Saturated Saturday ...

It's so nice to have the power back on!! LOL! Actually it didn't stay off all that long, but with my rotten luck and the thunderstorms last night, I decided to stay away from the computer altogether. See, I have a metal computer desk and a resident gremlin - doesn't make for a good mix in a lightening storm. And a rotten mixture it is ... a few years back when I was still married to Bubba, as I was powering down my computer due to a bad storm rolling in I was indirectly struck by lightening. It hit the phone line about the time I was powering down (another metal computer desk, you'd think I would learn by now, eh?) and somehow my arm completed the circuit. One huge spark as the lights went out. The house lights, not my lights, LOL. All I felt was a tingling, never felt the burn. All I heard was Bubba saying "holy shit", never asked me if I was okay, though. Grrrrrr. The modem, my motherboard, keyboard, and two phones were fried. So needless to say when there's an electrical storm in the area I shut down my computer as quickly as possible.

Things here are pretty boring. Boring is good. Boring is very good.

Single Son will be getting a new car next week, I take over his van. He's spending the weekend cleaning it out and making sure it's in perfect running condition for me. I'm still not sure what I'll do with my car. I've put too much money in it lately to junk it ... guess I'll be putting it up for sale. Hope I can get enough to just cover repairs made. LOL.

OMG! I went to the gas station yesterday for ciggies. Didn't need gas, good thing - the lines for their pumps were about half a mile long! They're selling gas about twenty cents lower than other stations in the area are! I had hoped to fill up at those prices but those lines were so long I just couldn't justify waiting and burning all my gas up in the process. I'll have to hit the gas station in the middle of the night (yes, they're open), see if the lines are shorter then. I got to talk briefly to one of the cashiers, it's "day three" of cheaper gas at their station. She was exhausted. Said the time I was in was actually a slow period, that traffic had to be directed by the local cops a few times because it was so backed up.

Came home and did a search for gas prices. Found this website GASBUDDY. Put in  your city and state or zip code and find what the gas stations in your area are selling gas for. We're running between $3.89 (that one station) up to $4.15.

Don't think I'll get a whole lot accomplished today. I came down with a spring cold a few days ago, still feel like crap. I hate sinus headaches - I feel like I've got a mac truck parked on my head. If the headache would only go away I can handle the rest.

Married Son just came over. With a working lawn mower. Yippee!! I get the lawn mowed. No more losing small children or animals in my yard. Yes, it's the first time this season it's been mowed. Thankfully it's a small lot, it won't take him but half an hour on the riding mower he brought with him.

LOL!! Married Son was saying that the downpour yesterday left his vehicle parked in about six inches of water. The ditch he parked next to flooded badly as usual, but this time it overflowed. We had a good laugh about the "boom" that happened just as my power went out, he heard it, too (he only lives a mile away) and said he just about jumped out of his skin when he heard it. I don't doubt it, it rattled my walls pretty good and I jumped when I heard it, too.

Guess I head outta here. Take a few more Advil, see if that helps this headache. I really need to head up to the grocery store sometime today.

Ten Thoughts Tuesday ...

1) OMG!! How about them Red Wings?? Kicking some serious Penguin butt!!

2) Seems I'm on a streak where everything I do is ticking my folks off. Not intended, but it seems to be happening. Ticked my mom off yesterday when I told her I wouldn't come over and plant flowers for her - or go to dinner at my brother's house. I wasn't feeling well at all and didn't want to venture far from home. Glad I didn't, there's frost advisories up for the next night or two. Wouldn't have been good for her flowers!

3) Ticked off my dad because I can't find the user's manual for the digital camera I gave him. I did find the manual online and emailed him the link. Now he's ticked off because he'll have to print up the 146 page manual himself (and use all his ink and paper in the process).

4) Don't think I've ticked off anyone else this weekend. Not that they're talking anyway. LOL.

5) Single Son and I talked today. Not about much, lol. Nice to have the chance to actually talk with him, his schedule is so hectic. He asked me if I wanted his van. He's buying a new car soon. Heck yeah. I want that van. Gas mileage is a bear, but it's a well maintained vehicle. And since we all know how my Grand Am loves to treat me, it's an offer I just couldn't turn down.

6) Single Son told me about a website that has episodes of old TV shows. www.hulu.com. I've been watching old episodes of Adam-12 all afternoon!

7) Ros Kitty is pregnant again. Grrrrrr. The hussy. I should have put her up for adoption months ago when I threatened to. No one will adopt her now that she's pregnant. So ... another litter then we adopt them out.

8) Times like this I wish I had cable tv. Or at least could get the Canadian CBC channel on my tv. I hate not being able to watch any of the Stanley Cup Playoff games because they're blacked out locally. Thank Heaven for the internet or I'd really feel left in the dark.

9) I haven't seen Alien since last Thursday night. She spent the holiday weekend with Bubba. I miss her! It's just too quiet around here. Even the cats gave up looking for her two days ago. They'll be surprised when she comes home tonight. I'm sure they won't give her a moments peace. And I won't get a moments peace tonight either while she catches me up on her activities for the last five days. LOL!

10) I really need to get outta here. I ran out of caffeine a few days ago. Thought it'd be a good time to try to give it up. Wrong!! Maybe that's why I ticked my folks off this weekend - I'm caffeine deprived. In other words, bitchy (and erupt easily, LOL). Not to mention that lack of caffeine headache.

Gross Grub - Sulfuric Acid Swig

Description:
Recipe by: Creepy Cuisine, Lucy Munroe

Ingredients:
6 oz Lemonade, frozen concentrate --partially thawed
1/2 c Lemon juice
1 c Grapefruit juice -- cold
2 qt Lemon sherbet
1 qt Club soda -- cold

Directions:
In a large pitcher, mix together the lemonade concentrate, lemon juice and grapefruit. Add to this the amount of water required on the lemonade can. Pour the liquid into tall glasses, filling them halfway, and add a scoop of lemon sherbet to each. Fill the glasses with club soda and serve immediately. Just before serving, sprinkle the top of each glass with a pinch of lemon or lime-flavored powdered drink mix. Makes for a totally toxic-looking treat!

Gross Grub - Cat Litter Casserole

Description:
Gross Grub by Cheryl Porter Random House ISBN 0-679-86693-0

Ingredients:
1 c Bisquick
1 c Shredded Cheddar cheese
1 lb Ground beef, turkey or pork sausage

--Litter
2 c Long grain rice
3 3/4 c Water
2 ts Salt
2 tb Butter or margarine

Directions:
To make dumps: With an adults help, preheat the oven to 350F. Using clean hands, mix together the dump ingredients in a large bowl. Mold pieces of this mixture into various size/shape dumps. Place so they don't touch each other in an un-greased baking pan. Use two if they don''t all fit. With an adults help, bake the dumps for about 20 minutes or until they are all brown, firm and slightly crusty. While the meat cooks, put all four litter ingredients into a large saucepan. Then, with an adults help, heat on high until the water comes to a boil. Stir, turn heat to low and cover the pan. Simmer without lifting the cover for fourteen minutes. With an adults help, remove the saucepan from the stove and carefully (to avoid having your face melted away by the steam), lift off the cover. Break apart, or “fluff” the rice with a fork and set pan aside. When dumps are done, carefully transfer them onto paper towels to drain. Spoon the rice and dumps into the now empty baking pan, leaving some dumps partially uncovered, the way Kitty does when he/she is in a hurry.

Serves 8-10 litter box lovers.

Use popper scooper to serve.

The High Price of Gas ...

CNN reports that gas stations will start showing PORN movies on the screens of the pumps so that you can see someone else get screwed at the same time you do!!

I just could not help it.
That's funny -- I don't care who you are.

Passing On the Friday Five ...

Wow, I passed on last week's FF, and I'm passing on today's, too. I just don't have five movies I absolutely love or hate. Yeah ... there's those I like a lot, or thought fell short of being entertaining. But to say love or hate, nope, can't come up with five. Well, there was *one* that falls into the LOVE category, Titanic ... not for the story line, but for it's historical accuracy. Yeah, remember, I love all things Titanic, LOL.

Not a blasted thing going on here this Memorial Holiday weekend. Single Son works. Married Son and DIL both have to work. Alien is at Bubba's this weekend. It's just me and the cats. I had wanted to go up to Port Huron for a day of ship watching, but thanks to the high cost of gas that's out of the question this weekend. Besides, the way my car has been this past few months I don't trust it to get me to Port Huron from here (65 miles).

When I was out running errands yesterday gas was hovering around the $4.00 to $4.19 range. The news reported that certain places in the area were already up to $4.35 a gallon! Geesh.

So, what are ya'll doing this holiday weekend? Anything exciting? Traveling or staying close to home? Inquiring minds want to know.

Whatever you're doing, be safe this weekend!!

Tip - Rice Repairs

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

While I haven't personally had to try this yet, I hear from a reliable friend that it works wonders.

Next time you have an electronic "oops", i.e. drop your cell phone or iPod into water try this:

Wrap the object loosely in tissue and cover it all in a bowl of uncooked rice overnight.

To quote my friend "The rice must absorb the moisture or at the very least draw it from the affected areas, am not suggesting you wet something to find out LOL but next time theres a whoopsie maybe give the rice repair method a shot and see if it works for you."

Can't hurt. You've got nothing to lose by trying this.

Spanking children

Got this in an email from my friend Tiger, father of four between the ages of 5 and 12. It's a little late for me, as my kids are all grown up, but for those of you with young children it's advice to remember ....

Spanking children

Most of America's populace thinks it's improper to spank children. The other day I was talking to one of my younger buddies about methods used to discipline children.

We talked about 'time outs', grounding, holding back 'rewards' until the child displayed desired behavior etc. One of the things we discussed was the act of spanking and my friend explained that no, he does not spank any of his children.

He explained that what he does is to take the misbehaving child out for a ride in the car and talk. He said that usually this works and that the child calms down fairly quickly and really doesn't take too much time.

By removing the child, in this case his son, from the immediate situation and providing a change of scenery, the child is allowed to focus on something different. Once the child has the opportunity to change perspective, things get better quickly and the child has better understanding of his place within the family and begins to understand the family's concept of acceptable behavior..

He kindly shared a picture of the process which I share with you now.

Ten Thoughts Tuesday

1) It's the middle of the night right now, another sleepless night. Decided to play around online hoping I'll get sleepy Of course I'm wide awake. What better time to do my Ten Thoughts than right now? LOL!

2) How 'bout them Red Wings??

2) I discovered that Maxine has a blog!! Yes ma'am ... A BLOG !!! Too funny!! And if click on ** Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) ** you, too, can have a Maxine module on your homepage!!

3) Ran out of cat food tonight, so I took a midnight run to the store. Gotta love those open 24 hour stores. I actually wandered around for a bit. Yeah, me. The gal who hates shopping with a passion. Of course, at midnight it's not crowded, and it's before the bars close and the drunks come staggering in, LOL. I think I've been broke way too long. I couldn't find a damned thing that caught my attention enough to say "neat, I want that".

4) Barky the dog has been a problem again lately. They leave him out all night so that they can sleep. I've actually threatened to knock on their door at 3 AM when he barks and tell them "Look, your dog woke me up, so now I'm going to wake you up". See how long they like being woke up in the middle of the night because of their damned dog. I don't mind dogs. Just not when they bark in the middle of the night. Stupid owners have no respect for the neighbors - or the law. Some other neighbors have called the cops on them a few times. Think that gets results? NO!!

5) Barky must have ticked off the skunk that lives under my shed. I smell skunk and haven't heard Barky since I got back from the store. And it's 2 AM ... I really have to give the skunk a reward of some sort. Momma Skunk did what the cops haven't been able to do - shut Barky up!! Good Skunky!!

6) I have an appointment with my foot doctor this afternoon. I'm so not looking forward to the pain I know he'll inflict on me with two ingrown toenails. Good thing I actually like this doc or I'm sure my foot might end up where no foot should ever be. LOL!

7) Speaking of doctors ... why am I having so much trouble trying to get doc to coordinate my prescriptions so they all expire in the same month?? He won't do over-the-phone refills, so each time one of my four prescriptions expire I have to make a dash to his office to get 'em refilled. It's getting annoying trying to get him to understand the wisdom of it all.

8) Bubba fixed my car up real good. No problems. I even had Exie Poo and Married Son double check his work. The only reminder I have about the whole thing is once the engine warms up I can smell the antifreeze heating up. Not the antifreeze in the engine, but the antifreeze that was squirted all over the engine compartment. Guess it'll take a while to burn off. Especially now with gas prices being so high that I'm only driving once or twice a week.

Yup, number nine and the brain freezes again ...

9) How 'bout them Red Wings?? LOL

10) Nope ... no tenth thought comes to mind. Nothing. I can hear the echoes in my head ...

Gross Grub - Peanut Butter & Jelly Filled Spiders

Description:
Recipe source: Bridgford, Home Baking Collection

Ingredients:
3 Tbsps reduced fat peanut butter
3 Tbsps strawberry jam
1 lb Frozen Bread Dough -- thawed

Directions:
Prepare two baking sheets with cooking spray; set aside.

In a small bowl, combine peanut butter and jam; set aside. Divide dough into sixteen equal pieces. It takes two pieces of dough to make one spider. To make spider, take one piece of dough, on a lightly floured surface, divide this piece into four equal pieces for spider's legs. Roll each of these pieces into thin ropes, each being eight inches long. Lay each of these ropes, parallel and equal in length to each other, half inch apart onto prepared baking sheet. For the spider's body, divide a second piece of dough, one twice as large as the other. On a floured surface, pat larger piece of dough with the palm of your hand to flatten. Place two teaspoons peanut butter and jam mixture onto center of circle. Bring ends of dough up together and seal seams. Gently roll this piece of dough into a ball; set aside. Roll smaller piece of dough in a round ball (this will be the spider's head). Place peanut butter filled body and head centered on top of the four ropes of dough. The spider should now have eight legs. Finish with remaining pieces of dough to make eight spiders. Let rise until doubled in size, one hour. Bake in a 375 degree oven for ten minutes, or until golden brown.

NOTES:
The Peanut Butter & Jelly Spiders are so cute and very good! They rise and turn a nice light brown while baking. They will make a hit with kids because of the shape and the filling.


Per serving: 180 Calories; 3g Fat (17% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 32g Carbohydrate; 17mg Cholesterol; 218mg Sodium

Gross Grub - Penicillin Pizza

Description:
Gross Grub by Cheryl Porter Random House ISBN 0-679-86693-0

Ingredients:
6 English muffins
1 Jar pizza sauce
2 cups Shredded mozzarella cheese
3 tablespoons Grated Parmesan cheese
Yellow -- green and red food coloring

Directions:
Split muffins and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, making sure they don't touch.

Spoon a thin layer of sauce on top then cover the sauce with a layer of shredded cheese. Set aside.

Pour the Parmesan into a small bowl and add five drops each yellow, red and green food coloring until it's an even shade of mold green. (Use plastic bag to prevent your fingers from staining.) Set aside.

With an adults help, broil the pizzas until the cheese has melted and begun to brown. Remove from oven and let cool about 1 minute.

Carefully sprinkle mold on top of hot pizzas. Allow pies to cool slightly before you slip on a lab coat and serve. Serves 6 peaked patients.

Grandson's Birthday Party

My Grandson's birthday party was yesterday. The party was indoors because of all the rain we had. I didn't take an official head-count, but the small house we were at was packed.

My side of the family was there, my ex and his side of the family was there. Exie Poo brought his new girlfriend. DIL's family and friends were all there, too. It was like trying to fit a whale into a sardine can, but we all fit in the house!! LOL!

We had fun. It was great to see my ex mother-in-law and sister-in-law again. Exie's girlfriend and I had a million laughs at Exie's expense. It's one of those weird things, he and I were friends with the girlfriend and her husband the whole time we were married.

There was more than enough pizza and pop for the crowd. Two large cakes, and three half gallons of ice cream provided enough sugar to keep the six or so kiddies bouncing off the walls - and put the adults (diabetic or not) into a sugar induced coma. They were *not* taking "just a small piece please" as an answer! LOL! Luckily Grandson came to my rescue and hogged all my chocolate chip ice cream and half my cake. That's after eating his own piece of cake, too!! He must have bounced off the walls for hours after I left!!

Boy did that child get a bunch of toys. Almost everything was car related. Above is one of the gifts I got him, a fire engine filled with building blocks. It's the only picture I have where his face is blocked. LOL! He got a real cool VTech computer, too.

Alien stayed after the party to help them clean up. Afterwards she got to play with Grandson and all his new toys.

All in all we had a great time. But I sure was glad to get out of there and back to the peace and quiet of my own home.

The Gremlin Strikes Again ...

Free to a good home ... One Gremlin. Age unknown. Fun loving. Creative. Loves to lavish attention on others.

And here only yesterday I was thinking how quiet it's been around here. It's all *my* fault!! The Gremlin must have felt sorry for me and created some excitement. Grrrrrr.

Went to pay some bills. Stopped to pay the phone bill and when I came out of the place not five minutes later there's a huge green puddle under my car. It's anti-freeze and it's just gushing out from under my car!! There's no smoke coming from under the hood, and the hood feels fine to the touch, so I pop it open. Yup, a huge crack in one of the hoses.

Called around for someone to come get me. Can't find anyone. Out of desperation I call Bubba, Alien's dad. Yup, he'll come get me, he'll even look at the car for me. He was able to rig it so that I could at least get the car home. Yeah!! And *no* duct tape needed, lol. The break was close enough to the clamp he was able to trim the hose and re-clamp it. At least it'd get me home. Now I'm grounded for a few days until I can get it fixed.

So, any takers?? Anyone want to adopt my Gremlin?? He'll keep you entertained, that's for sure!

Ten Thoughts Tuesday

1) I'm so tired of being unemployed. But, talking to my doc he won't give me clearance just yet to even start job hunting again. "Let's get these health issues under control once and for all", he says. Sure ... whatever. He's not the one who has to squeeze pennies to survive. I mentioned something at my appointment yesterday about having over-slept. He comes back with "must be nice, wish I could over-sleep". "Believe me, it's not my choice. I'd rather have a job to wake up to every day like you do". He couldn't argue that, but he sure won't give me the okay to work again! And without doctor's clearance ... well, I'm on Medicaid right now, and on too many *health warning* lists with them, so without that clearance IF I were to get a job I loose what benefits I do have. I can't afford that, not with about $300 a month in prescription costs alone!!

2) So, to get clearance to go back to work I have more tests to go through. I can live with the mammogram and papp smear and the half dozen other tests I need, it's that colonoscopy I'm having trouble dealing with. Just the thought of it makes me shiver.

3) OK, I have a question for my "medical" friends ... what in the world would possess someone to want to be a "poop chute inspector" as my dad calls 'em? Just curious.

4) I had to laugh today while making my lunch. Tuna sandwich. I always drain the tuna water and give it to one of the cats. I waited and waited until Ringo was the only cat in the kitchen so he could have the fishy treat. As soon as he started slurping the other cats came running. Poor Ringo. As usual he let the two kittens take over. Only they're not kittens anymore, LOL, but Ringo still makes sure they get their share while he sits back hoping for leftovers. I ended up eating in my bedroom just so Ringo could come with me (a rare treat, as I don't allow the cats in my room normally). He ate about a quarter of my sandwich. He's spoiled, LOL. Now he's snoozing on my bed, happy as can be.

5) Speaking of sandwiches. I've been craving grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lately. Or fried bologna. Go figure. And I have to wait until my sugar is way down below normal before I can have one ... talk about a great way to raise those gluclose levels ... JELLY!! LOL!! In fact, that's how it started ... we were at the Alien Bowl-a-thon and my sugar was too low. They had grilled PB&J sandwiches. Yup, that'll work so I ordered one. And yummy, too!! Been craving another one ever since. Hey, I never claimed to be normal.

6) DIL decided that since there's a dozen or more adults and only three children she'll have Grandson's party this Saturday at their house instead of at Chuck E. Cheese. Yippee!! I still haven't figured out what I'm going to get him. I wanted to get Grandson his own digital camera. He *steals* mine all the time, he takes pretty good pictures, too. However, I can't afford something like that just now. Grrrrrrr. Alien and I will go out Friday to see what we can find. Something truck related, I suppose ... he loves cars and trucks.

7) OMG!! Single Son's been shopping again! He believes in quantity, that's for sure. He did pass on the 10/$10 waffles this time. Now it's peirogi, microwave popcorn and Raisin Bran that's taken over my cupboards and freezer. And he's threatening to go back to get more waffles, too!! We only just finished the last ten boxes of waffles ... took us two months! LOL!

8) Finally got an email from Tiger. He'd love to go with me to my class reunion. Cool. Blog to follow after the late July reunion. LOL.

Yup, number nine ... and I'm struggling for thoughts here. LOL.

9) Oh ... I clicked on some banner ad on Multiply the other day for "RottenNeighbor.com". Out of curiosity I put in my zip code and OMG!! One of the people that we suspect as the one who may have shot at my cat last summer is actually one of the rotten neighbors!! I've had other problems with these fools, too. Seems I'm not the only one who has had problems with them!

10) It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, lol ... 65 and SUNNY!! Windows open wide, birds chirping ... ah ... Spring is finally here!!

Happy Un-Anniversary ...

Wow, 29 years ago today my first ex and I were saying our vows. Ten years later we were undoing them.

He taught me a lot in those ten years.

I learned to rely on no one but myself for any of my needs and for my children's needs. Yet, at the same time, I learned that I could rely on my family and certain friends to offer me support, and guidance.

I learned pain. Physical and mental abuse leaves pain, a lot of pain. The physical heals long before the mental injuries do.

I learned to read between the lines. What was the motivation for him suddenly being generous? A guilty conscience. Surely not to show his appreciation of me. For that he usually used his fists.

I learned that money doesn't buy happiness. I learned that I'll gladly give up wealth for certain poverty so that myself and my children can life safely and without fear of him coming home. Being broke all the time, living on the other side of the tracks and driving an old car do not mean that we can't live in a clean, healthy and loving environment. I learned to sacrifice for the kid's sake.

I learned to laugh. It's a hard road, but along the way there's been plenty of things to laugh about. And if there isn't ... create them!

I learned I am a strong person. I can overcome insurmountable odds. I'm not talking poverty. I'm talking overcoming abuse. Mental abuse. Being told you're dirt for so long, you start to believe it. Being called an idiot, ugly, fat ... and those were the nice names he called me! Yes, I am an idiot in that I stuck it out so long! I don't recommend anyone in an abusive situation to say that "yes, I'm an idiot for taking your shit" to him. It was the worst beating I ever got, but yeah, I did say it to his face. Ugly? I used to be pretty before you came along. I'll find it again in me after I've dumped your pathetic a$$. Fat? So freaking what? If it keeps the likes of you off of me all I have to say is ... where's the twinkies? I'm gonna pig out!

I learned to think for myself. This also includes learning to speak for myself. No one believes me when I say I used to be a shy girl. Very shy. I learned to open my mouth, to voice my opinion, and to be very outgoing.

I learned to let go. To let go of the fear, the pain, the anger, the hatred that had built up. I am not his judge, nor am I his jury. He will have his day of judgement, if not on earth, then after. I will, too. Will I be denied my place in Heaven because I could not let go and LET GOD ... Let God be his judge, his jury. I had to let go, to become the best person I could be.

I learned so much more, too. In spite of him. I think the most humbling of lessons was to realize you can still love your enemy. After all he'd done to me, I still loved him for the good he did bring into my life, and there were those good times, too. And who could hate him for those two beautiful, wonderful, loving sons he gave me. I also learned that I can still love and yet I could walk away from a dangerous situation. And in the process ... the biggest lesson of all was ...

LOVE YOURSELF FOR WHO YOU ARE!

No matter what others say to you, don't listen to the negativity ... it's NOT true!

Thanks, Exie Poo #1 for all you taught me. Happy Un-Anniversary. 

Mother's Day and *Alien* Bowling - part two

So, there's nothing going on here today. Can you tell? I've been photoshopping for the last few hours. LOL. Thanks to Helen and an idea she planted in my little brain. Hehehe ...

Mother's Day and I haven't recieved so much as a phone call. I'm not upset, really. Single Son went to work after the bowl-a-thon and worked until this morning, so he's been sleeping all day. He works midnights tonight and besides we spent yesterday together at the Alien Bowl-a-thon and dinner that he bought afterwards. Alien is at her father's house. My choice. She'd rather work on her car this weekend. It's been raining all day. I wonder if she got any work done on the car. LOL. Don't know what Married Son, DIL and Grandson are up to. I did get a short "Happy Mom's Day" email from DIL yesterday, though.

I did call my Mom today. Wished her a Happy Mother's Day. We talked for a few minutes. I apologized for being broke and not getting her something. She laughed, saying the typical "I don't want or need anything. And anyway, Grandson's birthday party is this weekend, spend your money on him." Riiiight. But then, that's what I say to my kids, too, that I don't want or need anything.  Nothing going on at Mom's house. No dinner plans, just a quiet night of taking over the remote control from Dad. Yup, that's his Mother's Day gift to Mom. She picks the tv shows for the evening.

And I'm actually enjoying the quiet around here. No one to interupt me. No one whining that it's raining out and there's nothing to do. No one bugging me to turn over my computer to them. I can photoshop all I want, or play the pirate computer game I've become somewhat addicted to these last few weeks.

Hoping all my Mom friends are spending this Mother's Day doing exactly what they want!!

Gross Grub - Raggedy Robins

Description:
Source unknown.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1 stick margarine
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 c. sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. oatmeal

Directions:
Combine first four ingredients. Cook on medium heat until boiling. Rolling boil for 1 - 1 & 1/2 min. Remove from heat and mix vanilla and peanut butter. Mix well. Pour over oatmeal in a large bowl. Mix quickly in a large bowl. Spoon out onto wax paper. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Gross Grub - Ladies Fingers

Description:
Makes 48 Pretzels
The amount of flour you need will vary, depending on humidity.

Ingredients:
24 blanched almonds, halved lengthwise
Red food coloring, optional
1 tbsp sugar
1 scant tbsp active dry yeast (one 1/4 oz pkg)
5 1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour*
*plus more for work surface
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp baking soda
1 large egg
Sea salt
Dried rosemary (optional)
Vegetable-oil cooking spray

Directions:
1. Place a small amount of food coloring in a shallow bowl, and, using a paint- brush, color the rounded side
of each split almond; set aside to dry.
2. Pour 2 cups warm water (110 degrees) into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough-hook attachment. Add sugar; stir to dissolve. Sprinkle with yeast, and let stand until yeast begins to bubble, about 5 minutes.
3. Beat 1 cup flour into yeast on low speed until combined. Beat in salt; add 3 1/2 cups flour until combined. Beat until dough pulls away from bowl, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low; add 1/2 cup flour. Knead 1 minute more. If dough is sticky, add up to 1 cup more flour. Transfer to a lightly floured Surface; knead until smooth, 1 minute.
4. Coat a large bowl with cooking spray. Transfer dough to bowl, turning dough to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap; let rest in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
5. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat 3 quarts water to a boil in a 6-quart straight- sided saucepan over high heat;
reduce to a simmer. Add baking soda. Lightly coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. Divide dough into quarters. Work with one quarter at a time, and cover remaining dough with plastic wrap. Divide the first quarter into twelve pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece back and forth with your palm into a long finger shape, about 3 to 4 inches. Pinch dough in two places to form knuckles. When all 12 fingers are formed, transfer to simmering water. Poach for 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer fingers to a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, blanching each set of 12 fingers before making more.
6. Beat egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush pretzel fingers with egg wash. Using a sharp knife, lightly score each knuckle about three times. Sprinkle with salt and rosemary, if using. Position almond nails; push into dough to attach. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on wire rack. Fingers are best eaten same day; or store, covered, up to 2 days at room temperature.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Alien Bowl-a-thon

As most of you know I'm a member of an international Star Trek Fan Association called Star Fleet. Chapters are called ships and are fashioned after the star ships on any of the Star Trek series. The *ship* I'm on is the USS Sinclair. We are a Defiant Class ship.

Today was one of our Regional functions. An Alien Bowl-a-thon. This was my first "official" function as the USS Sinclair's Historian (photographer). Today's fun was hosted by two of the ships in our region. Our charity for this event was the V.A.D. (Volunteers Assisting the Disabled).

It wasn't a large turn out this year. We can blame the cost of gas for that as most members would have had to travel 50 or more miles.

Anyway ... we had a blast!! Bowlers showed up in full costume or with their ship t-shirts. Parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren were there to bowl.

Of the three or four ships that had representatives present over $800 was raised for the V.A.D. Not bad for a few hours of fun I'd say!!

Several members, myself and Single Son included, went out after the event to an early dinner at a place called Roger's Roost. They make an awesome Buffalo Burger! Yum!!

Klingon Warrior



Lady Klingon



Star Fleet Admiral Smith

Friday Five

This week's Friday Five theme is: College Days. Good theme for me as this is my third time back in college. Twice dropped out, back one last time to finally get that degree!!

1) Back in the late 70s when I first started college I went to the local community college. At that time my father worked as a civil engineer. Anyway ... the college's parking lot was (is) a nightmare. My class ended at 9 PM but I wasn't home until well after 10 thanks to losing my car in that nightmare of a parking lot. When I got home Dad asked how I liked my first day of college. I swore up and down (literally) at the "moron who designed that blankety-blank parking lot." Dad offers me his hand to shake, "I'm that blankety-blank moron. Pleased to meet you". He's never let me forget it, either!! I just started back at that very same college - different campus. His first words when he heard I was back at OCC were "don't worry, I didn't design that parking lot". Oy!!

2) Also during my first college days ... I was one of the first students in my computer programming class (BASIC language - ah, the good ol' days!!) to actually own a *home computer*. Well, my then boyfriend (later husband) owned it, but I had access to it. LOL. Part of my final exam was to have Exie-poo bring in the computer and do a "Live Demonstration* of a rather simple program I had written. Only problem is, he never showed up! He claims he forgot about needing to bring the computer in. I ended up getting an Incomplete in that class. Grrrrrrrr.

3) One of the classes I took in the 70s was Michigan History. Although I'd lived in Michigan all my life, it wasn't until this class I really studied local history. I was hooked! I really took an interest in local lore that's lasted all these years.

I dropped out of college shortly after that ... until the late 80s when I thought I'd get back to earning that degree. This second time was uneventful. Nothing stands out. My third attempt at getting my degree started two years ago. Originally I wanted to persue a degree in Architecture, but with the housing starts and forecasts the way they are, I decided to change degrees back to my original computer degree from the 70s. Web Design is where I'm headed now. Anyway ...

4) Now that I'm older and at this time sporting an umbilical hernia I used a wheeled backpack to lug my books around. Stashing it under the stairs as usual I headed out to the smoking area between my two classes that day. Next thing I know, there's campus security dashing by - definitely in a hurry. Ten or so minutes later one of them comes up to the smoking area to ask about a bookbag left under the stairs. Said someone alerted them as to a suspicious package left abandoned. Yup, it was my bookbag on wheels.

5) Photoshop class. The teacher was awesome!! We spent a lot of time after class just talking. It was she who hinted I switch my degree from web design over to something to do with digital media. Much better suited for me really. I'm so not a programmer! I've yet to be able to talk to my advisor about switching over. Stay tuned. LOL.

There's been other things that stand out ... instructors that have influenced me, friendships made and lost ... even a love interest gone bad. But these are the five that stand out the most.

Blog Comment Turned Entry ...

Had a few comments I was gonna make to my last blog entry. Decided to make it an entry in itself 'cause it may be a long one, LOL!

I did get some sun yesterday. Didn't help with the blahs a bit. I'm wondering if the blahs aren't because I'm pretty much home-bound now with gas prices being so outrageous. Seems I only get out to go grocery shopping or run to some doctor's appointment or the other.

I'm so ready to be working!! Married Son is busting his butt to get the Pilot company up and running. As soon as that happens, I'm outta here!! On the road!! Yeah, gas prices and all. Of course, finally having an income will help defray the costs.

I think that's part of the reason I'm volunteering more for the Star Trek club - get my arse out more and shake the blahs. Hang out with people I know, meet new people and have some fun. So we're a bunch of SciFi geeks. No Helen, I don't own a specific costume. I haven't yet picked which species I'll be. Can't have a costume if I don't know if I want to be Ferengi, Bajoran, Human, Cardassian, Klingon, or one of about a hundred other species from Star Trek. I do have a "Star Fleet" polo shirt that I'll wear for the occasion. So at least I'll be able to be identified as part of the group. LOL!

Pengy, thanks for the link to Las Vegas. Not only are there Star Trek events, but a Titanic event, too!!! I'd love to go. Funny, I'm so not into gambling. Never had the desire to visit Vegas ever, but these events, now I wanna go!

The odor from the adhesive on the windshield has long vanished. It was fun leaving the windows open for two days without a garage in this neighborhood. NOT! Luckily no one helped themselves to my radios. And the predicted rain pretty much held off until the two days was up, lol. I guess I'll adjust in time, LOL.

Haha, an ingrown toenail, eh, Pengy? I've been seeing a podiatrist for months now for that very reason. If I get a computer generated form I'll know who to blame!!

I still haven't heard from Tiger if he wants to go to the reunion with me. Nothing unusual. It could take a week or more for him to respond to email, LOL. I'm glad they're doing a park reunion. Six dollars park entry fee and five bucks per person food fee. I can live with that!! Our last reunion was in a restaurant that a classmate owns. $70 a plate. Needless to say I passed up on that reunion.

OMFG!! Teenagers! Can't live with 'em and the last time I looked it was still illegal to kill 'em! Battle of wits big time around here in the last few days! So much for doctor's orders of no stress! It started again today as soon as she walked in the door from school! I'm in tears right now because of her damned attitude. So much so that I just called her father (Bubba) and told him that *we* need to have a family meeting about her attitude. Can someone with adult daughters please tell me this too shall pass? Please???

On that I'm outta here. Alien took off. Gonna go hunt her down.

Ten Thoughts Tuesday

1) OMG!! My 30 year High School Reunion is being planned!! Thirty years?? Where'd the time go? I'll probably go. I haven't been to a reunion since our 5 year reunion. It's a picnic reunion, so it won't break the budget where a fancy reunion would. I'm seriously thinking of asking my friend Tiger if he wants to go with me. He graduated the year after I did, but most of his friends were from my graduating year.

2) Last Thursday night we had our monthly Star Trek Club meeting. I got a promotion to "Chief Warrant Officer 3" and volunteered to be our ship's "historian" (photographer). My first assignment, LOL, is to document our upcoming bowl-athon this weekend. The bowl-athon will be my first multi-chapter *full costume* function. Should be fun!! (Yes, I'm a geek like that)

3) I'm still having trouble adjusting to the new windshield. I don't know if they put some protective glazing on it for all the handling they have to go through before installation, or if it's just because the glass is so new. All I know is it's giving me headaches while I drive.

4)  "Hey Mom. AMC has tickets for $6 right now. That's $2.50 off their regular prices. Oh, and Seniors get another dollar off."
"And I need to know about senior savings why?"
"You're getting up there, Mom".
Can we say O.U.C.H.???
(AMC, for my non-American friends is a national chain of movie theatres)

5) Finally heard from the doctor on my question about heart disease. He's uncertain as to why the insurance company would have sent me a packet on heart disease. He thinks it may have been generated by computer when my prescriptions for high blood pressure medications were processed. Although he wants me to sign up for the program the packet offers anyways. Says that as it stands now I *am* a candidate for heart disease in the future. And since they're offering why not take 'em up on their offer?

6) I've been in another blah mood lately. To the point I have to force myself to do anything. Even blogging has been a challenge. I'm keeping up with ya'll through emails I receive from Multiply, but just haven't the brain power to think of many comments. Not sure why I'm feeling this way. I have a doctor's appointment next week. If the blahs are still around I'll definitely be talking to him about it. But know I'm not ignoring ya'll ... I'm sure 'll get over this blah hump and be back to normal soon enough.

7) Grandson turns three this week! I can't believe how fast he's growing. DIL won't have his birthday party until the 17th, though. She's trying to arrange the party around everyone else's schedules. She needs to learn to start planning something early enough, set a date, send out written invitations and let her guests plan *their* schedules around her event!

8) Grandson's party will be at Chuck E. Cheese. ::groan:: You know you're getting older when you dread going to a place like that because you know the noise level will be unbearable! I'm already wondering how long I'll last there before the noise chases me out.

9) Grrrrrr ... just got another annoying call on my cell ... wrong number. I don't know who had this phone number before me, but she has some very rude friends. Maybe that's why she changed phone numbers, LOL. I wouldn't even have answered it but that certain number kept coming up on my missed call log. Thought maybe it was a friend of mine, lol. I use my name on my voice mail so you'd think if it wasn't a call for me, hearing *my* name in the VM message would be their clue they'd dialed a wrong number? Oy!!

10) Gawd, I really need to find some energy! I can think of a hundred things I need to do this week. It's just mustering up the energy to get more than a few items checked off my to-do list. I hate the blahs!!

Gross Grub - Spaghetti and Eyeballs

Description:
Source unknown. If anyone knows where this recipe originated from please let me know. I'd love to give credit where credit is due.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
7 ounces olives -- pimento-stuffed
14 ounces spaghetti sauce
3 quarts water
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces spaghetti
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the ground beef, bread crumbs, ketchup, egg, pepper and oregano in a large bowl. Then form the meat mixture into about 18 to 24 eyeball-sized balls. Press an olive into each ball, pimento side out. Place the eyeballs in a baking dish, cover them with spaghetti sauce and bake for 45 minutes. About 15 minutes before the eyeballs are done, fill a large pot with 3 quarts of water. Add salt. Set on medium heat and follow package directions to cook the spaghetti. Drain and transfer it to a serving bowl and toss with the butter or margarine. When your eyeballs are done, remove them from the oven and spoon onto the spaghetti, irises up. Spoon sauce from the pan around them.

Gross Grub - Snouts and Beans

Description:
Gross Grub by Cheryl Porter Random House ISBN 0-679-86693-0


Ingredients:
2 cn (16oz) plain baked beans
1 ts Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c Brown sugar
2 tb Bbq sauce
1 tb Teriyaki sauce
8 Beef knockwursts

Directions:
With an adult's help, empty the cans of beans into a saucepan and add worcestershire, brown sugar, bbq sauce and teriyaki sauce to the beans. Stir and set aside.

With an adult's help, slice off the ends of the knockwurst. You do not need the ends for this recipe. Then slice the knockwurst into equal segments about 1″ long, making each cut at the same slight angle. With the round tip of a carrot peeler, carefully hollow out nostril holes into one end of each knockwurst slice.

Place the snouts in a saucepan and cover them with water. With an adult's help, cook the snouts for about 5-10 minutes. Cook the beans on low heat, stirring often, until the saucebubbles and thickens slightly.

Carefully remove the snouts and place on paper towels to drain. Pour the beans into a serving dish and arrange snouts, nostril sides up, on top. Serves 4-6 little porkers.

Sicko serving suggestion: Dab pickle relish pig boogers in your knockwurst nostrils.

Friday Five ...

This week's Friday five theme is : " Five Moments in High School".

It's funny that should be the theme, I was just contacted not two days ago about our 30 Year Class Reunion. Yes, thirty years!! I feel OLD!

1) Seeing "Welcome To The Grand Illusion" spray painted in black on the white stucco building. It was the first vandalism done to the almost new high school.

2) Senior Skip Day. Oy. Back when the drinking age was 18. Yup, I got plastered. Didn't want to get pulled over for drunk driving so I asked a guy I knew to drive back to the school while I sobered up. Little did I know not only did he NOT have a license (and I never thought to ask!) but he was well known by the cops! We got pulled over. I got a ticket for allowing an unlicensed driver to drive. Had to tell my folks about the ticket. Boy were they ticked off. Dad made me to go court, thinking that'd scare me. It did!!

3) "American Problems" class. Senior year. Monday through Thursdays we'd read the daily newspapers. Maybe even discuss something we'd read, but usually not. On Fridays we studied the problem of the American donut - I would bring in donuts for the class (paid for by the teacher). The teacher was the same one as in number 4.

4) In my senior year I was teachers aid to one of the social studies teachers. He was 6'8" tall. I taught the freshman civics class more often than he did!! He skipped class a lot, too. I remember getting into an argument with him in front of the class one time. Because he was so tall I climbed on a chair so I could look him in the eye and gave him a piece of my mind.

5) Senior Year. Skipping fourth hour (lunch hour) on Mondays and Fridays and heading up to McDonald's for lunch. I was also the teacher's aid for the "Child Development" teacher and was able to cut class on those days. LOL.

Okay, so I wasn't the best student back then. Really didn't give a damn about my grades, but only about cutting class whenever I could. Yup, it was the 70s ...

Thursday ...

Don't worry Helen, I doubt I'll be doing the bazillion posts like I did the other day. At least I don't think I will, LOL!

Grades were finally posted to the college website. Man, I'm disappointed in myself. Yeah, got an "A" and a "B" but that "C" in that one class (Intro To Databases) really screwed up my semester GPA. Lowered my overall GPA to 3.24 ... I'm bummed. That means I have to work twice as hard next semester to bring it back up a bit. Grrrrrrr ...

Got up in the middle of the night - well early morning - to take the usual potty break. LOL ... Single Son was just coming in from work and was rather hyper. Half asleep I got to hear all the office politics and gossip. I'm actually gonna miss that when he moves out later this (or next) month ... those late night encounters. I'm glad I did "bump" into him at that hour. He reminded me we have a Star Trek meeting tonight up at the Chinese Restaurant. Yummy, Chinese!! Otherwise I'd have forgotten all about the meeting.

Married Son and DIL have been really active in our local Freecycle and Michigan Cheapcycle lately. When he's not at his regular job he's off with one of his two trailers getting stuff he sees on Freecycle. He turns around and salvages what he picks up. And of course, the two FULL trailers are sitting on my driveway waiting for him to sort through them on his day off.

While they were at the house yesterday a neighbor girl came to the door. School fundraiser time. Instead of fattening chocolates or artery clogging sausages they're selling Eco-bags now. Yeah!! Being I'm broke I didn't buy any. But I'm glad that they're finally are getting smart with what they're peddling! And yes, I've used eco-bags for a few years now. I love 'em.

See Helen, that wasn't too bad!! It wasn't too long, was it?

And now I'm outta here. Went to grab a ciggie and discovered I'm out!! Need to run to the store. Hugs!!