Just A Normal Day At The Castle .....

This is what I wake up to at 5:00 am every day.  Cooper's already got his eye on the ball, just waiting for me to move an inch so we can get started with the game.  Yes he's a pain ... but too cute to turn down.

The first order of business was to pick up my mail.  I just love going to the UPS office!  Surprisingly, the kids that work there are just as nice as they can be, and SO helpful.  I've never had to carry a box to my truck ... they don't even let me open my mail box.  I walk in, they grab my mail.  

For anyone who is looking for a mail service, check out your UPS store.  Mine costs $116 a year, plus the cost of sending my mail to me wherever I am.  I ask them to send it, they call me back with the cost and I put it on my credit card ... and they will send it any way I desire ... USPS, UPS, FEDEX ... whatever!  All my orders go there too, and when they arrive, I receive a text message.  Pretty cool!!

Most of the day I spent cleaning up the sewing room.  I've now got an entire wall on which to do layouts before sewing them together.  Don't ask me why there are four lamps in the room.  They will be on the next donation truck. 

You'll be amazed to know that I took an entire truck load of donations to Goodwill last week, with another truckload going tomorrow.  Unfortunately I inherited the packrat gene from my mother.  She saved every piece of tinfoil and every plastic frozen dinner dish she touched, all of which I threw out when she passed.  Mine of course, is all GOOD stuff, but needs to go nonetheless!!  

Next, with two boxes of cake mix about ready to expire, I tried the concoction my bestie Patty Chance and one of my readers suggested.  Mix a box of cake mix with a box of angel food cake mix (that's a LOT of cake mix) and make cake 3-2-1 style!  Three tablespoons of cake mix in a cup, two tablespoons of water and one minute in the microwave.  

Hmmmm ... you can judge the results for yourself.  My first thought was "who's going to wash that cup"??  Just to make it more interesting, I put in a tablespoon of chocolate chips, which turned out to be a good thing.  They were the only redeeming factor in this first attempt.  

You see, my microwave is an old commercial one that has been around since the dark ages.  Anything I cook takes less time than normal, so it came out rather overdone.  It was like eating a tough sponge.  I literally had to use a knife to cut it up ... but no matter, it had melted chocolate chips in it and was quite tasty!!!  Next time I'll cut back on the time a smidgen!

With dinnertime around the corner, I decided on chicken tenders.  How hard is that to make, right??  Well let me tell you, I can mess up anything.  I marinated them in buttermilk for a couple of hours, dredged them with parmesan and bread crumbs and fried them up.  

YUMMY!!  Until I took a bite and they tasted like buttermilk!   That first bite came out as fast as it went in.  Oh my heavens!!!  That must have been some super buttermilk!!  Not a burial prospect however ... I scraped the coating off and choked down just the chicken.   I think tonight will be a lean cuisine night!

My boy has become such a lap pup ... he thought the buttermilk chicken was just fine, although I didn't give him a big enough piece to really tell.  Like Mikey, he'll eat anything!!

Today I'm meeting a local reporter from a little hometown newspaper who wants to do a story on kite flying.  I'm not sure how that's going to work out since there is absolutely no wind AT ALL!!  This should be interesting, to say the least .........