar soap, and I'm having my neighbor make me one of these, and I've got loads of new recipes to try and...well, you get the picture. Plus there was a sale at Michael's, and a trip to Craft Warehouse in there as well...and some crafty playing too.
I did manage to go get Boo's wedding napkins (lilac with their names & the date in black) ordered, so that's done. Then I think I going to order these to put on the tables at their reception. The wedding date is creeping up on us at a ferocious rate!
Sunday my poor sis's car broke down on her on the way home from work (graduation weekend at Univ. of Portland) and she had to walk about a mile or so home...because her new cell phone was dead and she couldn't call anyone to come pick her up! I beat her and made her find the car charger cord and put it in her purse! LOL! It does NO good to have the damn thing if it isn't charged...ACK! We had the car towed (Yay, AAA!) to Kate's...her boyfriend/thing is a mechanic, and he's pretty sure it's the timing belt and will fix it over the next couple of days. PB had Monday off, but works Tuesday then has the rest of the week off. She's driving Jen's van to work Tuesday, so that leaves my car here for a grocery run. We need milk, plus I want to make Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti and I need a couple of things for that...nomnomnom!
So, have a good week...and I'll try to force myself to break away from StumbleUpon and Pinterest long enough to post here again soon.
And here's a LOL for ya'...

Everyone needs to smile...

...and here's a good reason to:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/confessions/

Be sure to click on the link in the post, too.

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!

It ALWAYS makes me laugh...

...every single time...

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...

Nor did it work...

...at least not on the cat...

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.)

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...

Yes...yes it does...Happy Friday!

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!

Where I go when I'm discombobulated...

Cooking by the seat of your pants...

...as blogged by a dear ifriend (http://jodianncates.com/weblog/) is one of those things that has saved my sorry ass many times over the years. Even if my girls did sometimes poke what was on their plate with a fork and ask "What was this when it was alive?!" Working full time and having 2 growing kids and a diabetic husband to feed called for some creative cookery...and not a whole lot of time to get it done sometimes.

I learned to cook from my Mom, and she grew up on a farm in Minnesota...so there were a lot of plain "meat and potatoes" meals, but I also remember that she went to county extension service classes and brought home recipes for Pennsylvania Dutch cookery among many others. She also went to the county fair every year and picked up every recipe she could from all the "associations" represented there.

Dad wasn't thrilled about any variation from the regular fare, but us kids (me, 1 brother and 1 sister, plus various foster kids over the years) looked forward to some of the new and interesting offerings. We had chickens and ducks for eggs, plus the occasional stew hen (our ducks ran away from home, to live with someone else, LOL)...and we also raised goats for a while...they cleaned up all the blackberries around the property, then we ate them! I was heartbroken when they slaughtered them...they were my FRIENDS! They were, however, very tasty...sigh...even now I'm conflicted...

I don't think anyone could have been more excited than me when the CrockPot hit the market...what a concept! But Jeez! You had to plan ahead and have things ready to go into it first thing in the morning...and I'm not really a morning person...nor a planner-aheader...(see paragraph one)...but, when I DID plan ahead, we could have some great meals!

We currently have 2...one 6 quart, and one of those oblong ones for bigger roasts and such. I love, love, LOVE them! Soup, stew, beans, cheap cuts of beef or pork, chicken...yup, gotta love what it does. Between them and the microwave, it's SO much easier to put a good meal together...then I can spend all day playing on the interwebs and stuff, LOL!

One of my favorite dinners is a recipe Jen got from one of her friends, and then I "modified" it a couple of times. It's called Iowa Pork Steaks, and is found all over the web in numerous variations, usually baked in the oven.
But here's MY version:
 Brown some medium or thick cut boneless pork chops till they're nicely colored all over & set aside.
In the crockpot, mix 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic Soup (I sometimes add about 1/2 a can of water), 1 packet of dry Onion Soup Mix, 2  good 'glugs' of Worcestershire Sauce and a cup or so of sour cream. Mix it all up together.
In the same pan you browned the chops, throw in some butter and a box or 2 of sliced mushrooms and cook them till they smell so good you want to eat them right NOW...pour them into the crockpot with the rest of the sauce and mix them in. Plop the chops into the pot, and try to make sure they're sunk into the 'gravy'. Spoon some over the tops if needed. Clap the lid on and cook for 6 to 7 hours on LOW. Serve up with some mashed potatoes or buttered noodles. OMNOMNOMNOM!!
This recipe also works extremely well with boneless skinless chicken breasts...but I leave out the Worcestershire and add some whole roasted garlic cloves (there's no such thing as too much garlic in our house).

I should probably also tell you that the seasoning of choice here is Morton's Nature's Seasons, I honestly don't know how I ever cooked without it! So...there you go...try it, you'll like it! Tomorrow I'll give you my recipe for 'Alicious Crocodile!

Squish...

...squish, squish...it's gettin' kinda soggy here... This was posted on one of our local news websites (KATU) :     " By the way, if you're counting 23 out of 24 days this month have had rain. At  27 days it will be a new record for most number of rainy days in March."  And it appears that we're well on our way to making that record...guess what's in the forecast???
Oh well...Spring in Oregon...one long wet season...I've got pork chops to stick in the crockpot, and I think I'm gonna make a cake. So dinner will be comfort food and SUGAR! LOL...
I decided NOT to go to the Scrapbook Convention...I've got enough stuff for now, and Boo has her money tied up in her wedding, so it's just best all around if we stay away from temptation!
Have a great weekend, try to stay warm and dry wherever you are!

Psyched...

...no, not Psycho...well, not a LOT, anyway! We just ordered a HealthMaster (Montel Williams) blender/emulsifier thingy!
It'll take about a month to get here, I guess...but I'm already excited about it. We've been thinking about a Vita-Mix for quite a while, but Jeebus, they're SO freakin' expensive! This thing has pretty much the same power and does the same things, but is less than 1/2 the price. Plus they had a web special with free shipping, and that pretty much sealed the deal. So I'm looking forward to lots of smoothies with fresh fruit and yogurt and fresh spinach all whirled together in our new toy. Plus it makes soup, ice cream & sorbet, sauces and lots of other yummy stuffs too. Do any of my (many, LOLOLOL) readers have one? I've read a lot of reviews, and they really run the gamut from absolute "Oh this has changed my life" praise to "don't EVER buy this crap!" so I'm not sure what to believe...guess we'll just have to wait and see for ourselves.
So, not much else going on here in rainy PDX...lots of daffys coming up, and flowering trees starting to bloom (sniff, snort, HONK-excuse me while I wipe my watering eyes)...but Spring is definitely here! I made buckwheat waffles (Bob's Red Mill) and sausage patties for dinner tonight...NOM! Plus PB bought some Red Raspberry Syrup last time we were at the Mill store...and that is DELISH! It'd be really good on some ice cream too.
I can't decide if I'm going to go to the CK Scrapbook Convention this weekend here in town...I've been to a couple of them a few years ago, but I have so much paper and other stuff now and I know I'd just find something more I HAD to have...sigh... Maybe my granddaughter wants to go, LOL...that's a good excuse, right?
Have a happy/soggy/springy Thursday...  :)

Happy St. Paddy's Day...

...it's good to be Irish...even if it's only one day a year, LOL! If I had any Guinness, I'd drink it, but I'm fresh out, as they say. And since I'm the only one who likes it, there's not really any point in buying a 6-pack. I don't like beer-beer (except poured over a pork roast while it's cooking) but I do like stouts and porters. Cream stouts especially...I get Widmer Bros. Drop Top every once in a while, and it's yummy. Plus we have the McMenamin Bros. all over the place, and they brew some AMAZING things, like their seasonal specialties. McMenamins Seasonals  And their Ruby Ale, flavored with Oregon raspberries is soooo good, and I like their Terminator Stout and Black Rabbit Porter as well.
And then they have things on their menu like High Pasta:  Linguine tossed with fresh spinach, garlic, tomatoes, & roasted hazelnuts in brown butter with Parmesan cheese...OMG, it's good!
So we had our Irish Dinner a night early...and a day later than I'd planned, LOL...but it all worked out in the end!

Roasted chickie with lots of garlic...

and Colcannon

OMNOMNOMNOM!

Have a good Thursday...remember to wear something green!

The "Oven Mitt" Incident...

...aka the story (OK, one of several) that will outlive me, probably. Sigh...
I've been thinking about kids a lot lately, mine and other peoples...and how they can sometimes drive us to the very BRINK of our sanity and we have to scramble for a toehold or handle or...something. So here's a snapshot of one of the times I was really teetering close to the edge:

First you have to understand that my husband died Dec. 6th of 1978, right before Jen's 8th birthday (and Christmas)...so things were in an upheaval at our house for quite some time...in addition, my boss died suddenly of colon cancer in early 1979 and I was "promoted" to a position I was seriously unprepared to handle, we found out our Great Dane Victor (husband's dog) had congenital heart disease and was allergic to the medication, so we had to put him down...in August of 1979, my Dad finally died of the brain tumor that had gone undiagnosed for 12 years. Yeah, there was some stress. I thought I was handling it pretty well, you know, "keep on keepin' on" sort of stuff...and really, when you have children, you can't just STOP and take time to regroup or whatever. Life Goes ON...and participation is required.

At any rate...I came home from work one evening (probably late-1979) and was in the kitchen making dinner when I heard a huge commotion coming from Jen's bedroom, just down the hall from the kitchen. So I stop what I'm doing and rush in to see what the problem is...and here are both my girls, standing in the middle of the bed...their little girlie fists all bunched up...just dukin' it out!
I lost it...I didn't realize I still had on the pair of oven mitts I'd been using in the kitchen, but I took them off my hands and proceeded to smack both girls with them, yelling "How dare you hit each other?!?!"

The girls stopped, looked at me, back at each other...and then just turned and stared at me...
As I recall, I ran back through the kitchen, dropped the oven mitts on the counter on the way into the living room, dropped into a chair, put my head in my hands and thought "It's finally happened...I've lost my mind!"
I'm not sure what the girls thought, but they were very quiet for the rest  of the evening...and gave me a wide berth...

We all survived my little "lapse", and all the other things as well, and just got on with our daily lives...this is what families do. For many years, it was the 3 of us against the world...and we did OK. There were some horrid times, and there were some good times...and we came out the other side stronger, I think, for having been through them. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but we are who we are because of what we've been through together.

We often laugh (well, some of us more than others) about this now...and have been known to ask "Do I have to get the oven mitts out?" when arguments start, LOL. It's an inside joke, certainly, but it's one of those things that makes us "family".

Maybe next time I'll tell you about "This is Telephone in Rosemary Services."

So...I have this other kid...

...Kate, the older of my two (by 15 months). And we were having a phone conversation last night about HER daughter, who's planning her wedding for this coming June...

Kate: "...I swear, I love her to death, but sometimes............you're biting your tongue, aren't you?"

Me: "mmmmphthph..."

Gotta love Karma...

OK...I'm all packed and ready to go...

...on a Guilt Trip.
Not really, but I've taken my share over the years...and I finally decided they weren't worth the time and effort involved!
My daughter Jen and I had a conversation a couple of nights ago that made me start thinking about this... She spends a lot of time in internet Chat Rooms, and had said something which another person got all "verklempt" over. It wasn't anything bad, just a passing comment, but the other individual decided it was directed at them, and was all hurt and hostile over it. It wasn't even about them, but they took it that way. Jen said she felt bad now, and hadn't meant to cause any hurt feelings or drama. I told her she had nothing to feel bad about and that she should just ignore the other person's attempts to make her feel guilty...
a) It's not all about you, and b) really, it's NOT all about you!
"Look what you made me do!", or "See how bad you made me feel!" Nope, sorry...can't lay that blame on my doorstep. Time to stop manipulating and step up and take responsibility for yourself and how you feel. I don't need anyone to make me feel guilty about things I've said or done, I manage to do it quite well on my own, thanks! Many times I've packed up my own luggage and gone on a long and arduous guilt trip without any prompting...I just try real hard not to do it anymore. I don't always succeed, there are things that I still wish I could un-do and un-say...but I can't. So I move on...hopefully a better person for knowing that I screwed up, and having learned from it.
As for Jen, that particular person has managed to really tick her off now, LOL...by continuing to try to stir up drama where there really wasn't any. So she's not feeling guilty now, just PISSED! LOL, I love my Mouse!