Halloween

I was never big on Halloween. Even as a kid I didn't really care for dressing up and asking strange people for candy. But I sucked it up and did it. And I let my kids do it. My sister in law lives about 45 minutes from us and she brings her kids over here every year since their little hole in the wall town doesn't have much of a Halloween thing going on. It's great over here because the houses are close together and you can get a shitload of candy in the two hour time span allowed to trick or treat. In just our neighborhood alone they filled up their buckets and that's only walking about a 5 or 6 block area. There are a couple of houses in our neighborhood that completely get into the spirit and do the haunted house thing and scares the piss out of the kids. They love it though.

This little man is my buddy. He was born on my birthday so we have a special bond. He really got into the whole "the lights on so we get candy" thing. Oh yeah he loves to climb on rocks too.

I've been sick for 3 days with a bad cold. Being outside last night didn't help me so I'm taking a sick day today. I felt so bad last night that I didn't even make it through Survivor. Now that's bad. There's no sense in going to Urgent Care because all they will tell me is that I've got a cold and give my a script or two. I'll survive with liquid tylenol.

Poor Daisy got stung by a bee yesterday. J had taken her out with him while he was feeding the squirrels and came in and was flipping out. Luckily, the bee got her on the lip and I was able to get the stinger out. Dumb dog goes all summer long without a bee sting and here it is almost November and she finally gets it. J was worried about her being allergic so to appease him I called the vet and of course they tell me to give her benedryl and keep an eye on her. Off to Walgreen's I go. She's fine, only a little bit of swelling. And she loved the benedryl.

Yesterday's list

I need clear something up about yesterday's list. After I posted I went back and reread it and something stuck out at me and I need to fix it. Number 15 said that my ex husband is a registered sex offender which is true. I just need to say for my own peace of mind that he wasn't one when I was married to him. We had been divorced for a long time when he decided he needed to be a bigger asshole and did some stuff that was quite illegal. I divorced him because he cheated and he was an alcoholic. The stuff he did after we divorced was the stuff that sent him to prison. I was glad to be rid of that germ. Unfortunately my kids bore the brunt of that mistake. So in a way this is my disclaimer. I'm not a bad person. Just stupid sometimes.

100 Things

i cruise blogs and recently ran across one that had a list of 100 things about the blog writer that others didn't know. I decided to do one for me because I don't talk a lot about myself and someone might be curious to find out some things about me they didn't know. I'm sorry but I can't remember what blog it was from. If I ever run across it again, I'll be sure to mention them. I never thought I had much of an interesting life so hopefully I can find conjure up 100 things about me.
1. My middle name is Elaine
2. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving
3. I can't swim
4. My favorite book is Gone With The Wind
5. My eyes are green
6. I'm only 5 foot tall
7. I have one dog and one cat
8. I married a man who is 7 years younger than me
9. My birthday is January 12
10. I don't like any kind of beans
11. And I don't eat blue food
12. I am 1 year 6 days younger than my sister and 1 year 2 months older than my brother
13. My favorite season is autumn
14. I failed algebra twice in high school
15. My ex husband is a convicted sex offender (I am so not proud of this)
16. I believe in afterlife
17. I don't like scary movies
18. I moved 11 times in 3 years when I was married to my ex husband
19. I'm afraid of spiders.
20. I have an associates degree of business
21. I secretly want to be an interior designer
22. I used to drink....a lot
23. I love playing board games
24. My feet are always cold
25. My husband and I were married in Gatlinburg Tennessee
26. I love the ocean.
27. Dolphins creep me out
28. I used to eat dirt
29. I don't like anyone to touch my feet
30 I mix mashed potatoes and corn together
31. I'm a reality TV junkie
32. I watch the 5:00 news every day
33. I didn't drive until I was 21
34. I have been in 3 car accidents
35. I don' t like liver
36. I like to go to open houses
37. Pink is my favorite color
38. Both of my kids were born by c-section
39. I broke my toe one night when I was half asleep and ran into the wall
40. I went to Las Vegas and didn't gamble
41. I DVR Beverly Hills 90210 every day
42. I don't watch soap operas
43. My all time favorite show is Friends
44. I like to read real life murder mysteries
45. I never sleep past 7:00 on my days off
46. I don't like talking on the telephone
47. I am addicted to hidden object games on the Internet
48. I met my husband on the Internet
49. And fell in love the moment I met him
50. I am having a hard time getting old
51. My parent divorced and remarried each other
52. I don't like getting dressed up
53. I have a mild obsession with eye makeup
54. I secretly wish I would win the lottery
55. I have never had a brand new car
56. I don't like snow
57. Hobby Lobby is my favorite store
58. I'm always on the lookout for a new purse
59. My favorite subject in high school was history
60. My least favorite was gym
61. I still talk to my boyfriend from high school
62. I'm saving my money for a new dishwasher
63. I used to skip a lot in high school
64. My first job was at McDonald's when I was 16
65. I used to work 3rd shift in a gas station.....all by myself
66. I'm a registered Democrat
67. If I am in the car by myself I crank the radio and sing along....loudly
68. I love road trips
69. My favorite flowers are Daisies
70. I'm not a jealous person
71. Ballet flats are my friend
72. I don't like having my picture taken
73. I am part Czech, part Scottish
74. I have to go to bed early
75. I want to go to Paris someday
76. I have eaten escargots....and I like them
78. I don't like the color green
79. I recycle
80 I taught my dog to speak and give hugs
81. I stop in the middle of the road to let squirrels cross
82.My favorite candy is Snickers
83. I am currently reading an autobiography about Warren Beatty
84. I used to work for Longaberger Basket Company
85. I don't like to wear socks
86. My all time favorite song is Lyin Eyes by the Eagles
87. My second all time favorite is Paradise City by Guns and Roses
88. I fix a mean steak
89. I don't like Rachael Ray
90. I would like to put hardwood floors throughout my house
91. I'm going to paint my kitchen turquoise blue
92. I don't like sports...except maybe hockey
93. I would still like to own a pony someday
94. I don't like to leave dirty dishes in the sink
95. I got into a fistfight with my sister once
96. I like to wrap up in a blanket and veg in front of the TV all day sometimes
97. I like to cook but don't like to bake (does that make sense?)
98. I have a big collection of DVD's (around 400)
99. I want to go skydiving before I die
100. I had a hard time coming up with this list

It's harder than you think it is. I dare you to try it!

Who loves meatloaf?

I do. But I never used to. My mom isn't the world's greatest cook and meatloaf is one of the things she can't cook. Dry, tasteless and just plain yuck! So every time she made meatloaf I had peanut butter. So when I got married I experimented and finally figured out the best ever meatloaf recipe. I gave this recipe to my great uncle Jerry who was a widower and one day asked me how to make this meatloaf because he had heard my dad rave about it. I gave it to him and the next time I saw him he thanked me over and over and said it was the best meatloaf he ever had and that it was even better than his wife ever made. Unfortunately Jerry passed away unexpectedly in April. So I'm glad I was able to pass this onto him and make him happy. So this one is dedicated to you Jerry.

Keep in mind that I don't measure so these are approximations.

Michelle's Meatloaf
1 pound lean ground beef (the leanest you can possible get or afford)

1 pound ground turkey

1/2 finely chopped onion

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup bbq sauce

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup crumbled bacon

1 tablespoon minced garlic

salt

pepper

Throw everything together in large bowl

Mix thoroughly and top with extra ketchup if desired (I throw some bacon on there too).

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 1 hour. I drain the grease from mine. I didn't get any after baking picture because as usual everyone was digging in and I didn't have time. This recipe makes a lot so if you have a small family you can split this up and make two loafs out of it and freeze one for later.

Back to work

My vacation is over and it's back to the salt mines. No more time off for me until after the first of the year. Ugh! Hopefully I'll start early morning shift next week. I am supposed to have tomorrow off but my boss told me if I wanted to come in and work an extra day this week I could . I'm undecided about that one. I'll wait until I get up and see how I feel. Going back today is was kind of a good thing. My body is aching but I was getting bored sitting on my ass and doing nothing.
I talked to my mom over the weekend about Christmas. She had called me last week and suggested that we just get together and not buy any presents for the kids this year. They are all getting older and the way the economy is it's getting too expensive to buy for everyone. I had told her I would talk it over with J and get back to her. J agreed and passed the suggestion onto his side of the family also. It didn't surprise me at all when everyone agreed. Buying for 8 extra kids gets expensive. Add adults in there and you are talking something close to the national debt! So I called my mom back and told her that we had no problem with it. We'll just buy for my parents and grandparents and J's mom. I have this feeling that this might be my last Christmas with my grandparents or at least one of them. Call it intuition. Or sad realization. So we'll all gather together and be happy we are all here this year. And hope the same for next year. And not to toot my own horn, but I just might get my dishwasher a little sooner than expected.
We got a little sad news over the weekend. When J lived at home he had a Jack Russell named Lucy. When he moved out, he gave her to his mom. When his mom got sick and was unable to care for her, J's sister took her. This weekend she had to put her to sleep because she was old and her quality of life was gone. She was blind and was full of tumors. J can't remember exactly how old she was but he said she was at least 15. She had a good life and we'll miss her. Goodbye Lucy.
R has been stopping by more frequently. He said he's been working two jobs and got his driver's license. I say it's about time.
Stay tuned tomorrow. I'm making my yummy meatloaf!

Almost Over

Well I only have two days left on my vacation and I haven't really done anything. And it feels pretty darn good. I stopped in at work on Wednesday to give the girls the little presents I picked up in Michigan and to check next weeks schedule and they said that I looked well rested and that they missed me. Awww.

One thing I did do this week is make pumpkin butter. I got the recipe from Ree over at thepioneerwoman.com. God I love her blog. It's so darn easy and so freakin' yummy!

All you do is cut up a pie pumpkin (these are the smaller ones, they should be labeled, if you don't see them just ask). Cut pumpkin into quarters or eighths, depending on how big it is. Just a little hint-it's way easier to cut up the pumpkin using a pumpkin carver knife that you get in carving kits. Gut the pumpkin and save the seeds. Place pieces of pumpkin on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for one hour. Let cool slightly. Separate pumpkin from skin and place in bowl. You can either use a blender or food processor to puree. I just used my potato masher and elbow grease. It should look like this.......

Let cool completely. When cool mix 1 cup puree, 1 cup plain non-fat yogurt, 1 heaping cup of confectioner sugar and 1 or 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice. Mix together and refrigerate. One small pumpkin made 2 batches. It can be frozen. I'm guessing I'm going to be using the other batch making something for Thanksgiving.

Onto the seeds.....

Let seeds dry on large cookie sheet at least 24 hours. Don't be an idiot like me and dry them on paper towels. I didn't read directions completely and it was not fun trying to get those seeds picked off the towel.

Spread seeds on large cookie sheets and drizzle generously with olive oil and salt. Bake at 250 for one hour.
Onto other things I've done this week. I found these cool wall words at Kohl's. One wall in my kitchen is totally bare and I could never find anything I like to put up there. I saw these and had to do it.....Please excuse the mess on top of my microwave.

I received my shipment of lilies from Brecks this week and I need to get them in the ground this weekend. I can't wait to see how they bloom. They are supposed to look like this and 6 foot tall in 3 years....

I got some regular lilies too. It's supposed to frost this weekend so I really need to get those in the ground.

Finally, here's the latest Asia and Daisy pictures....

Her expression is priceless!

This one needs a serious bath.

Oh I almost forgot....Yesterday we decided to head down to Jungle Jim's. If you've never been there it's a huge (and I mean HUGE) market with everything international food wise you can imagine. We'll most definitely go back someday. If I ever learn to read Chinese, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish, Indian.....you get the picture!

More Pictures

I thought this was cute. It says "litter" in 16 languages.

This was so much fun. J has never been on a riverboat so we decided to do this. Usually when you do that touristy type of stuff you get a tour guide that blah, blah, blahs. Not true with this one. The captain and his two sons who own the boat were very funny and had us laughing the entire time. Money well spent!

They sold popcorn on the boat and you could feed the ducks. These ducks had it down to a science. As soon as the boat started down the river they were right behind it. They knew where their next meal was! So cool!

The view from the front of the boat. I think we were about a week too late for true fall foliage but it was still beautiful.

The river was lined with all these beautiful willow trees. You don't see much of them anymore. I can't imagine how old they are.

I won't bore you with a whole lot of riverboat pictures. J tends to take a lot of pictures of the same things. Ummmm honey, why do we need 10 pictures of the same hotel? After we were done river boating, we decided we needed to eat. After our disastrous breakfast (see previous post) we wanted something pretty substantial. I had read about this place on the Internet and it had good reviews so decided to give it a try. No that's not me, although it kinda looks like me doesn't it? Anyway, this place was oh so YUM! Oven baked fried chicken, mashed taters, stuffing, bread, apple butter. J and I both loved the cranberry sauce. I think I'll try some for Thanksgiving this year. There was a gift shop and bakery in the basement and if I wasn't 5 hours away from home I would have been taking home some serious food. Maybe that's a good thing. My diet went to hell that day for sure! After eating we hit all the gift shops. I have to have a t-shirt from every place we visit. Amazingly, we didn't find a whole lot of shops with touristy/gimmicky crap. It was all local tasteful stuff. Some out of my price range but still nothing like you see in your typical tourist town. By the time we got done with all the shops it was getting late and we still had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. So we headed home. This beautiful sunset followed us home. Pretty good picture considering we were going 75 mph down interstate 75. We'll definitely go back someday.

We're Back

We're home and we had a wonderful time "up north" as we Ohioans like to say. The weather started out crappy. We ran into rain around Toledo and it didn't stop until we reached Frankenmuth. Breakfast wasn't much better. Why is it that either J or I end up not paying for a meal because of hair in our food? I guess you can't expect too much out of a national chain restaurant. The waitress was very rude to me when I ordered. I didn't want something heavy so I ordered 1 scrambled egg, 1 order of sausage, 1 order of hash browns and 1 order of toast. She kept trying to get me to order the big big breakfast with double everything and pancakes on top of it. Ummmmm, the last time I checked I was the customer and I know what I want. I don't care if it was cheaper. I didn't want to waste all that food. She knew I was getting irritated with her and after having to raise my voice a little she wisely shut up. J ended up with the hair in the eggs this time. On top of all this we were sitting right next to the waitress station and heard every single waitress bitching about another waitress they apparently didn't like. Needless to say we didn't linger over coffee.

We hit Bronners Christmas House early. We didn't know how long it would take since it's over 7 acres of shopping delight. It took us two and a half hours and that was at a brisk pace. Since we can't buy anything breakable because of Asia Kitty, we skipped over a lot.

Where else can you hug a giant Santa?

I'll post more pictures later.

Homecoming pictures

B's homecoming was last nite. She looked beautiful. I went to bed before she came home so I don't know how it went.

Gettting this girl to smile is next to pretty difficult.

Her hair turn out so cute. Everyone at the salon was so envious of the curls. I did her makeup because she doesn't know how to do sparkly. The only thing she knows is black, black, black!

Yesterday was our 5th wedding anniversary. We didn't do much since I spent the day running B around. We did go out for dinner Friday night at bd's Mongonlian Grill. That place is kick ass! I would go there every week if I could afford it. Afterwards we walked around The Greene for a while. Sephora just opened there and too bad I'm poor! lol Von Maur also opened up about a month ago so we strolled through. Very quickly. Ummmmm $88 for a t-shirt and $295 for a sweater? We kept on walking. There were a couple of cute handbags stores that were reasonable and there was one pink purse in particular that I would love to have. I'm giving J hints on Christmas. Also, that ring in Swaroski Crystal? That would be a nice birthday present, hint hint!

I did find Daisy a toy that she didn't destroy in 2 minutes. PlanetDog makes these awesome dog toys that are pretty much indestructable. A little pricey, but so worth it. She loves the ball and all the proceeds from this particular toy are going to the Greene County Humane Society. Gotta love that. I'm not sure what's on the agenda for today. We are talking about going to the Sauerkraut Festival down in Waynesville. But since we are heading to Michigan on Tuesday we might just stay home and get caught up on things here. I have some grocery shopping to do and mucho laundry piling up. J said he wanted to start clearing out some clutter in his closet and the garage. We'll see how that one turns out! The grass needs cut at least one more time and the dead flowers in the beds need pulled.

Vacations I Have Known

When I was growing up, my family never took vacations. We went to places that were within a few hours driving time, but never took like a week and actually went someplace. I don't know whether it was because my family didn't have the money or my mom and dad didn't have the patience to take 3 kids somewhere in a car for any length of time. The most we did was spend the day at the amusement park. Finally when I was a junior in high school my parents decided that we were going to Florida. I think it's because we were all old enough to drive and could split driving time(although I never got my driver's license until I was 21. Long story). I do remember my grandparents taking all three kids to Nashville around the time I was 8 or 9 years old. By the time we were on the way home my grandfather was so frustrated with us and it's the only time in my life that I remember him yelling at us.

In 1986 I decided that I wanted to do something different and took out a small loan to go on a cruise. I went alone and had the best time. I could do what I wanted and go where I wanted without 5 different people telling they wanted to do 5 different things. The cruise ship stopped in Nassau(which I really didn't care for), Puerto Rico (which I would definitely do again), and St. Thomas( I learned to snorkel and I can't even swim!). Then I met my first husband and the vacations didn't happen. There was never any money. He liked to drink on his vacations which he took a lot. After my divorce I made up for the lost vacations. I loved to take off and just go somewhere if I had the money. When I met J he had never been on any vacations either. We have made up for that in the almost 7 years we've been together.

We went to Asheville, North Carolina on our honeymoon and toured the Biltmore home. We loved it so much that we went back last year. With my parents! lol

.


For our first anniversary we went to Niagara Falls. It's one of the most breath taking things that you could ever see. Again, we loved it so much we took the kids 2 years later








This year we are going to Frankenmuth, Michigan. With the economy so bad and we just had to put some money into the house we decided not to go too far this year. I think we are going on Tuesday, but no definite plans have been made yet.
So, here's a list of places that I have been:
Florida - 2 times
Nashville - 3 times
Myrtle Beach - I lost count
Oklahoma
Las Vegas
Detroit- a few times
Missouri- 2 times
West Virginia - numerous times, my ex husband's family lived there
Syracuse, New York
Corning, New York
The Poconos
North Carolina - 3 or 4 times
Niagara Falls (Canadian) 2 times
Ontario (for like 5 minutes, we got sent back over the border, two guys my friend and I was with was Australian and they didn't have their passports)
Places I want to go
Grand Canyon
Hawaii
Pacific Coast
Paris (this one is a long shot)
Alaska
New England in the fall
I'm sure there will be many more places that I'm going to want to go. But for now I'm content to do what we can afford.
Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. We are going out tonight since tomorrow is Homecoming for B. We are still undecided where we want to go to eat. I want something different. I have all day to figure it out though.

YIPEE!

I'm on vacation. "Nuff said!

Busy week

Originally I had planned to write here every day, but every day has been pretty busy. I've been working early morning shift so that means getting up at 4:30 every day. And going to bed early every night. I try to take a nap when I get home from work and by the time I'm up and showered it's usually one or two in the afternoon. That leaves me a few hours a day to do errands, run B around where she needs to go, cook dinner, do laundry.....well, you get the picture.

We went to a wedding Saturday night. One of the guys that J works with got married. I know him but I don't know her, so I get uncomfortable sometimes around people I don't know and have to sit with for a long period of time. But we sat with another couple he works with who he knows and I kinda sorta know, so it wasn't so bad. Plus we sat with the man who built the newlyweds new home. He was with his wife and two cute kids who, by the way were extremely well behaved. They were pretty easy to talk to so we ended up having a good time. It was a nice simple wedding, nothing fancy. Just a ceremony by the lake on a local farm. There was no dancing and none of that "I have to have the fanciest wedding and I need to go into debt" sort of wedding crap. So congrats to Mr and Mrs Cabrerra!

I've had to work every day this week, Sunday included. One more day to go and I'm on vacation for 8 days! On Monday, my brother-in-law came over and replaced the shingles on the roof for us. Since the roofer that did the estimate seems to like to take his sweet ass time returning phone calls we decided to let said brother-in-law do the job for us. They could use the money with another baby on the way. He said any home improvement stuff we need done to give him a call. That's fine with me. If the roof leaks, then we'll know where to find him! HA! Yesterday we had someone come out and look at the dryer vent. My clothes weren't getting dry and we figured that the vent just needed cleaned out. Wrong! Whoever put the dryer vent in long before we bought this house totally jacked up the vent and we ended up having to have a new one put in. So now we are another $500 poorer. I'm thinking it's better than having my house burn up because someone didn't know what they were doing. So I can't complain.

R decided he was going to finally show up. Almost three weeks and didn't hear a word from him. Then he comes home and pretty much demands that I give him the savings bonds that I went to my mom's to get a couple of weeks ago during that windstorm we had. I ripped him a new one though. Told him that he can't leave for three weeks with not a word to anyone then come home and "demand" that I give him money. I told him to come back tomorrow and we'll discuss it but he hasn't been here yet. I'll probably give him the money but I'm going to tell him that if he wants the remainder of the bonds he'll have to go to his grandmother for them. I'm tired of being the "bad guy". The kid needs to grow up and show some respect. J feels the same way I do. I

had a 4 day stress headache on top of sinus problems and I felt like total shit over the weekend. I need to let it go or I'm sure one of these days I'm going to find myself in a straight jacket at the local funny farm.

I made apple dumplings last night. I got the recipe from, where else, thepioneerwoman.com. I didn't take a picture because everyone had to eat on them right away but this is the picture from her website. Thanks PW! These are so damn yummy!

2 Granny Smith Apples (I use 3)

2 cans crescent rolls ( I use the big ones)

2 sticks butter or margarine

1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

cinnamon

1 small can Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each (if you use the big crescents then cut into 1/4's).

Roll each slice in a crescent roll. Place in 9X13 buttered baking dish. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream and spoon the sauce over the top.

J said I need to make these every week. I said my big butt really didn't need to do that. But it's tempting!

Cool Contest

For those who are like me and have an undying love of handbags, Handbagplanet.com is having a great giveaway on October 15. 24 bags in 24 hours. Plus if you mention the contest in your blog, you get an additional 25 entries. Hurry, only 9 days until the drawing!

Handbagplanet.com

Randmomness

I don't get it. Whatever happened to well behaved, good mannered children? When I was growing up I never back talked my parents. No meant No. Period. Now I see kids and temper tantrums every day. I see undisciplined children in public and it makes me cringe. Screaming, yelling and general havoc running rampant. Is it because society doesn't allow us to punish our children the way we were punished? Maybe. My backside felt the board a few times and I'm not traumatized. I remember one time when I was around 3 or 4 when I got the crap beat out of me because I threw plums at an old guy walking down the street. I remember he was the mean old grouch of the neighborhood and none of the kids on our street liked him. I don't remember a whole lot of my early childhood, but oh boy do I remember that. I wasn't an abused child but when my siblings or I did something really bad my parents weren't afraid to knock us around. I think I back talked my dad just once. I told him to f-off and I got a hand right across the face. I never said it again (or at least he didn't hear me). My kids know I don't tolerate backtalk. They may try but they get shot down very quickly. When they were little I had a wooden spoon that sat on the kitchen table. I never used it, but they knew what it meant.


I guess I'm feeling like a failure in some respect about my son. I did the best I could with him, I know. But he's an adult now. I need to get over the fact that he's 18 and gone from the house. Not knowing where he is is stressing me out. It shouldn't but it does. The sad part is that he behaves just like his father. And look where he is (that's a story I'm saving for a day off). I can't make him understand that his behavior now is affecting his future. Thank god for a semi-respectful daughter. She has her moments too but when she does or says something wrong she doesn't repeat it. Some days I feel like this.......

Don'tcha just love it?