Listen to the radio

Hmm, it seems like there are some songs that say that.

Oh well. I thought I would tell you about my newly discovered favorite way of listening to the "radio".

I suppose it isn't a true radio because you don't tune into ninty-eleventy FM.

And you have to have internet access.

And you get to say that you never want to hear a song again and they won't play it anymore.

Ok, maybe it is not so much like a radio.

Anyway, it is Pandora.com - I really don't know what radio has to do with a girl who opens a box and lets all the evil things in the world escape but anyway.

You go to Pandora.com and pick out a musician you want to hear (you can also do a song but I don't suggest it.) Pandora will then play that artist and other music that is like it.

For instance, I put in Journey and I have heard

• Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive,
• Journey's Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin',
Aerosmith's Dream On,
• Kansas' Carry On My Wayward Son
• REO Speedwagon's I can't Fight This Feeling Anymore,
• Journey's Ask the Lonely
• and of course no play list from that time is complete without The Eagles' Hotel California.

Each song you can vote on whether you like it or not, if you like it then they play more songs similar.

Like I said, you can put in a specific song and they will play music similar to it but if you are wanting to hear that song, you will have to wait awhile. Something about their licensing laws that they have to wait a certain amount of time before they can play that song. For instance if you want to hear The Search is Over you are better off imputing Survivor because it might come up.

And the music selection is much wider than you might suspect. I have found Christian artists (Chris Tomlin) as well as old stuff like Gene Autry (I have very eclectic music tastes).

Do I get any benefit from saying all these nice things about Pandora? Yes! I get free music to listen to, and it is music that I like.

Of course, you do too. And you don't have to review Pandora to get free music. And they probably don't care that I have said all this. And they didn't ask me to do it.

So really I don't get a thing.

Well, this explains why I have felt awful

Ok, maybe not awful but definitely not good.

Tired.

Rundown.

Low-grade fever.

A little ache-y.

Although that is pretty much all my symptoms. I finally went to the Dr and I have a sinus infection.

Since I get headaches at the drop of a hat and I haven't had one all week this really surprises me. But after just 9 hours on antibiotics I can feel something happen in my sinus cavities.

My teeth ache slightly. And I am beyond exhausted. And that is after a 4 hour nap today.

On a somewhat related note, I have to say I am so grateful to kids that will let me take a 4 hour nap without destroying something. Or causing someone to bleed. Or getting into some kind of trouble.

I really didn't want to go to the Dr because it has been really mild. My fever got up to 100 a couple of times but then would go down again without medicine. I was just a little ache-y, you know like around that time of the month. And I had no energy.

But I couldn't go in and say "I have a ______ infection" - which, to be honest, usually simplifies the Dr visit. Why make them guess that you have a UTI when you know it hurts to pee?

But I had been feeling bad all week (it started Sunday) and was tired of it. Plus I woke up this morning with every joint hurting (and no fever).

And the point is . . . I forgot.

I am going to have code chasing me in my sleep

Well, you may have noticed that I have changed the look of things again. I have some more ideas that I may or may not implement - I am not going to promise anything though. I am thinking that this one I can change up fairly easily when I get bored with the old one.

It would be easier if I could use the standard templates, or even one of those where you just add a widget. But no, I have to customize one.

Some good did come of the ridiculously early meeting that was cancelled. After I got up and dressed. I pretty much had the coding figured out night, I just had to implement it on 3 blogs (insert eye rolling here). I wanted them to look somewhat connected to each other.

Now off to run some errands - including returning an electronic blood pressure cuff. I just don't want to keep it when I could guess the BP more accurately (insert more eye rolling here).

Works-for-Me - reusable recylced bags

First I wanted to remind you to check out my homeschool blog, I have a new post up about art and self-esteem. You can see it here.

Now for my Works-for-Me Wednesday post . . .



We make alot of trips to the library. ALOT. Because 1. I love books 2. we homeschool 3. I love books

You would think that since we go about once a week or two, we wouldn't be checking out that many books.

Well you would be wrong. We went yesterday and we have checked out about 35 books - some picture books, some chapter books, some cookbooks - not all will be read, and not all will be completely read but still that's alot of books.

I have tried various things over the years to help carry all of them but haven't been completely happy with any of them, until now.

Now I use 2 of those reusable shopping bags - not the fabric ones. You know, the plasticky ones that are made from recycled bottles? I have seen them for $1-2 so if they tear up from me putting too much in it, I haven't lost that big of an investment. But they hold a huge amount.

I have used 5 plastic grocery type bags before (double bagged) to carry books to and from the library and they have broken after just a couple of uses. I had room to spare with my 2 reusable bags that I have been using for 2 months.

I love these bags, they don't take up very much space but they carry so much. These bags really work for me.

Its 10 AM

And I am already thinking of making the kids take a nap.

Mom, Daisy won't stop singing.

Mom, Juniors in my way.

Daisy, you need to feed your rabbits.

Junior, LEAVE ME ALONE.

MOM, MOM, MOM

And now, they are afraid to go outside. Why? Because I am an idiot.

I saw a thing on the news that was saying that because of the dry weather snakes were having to come closer to habitation so they could find water. It mentioned that in Houston, snake bites were up 25-50%. So we had the kids watch it because there are some wooded areas right next to us.

I didn't want them jumping into piles of leaves or tramping un-cautiously through the undergrowth.

Now they are pretty sure they will be attacked by a snake if they walk outside.

Good going mom.

7 Quick Takes

Don't forget to check out Jennifer at Conversion Diary for other Quick takes.

1. I don't really like breakfast, I don't like the basic breakfast food, and I am not really a morning person. So my kids normally eat cereal for breakfast - occasionally I will make a big bowl of oatmeal for us all but that is about it.

Last 7 days I have made breakfast almost every day (I didn't Sunday morning but that was the only miss). I made homemade -not from a mix - muffins, baked oatmeal, cinnamon rolls, french toast, re-fried donuts with eggs, poached eggs and some others I can't remember right now.

Daisy has loved it. Junior likes his cereal so he has not been the happiest camper. And I have been amazed that it isn't as much trouble as I thought.

2. We went to the sheriffs office to do a statement on the dog that we found chained to a bridge (if you missed it see here and here.

I found out that apparently there is a custody case involving the kids and that is why they want to press charges about the dog. Unfortunately we could be called as witnesses in this custody battle. Luckily we saw the dog for only 15 minutes maybe so the chances of us recognizing the dog are pretty low so we may not be called at all.

I never liked the "no good deed goes unpunished" but it does seem to apply here.

3. At the flea market last Saturday I found one of those butterbells for $3. Have you seen them? They are a butter crock that has a bell shaped thing hanging off the lid. The butter goes into the bell shaped thing and then you put the lid on the crock while their is some water in the crock. This is supposed to keep the butter fresh even leaving it sitting out.

So I got mine filled with butter and love it. You know how it is impossible to spread the cold butter on your toast in the morning (unless you get the pricey whipped butters or margarine). This thing has the butter about the consistency of sour cream or whipped cream. It is wonderful!

4. We started reading Treasure Island last week. Somehow I missed this one as a kid (although I did read Kidnapped) but I am really enjoying it so far. Daisy wasn't really interested because it sounds more like a boy book, Junior wasn't interested because it sounded like a hard book. They are getting into it though. And then a blog friend Calista told me about a unit study on it at www.littleblueschool.com. I am even more excited, they will be learning about a compass and the 16 points, they get to make their own treasure map, and other fun stuff.

5. Halleluia! We have been getting rain! Most of the surrounding counties are under a burn-ban and it was feeling quite oven-like outside. Sixteen days of this year have been 100+ so that explains the oven feel (last year we had I think 6 days over 100). So with the rain it feels more sauna-like which is also uncomfortable but at least the plants aren't dieing as much. I even have a couple of blooms on my lemon tree.

Its cloudy out there now which means it is about 100999% humidity, but it is only 83 degrees so I won't complain. too much.

6. We got a new set of pictures of the child we sponsor through Compassion International. This is something that I really encourage you to look into doing. It is just $38 a month and that provides meals and an education plus help for the parents. There is a button on my sidebar if you are interested.

7. I found a Lego builder program for Junior to play with. He spends hours playing with Legos and designing his own things, so I thought that he would enjoy it (although to me it sounds like watching paint dry). He loves it and it has taught him so much. He has learned how to save files (you design you creation and then you can save it and do something completely different) not to mention all the practice he is getting with the mouse and logic and . . . . Occasionally it says something about "If you add this brick you will no longer be able to see the price of your build" so I don't know if you can then order all the peices to build your creation in real life or what.

Anyway, if you have a kid (or husband) who might enjoy it, you might want to check it out.

Blog hoppin'

Wow, what a fun idea to do bloghops instead of going to BlogHer. I am not even jealous of those at BlogHer because . . . ummm . . . ummm . . . Oh nevermind.

I am Christi, mom of Daisy and Junior and we live out in the sticks of East Texas. We homeschool which can be quite an adventure.

I am also a nerd. Or maybe I mean geek. Or possibly some combination of the two.

I read obsessively, I enjoy researching things, and I will learn how to do something for fun.

I make my own vinegar, want to learn to make wine and taught myself knitting, crocheting and tatting - don't worry, no one else knows what tatting is either.

I make homemade chicken and dumplings and then will re-fry a donut.

I used to have a nearly photographic memory. And then I had kids.

If you are wanting to read some of my favorite posts of mine over on the right is a list of my favorites. I have 2 other blogs that are listed up above this post.

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to meeting you. And I get to do that in my PJs. Hah! Take that people who went to BlogHer - your shoes probably are killing you.

I would love it if you subscribe to my blog.
Follow me on twitter. I am christi_s1996

Update on the story of the dog

We had to go to the grocery store yesterday - no eggs, low on milk, low on bread - and rather than go to "the W*lm*rts" - which is being remodeled - I went to the other grocery store.

Thank goodness!

I saw a sign on the door about a missing dog and I got the idea that the dog had been stolen out of the yard because it said "last seen in a grey some-kinda-specific car" - I don't know cars at all. Anyway, it also mentioned that he was a family pet and the kids were heartbroken.

So I called the number on the paper to let them know what we knew about the dog (even though we hadn't seen him in 4 days).

Well apparently, this sweet dog is a family pet but Dad has a girlfriend. The girlfriend doesn't really like the dog, she thought it was the wife's dog. And it was she who tied the dog to the bridge.

I can understand that kind of resentment, but not taking it out on a poor innocent animal. It also makes me wonder how nice she was to the kids.

So later I get a cell phone call - which doesn't ring because I don't get cell reception in the house, but I can eventually get messages. Anyway the family (possibly the wife or ex-wife) is pressing charges of animal cruelty on the girlfriend. Since we are the ones that found the dog, we need to be involved somehow (the message was asking if that was ok with us).

I am not sure exactly what is involved, I have never done anything like this before. It is going to be a learning experience for us.

Ironically, when we found the dog I thought "I wish there was some way of pressing charges against who-ever did this but we will never find out who they are."

Completely indulgent

This could be considered a frugal treat, but really it is too . . . too . . . much to be anything but completely indulgent.

You take a day old glazed donut (it can be a completely fresh one as well). Like this one.



Melt some butter (about a pat of butter) in a skillet and then fry the donut in the butter on both sides.

When it is lightly toasted on each side,



just put it on a plate and eat it while hot. With a fork. You will see why.

The inside gets all soft, like when it was fresh. The glaze caramelizes into a crispy crunch. You could just heat it in the microwave but then you wouldn't get the crisp sugar shell.

As a safety precaution, I need to tell you that the melted sugar is extremely hot. Please be careful.

It is really sad

But I am apparently not a good Southerner. Even though I never lived further north than Birmingham, Alabama (except for 1 year in Colorado) I just have to admit to not being a good daughter of the south. Almost all my people were southerners but . . . well you get the idea.

Why do I bring shame on my heritage? I can sum it up in 5 words: Sweet Tea makes me gag.

Now I love tea; hot tea, iced tea, green tea. But please keep the sugar away from my tea. If I wanted to take in the amount of sugar it takes to qualify as "sweet tea," I would just sit down with a spoon and the sugar bowl.

Now my Daddy loves him some sweet tea. If it isn't sweet tea, he adds enough sugar to leave a thick layer of undissolved sugar on the bottom of his glass. Hubby is the same way.

Junior . . . well Junior loves sweet tea but I am pretty sure that he just loves sugar. You could offer him just about anything with sugar and he would be delighted.

Daisy doesn't really like tea in general so she has almost equal dislike for both the sweet and un-sweet teas, with a slight preference for the sweet.

So I am the lone hold out in our household. The one rebel against drinking sweet tea.
It's just sad.

Ok, here's the thing,

I try to be cheerful and positive and all that stuff but sometimes you just really want to smack someone.

On our way to Tae Kwon Do, we have to cross over this little creek - it would probably be more accurately called a crick as small as it is - and there is a little bridge going over it. So we are going over it and notice this little dog on it, near the side. Since there usually isn't a dog on that little bridge both Hubby and I looked at it fairly closely as we went by.

Hubby said "that poor dog is tangled up!" So he stopped and turned around so that he and I could walk over to free the dog. Luckily, he was a sweet chihuahua, he didn't growl or anything.

The thing that infuriates me is that some &%^#&$*% jerk chained him to the bridge. He could have fallen off the edge and choked to death or been injured by a car or slowly died of thirst.

While in general, I think people who take dogs out into the country and drop them off are . . . jerks - at least there is a slight chance for survival. This poor dog had no chance unless someone stopped and rescued him.

So we quickly took him home where he got a not so warm reception from our dogs (didn't see any fighting but they were less than delighted). When we got home from Tae Kwan Do, there was no sign of him.

He may have walked home or something.

One thing that will slow his owners down from doing it again . . .

We still have the chain.

BTW

You may or may not have noticed the comments thingy changed. I had been using a comments service so that I could use the Comment Luv thing but it turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. I really liked the Comment Luv too, it was just the JS-Kit service that annoyed me.

I finally figured out that even though I was responding by email to the people that left comments, they weren't getting the email - which is very aggravating. I am not sure exactly how long my emails weren't going through - which is, again, aggravating.

It may not be lemonade but it is still good

I have a horrible tendency to save stuff because it is special until it is no longer special - it is ruint (yes, that is a word here in the south). If I have plenty, then I am not that concerned - like with jam I usually get several jars, so I go ahead and eat them.

But if I don't have very many - I really want to save it.

Just before Christmas 2007, we stopped at this little winery about a 1 1/2 hour drive from here and picked up a bottle of raspberry wine (I really didn't like dry wines at all then and mostly went for dessert wines.) And we brought it home and I saved it. And saved it. And saved it. We really don't drink very much wine, just the occasional glass with dinner. and I kind-of forgot about it.

I finally opened it 2 weeks ago and it was nearly vinegar. So I poured the whole bottle into a plastic juice pitcher, added some Braggs apple cider vinegar and covered the pitcher with a paper towel I taped on. You have to use an apple cider vinegar with the "mother" in it if you want to speed the fermentation into vinegar. (You can skip adding the mother but it takes longer and I am prone to forget if it takes too long).

So after letting it sit for two weeks, I gave it a taste today. OH MY! The fruit flavor came through so clearly, it was delicious.

And if you think there is no way vinegar can be delicious, you have never tried homemade vinegar. It is like comparing water to juice. In most store bought vinegars you taste sour and then maybe a slight difference between the types. The homemade ones have so many other flavors going on that the sour is there but it is with the fruits and other . . . .

I can't even describe it.

If you drink wine, consider making some homemade vinegar - it is well worth the tiny bit of effort.

If you don't drink wine, you can still make homemade vinegar without getting a bottle of wine. You can look for recipes online but it is basically getting some kind of fruit, crush it, strain it and let it ferment until it becomes vinegar.

What can you do with the vinegar?

• Well there is the vinegrette salad dressing - just your vinegar and some oil to taste.



• You can also use it in marinades.



• One of my favorite ways is to cook a chicken breast in vinegar, using the vinegar about like I would an olive oil - just enough liquid to keep it from sticking. Depending on the tartness, I may also add water and honey because the kids "hate vinegar" (Although Daisy mentioned the homemade was really good.)

If you have any additional ideas for using homemade vinegar, please let me know.

Diane Birch - Bible Belt

I suppose she thought the title was appropriate having been raised as a missionary kid. I disagree. While I like the CD, it is not christian.

On the other hand, I feel ok with my kids listening to this one.

Now that I got that outta the way, Diane Birch does have an amazing voice. The songs on the album transported me. Fire Escape made me think of sitting outside on a hot Mississippi night sipping wine (I don't know exactly why). Valentino made me think of 2 little girls in the 40's dancing around in the kitchen to the music on the radio.

I am not sure exactly what genre of music this would be, iTunes classifies it as pop but I would say closer to jazz or blues. She also reminds me of Norah Jones so Diane Birch could be in the "vocal" category.

This is my first review for One2One, unfortunately I was not able to get it in quite as timely as I would have liked. I was supposed t be doing the review while the CD was delayed in the mail. It arrived after we left for a nearly 2 week vacation so at first I thought "oh well" but then I got to thinking about it and realized that I needed to do the review even though it is well after when they wanted it.

Anyway, if you like jazzy, bluesy pop you ought to check out Diane Birch's CD Bible Belt.

WFMW- Ground beef

I tend to buy the big packages of ground beef because it is a bit less expensive that way. I am not crazy about all the fat though so what I do is boil it instead of frying. Then after I have boiled it, I can put the meat and water in the fridge. When the fat has floated to the top, I skim of the fat and throw it away (although you could reserve it for cooking with) drain the meat while reserving the broth.

This leaves me with fairly low-fat ground beef already cooked, a beef broth for soups and the like (also low fat), and - if I wanted - some fat for cooking with.

You can do the whole package and divide it up into the size you will probably need (like in 1 pound amounts) or you can put it in one big bag to scoop out how much you need. This will freeze fairly well (I have never managed to keep it more than a month because we use it so I can't swear to how long).

This works for me and check out We Are THAT Family for more Works for me Wednesday.

Our weekend

On Thursday Junior had a Tae Kwon Do graduation ceremony so that he is now a Camo belt. This means he gets to do real sparring, with gear. I was hoping to find a picture but you will have to wait until we order it. They have a foam helmet thing, a chest protector, feet protectors and hand protectors. They look like they have been dipped in foam.

Anyway, he is so thrilled and excited . . . and he couldn't go today.

You see, my little boy who is never sick. He had his 3rd round of antibiotics in his life just 6 weeks ago is now on his 4th. Sunday he woke up complaining that his throat hurt. Since the rest of us are having sinus problems, I assumed that is what it was.

Wrong.

Little Dude has strep throat again. Since we weren't planning on going anywhere this week, it isn't a huge deal. Not like last time where he came down with strep 3 or 4 days before we left to travel halfway across the country.

In other news

We survived Daisy being on to camp for a whole week. Ok it was technically Monday to Friday but we still missed her. Alot. She missed us not so much. She had a wonderful time and came home exhausted.

Junior was at his Meme and Papa's house so Daisy and I went to the Tea Room. It is someplace that Junior wouldn't like - words like bull in a china shop come to mind - but Daisy loves it. It is a little pricy because we each get our own dessert and then share, plus the meal is about $8 a person but it is a special thing we do on the rare occasion so it's worth it. The last time we did it was 3 years ago.

So she and I had some girl talk, and talked about camp, and boys, and camp. It was really nice to be able to do that with her.

But now we are stuck at home with Strep-Boy for a couple of days. The Dr made an odd comment about it. He said "He isn't at the point to need a tonsillectomy yet. We like to wait until it is 4 streps in 6 months."

Do What?!?

I wasn't thinking of a tonsillectomy. The Boy has had 2 strep infections in his life and he is 6. I don't think he needs surgery. I am not real sure I will think he needs surgery after his 4th in 6 months.

Now Daisy had ear infections and we had tubes put in but that was because she would have it come back after only a few days off the antibiotic. After 4 or 5 months of that they finally did tubes. Her teeth are permanently stained from all the antibiotics but she was also much younger.

But I am nowhere near wanting Junior to have a tonsillectomy.

Random Bits

I don't understand people nowadays. There was a time when churches were left alone, it some how being more wrong to steal from a church than a person. Well not anymore.

Our church was broken into Sunday night. Someone threw a car jack through the glass door and stood on a table and stole a TV. A flat-screen that would net about $50 on the street. They would have possibly tried to steal more but the table they were standing on to reach the TV broke and they apparently decided that 1 TV was enough.

So now our church has gotten an alarm system.

_____________________________________________________________

Junior is missing his sister desperately. She went to pre-teen camp this week, she left Monday and will be back Friday afternoon. While I know she is having a blast, he has lost his best friend.

He has been able to be the only child for the week so it hasn't been completely miserable. Unfortunately, mom is not as much fun and so he has asked each day how much longer until she gets back.

_____________________________________________________________

As much as I have to admit it, some of the weight I gained on vacation was not water weight. Well, to be honest I suspected as much since we ate our way across 6 different states. Not to mention the Russell Stover Outlet store in Tennessee - alot of the candy was 75% off, and then the "oops" boxes.

So I am back to exercising and eating healthier. Again. I only have 5 lbs of vacay weight to lose but alot more pre-vacay weight. I won't bore you with the numbers. Ok, I don't want to think about the numbers because then I want more chocolate.

_____________________________________________________________

We celebrated Daisy's birthday by taking her and a friend to see "Ice Age III - Dawn of the Dinosaurs" which was in 3-D. I will admit that 3-D has come a very long way since the red and blue glasses but I am not sure I saw the point. It was slightly blurry (maybe because I was also wearing glasses since I had forgotten to put in contacts) and at first the 3-D was distracting, then I forgot all about it.

The movie was enjoyable, and we laughed alot during it but there wasn't any of the adult jokes like in the first one - and when I say adult I mean stuff that a grownup would get like the Stonehenge and Star Trek references not anything R rated.

After the movie, Daisy wanted to go eat at Olive Garden. I just love their salad and they have a new soup Chicken and Gnocchi - oh my, I am going to look for a copy cat recipe for that. Hubby's favorite is still the Toscana soup which to me tastes like sausage - since I don't like sausage I don't really like that one. All of us liked the chicken and gnocchi and since Daisy has been wanting to learn how to make gnocchi . . . .

_____________________________________________________________

I have been trying to get geared up for the upcoming school year and I am beginning to get excited about it. I asked Junior what he would like to learn about and he couldn't think of anything. I gave him a few suggestions and he settled on sports.

Great. Something I am completely incompetent at.

So I asked what kind of animal - thinking that if he chose cardinals then we could study birds.

He chose mice. I hate rodents. Ewww. Maybe for my sanity we will study fictional mice, Ralph and the Motorcycle, Redwall series, Despereaux.



Hmm, this was all kindof random. Sorry about that.

Ladybug

From the first moment I saw you, I loved you. Ok truthfully I loved you before I saw you, but I loved you even more when I first saw you.

At that time I didn't know what a wonderful young lady you would grow up to be. I love you even more now.



These past few years you have really grown and blossomed. You are developing maturity and compassion that make me feel blessed to be your mom. You have such a willing and helpful spirit. You have a playful streak but it is balanced with a sweet and generous heart.



Your patience with your brother is a good part of the reason you two get along so well. He absolutely adores you and for good reason. He is going to miss you dreadfully while you are at camp.

Happy birthday my precious princess! Have fun at your camp.

7 quick takes

Dont forget to check out Jennifer at Conversion Diary for other Quick takes.

1. It is midnight and 86 degrees outside. Not to mention it is humid enough to peel paint - although in fairness, we only have 2 humidity levels peeling paint and rusting stainless steel.

2. I just started playing with Farmville on Facebook. It's kind-of nice having crops that aren't dying from lack of water, unlike our garden. Unfortunately, we can't eat any of it.

3. Once again, I learned not to go to the grocery store hungry. I went in for chicken so I wouldn't have to open the deep freeze. I came out with a cart full of stuff including ice cream to go in the deep freeze.

4. Tonight we read Catundra about a cat who was a little chubby and the other animals made fun of her so she ate more which made her fatter . . . . Then she met a mole who helped her go on a diet and exercize so she lost all the extra weight and was happy.

Only when we finished, Junior suggested that maybe I should "eat only healthy stuff and exercise alot, alot, alot." Twerp.

5. We had what could have been a healthy supper. A large green salad with strawberry slices and grilled chicken. The only problem was the vinaigrette - which is supposed to be better than the creamy dressings. I had gotten a strawberry chardonnay vinaigrette and I was afraid it might be too strongly flavored. It wasn't. Daisy deemed it "not too repulsive" and poured a fair amount on her salad. I discovered that without a huge amount, there wasn't enough flavor to notice it so I ended up using way too much dressing which then negates the whole salad for supper thing.

And I over cooked the chicken enough for it to be dry.

6. A friend sent me this recipe for turkey meatloaf made with spinach and that is what we had Wednesday night. Can I just say YUM! The kids were none to sure about something called "meat loaf" but tried it and both really liked it. Even Junior agreed that it tasted good even with the onions. As a side note, now onions are not evil in meatloaf and spaghetti sauce but still remain evil at all other times. Junior was a bit puzzled by the "leaves" but he likes spinach so he was fine with it once we told him what it was.

We didn't like the buttermilk mashed potatoes, they just had too much of a buttermilky wang but the meatloaf is a definite winner in this house.

7. I don't know if I have bragged about Hubby's latest accomplishment - I can't find it if I did. He used the Nicoderm patch and quit smoking after close to 20 years. He has been smoke-free for somewhere around 3 or 4 months (he can tell you exactly how long it has been.) He stopped using the patches in early June anyway. I am so very, very proud of him.

Just wanna say

It's hot. And not just a tiny bit hot. Absolutely miserably hot. It is 103.1 in the shade and an hour ago it was 98.6 (at 1:02).

My brain doesn't work in this heat. So I will post something witty and exciting later . . . or maybe the usual drivel.