FRIDAY THE 13TH!!! YIKES!!

How did I not realize today would be Friday the 13th?  Not that I believe in all that superstitious stuff, but I certainly do tread lightly when the possibility of FREDDY sneaking around my house arises.  When I got up this morning, I turned around three times, jumped up once and tapped three times on the wooden headboard, just in case.

In comparison, yesterday was pretty carefree.  I needed some cactus soil mixture and pipe insulation for my quilt hangars, so I drove in my sparkly clean truck to Lowes.  It's funny how every time I go in that store, everything I need is neatly stacked in the farthest four corners of the building.

I've had a couple of birdhouses that I wanted to hang up, so when I spotted these curlycue plant hangars, I grabbed them.  This particular birdhouse came later when I was waylaid next door at Hobby Lobby.

My truck took on a life of it's own as it drove the complete wrong direction to the hobby store.  Okay, since I was there, I might as well pick up the small $1.00 paint bottles to finish my Purple Cow.  This store knows how to GET you!!  The craft paint is nowhere near the "paint" section, forcing you to cruise down the aisles of expensive things you just can't resist.  Like this cupcake stand.  

Good thing I had my trusty coupon-finding phone with me or I wouldn't have received 75% off this beauty!!  Now for the tacks to decorate the side of my painting.  I went up and down every aisle in the wood and craft section, only to find out 30 minutes later they were in the fabric section.  Gee, I should have known!!

They DO save the best stuff for last, stacked along the aisles as you head to the checkout stand, usually with a big 50% off sign attached.  Such was the case of the cute red birdhouse above, which jumped into my cart all on its own!!

Finally back home, I set to repotting the cactus that was growing into each other.  I'm hoping they survive, but it being the 13th, I think they are doomed.  I tried to separate them ... BIG mistake ... before realizing the three have one huge root in the middle.  Sadly, the one on the left broke off and probably won't survive.  Sniff sniff .........

Back inside as the temperature climbed up to the 90's, I finished painting Lavender and nailed the tacks onto the sides.  Just don't stare into her eyes for very long .... Freddy might show up!!

I'm back in business since I purchased some of those small propane tanks for the barbecue.  So I made tamale pie.  That makes sense, right?  The only thing I had to BBQ was frozen chicken or ribs that required 5 hours.  Tamale pie was a good substitute ... and tasty!!

So far Freddy has stayed away, I haven't seen any black cats and my ladder is stowed in the garage.  I made sure not to step on any cracks in the patio this morning, but have my rabbits foot handy, just in case it's required.  

Now if I can just get that 125 pound ancient television in the back of my truck to take to the recycling station which opens tomorrow, I'll be in good shape.  Maybe I should call on Freddy after all .... he can help lift!!!

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

I guess it all caught up with me yesterday!!  There were too many 4:30 mornings followed by a couple of VERY late evenings.  You know how it is, you're watching your favorite show and you just HAVE to see how it ends, not to mention a couple of baseball games.  

I hit the rowing machine early, which gave me enough energy to clean out two more closets and vacuum the entire house before plopping on the couch.  I was a little shocked to see it was only 9:00 am, as Jessie snuggled on the chair.

It took all my strength to get myself together and run pick up my mail.  I'm still waiting for those DMV stickers for my Jeep and truck.  Thanks to my Elks friends, I discovered Prime Shine car wash and took advantage of a free wash for my truck.  I'm VERY surprised to say that for $7.00 they probably did a better job than I would have.  A quick grocery stop and I was headed back home.

I did a few things here and there before deciding to sit on the couch and watch TV for a bit.  Next thing I know it's like 6:00.  YIKES!!!  The amazing part is that not only did "I" sleep a couple of hours (unheard of during the day for me), but so did the puppies!!  In fact, I had the distinct pleasure of waking THEM up!!! 

By then, I was starving, having missed lunch.  I grabbed some rosemary from my yard and tied up a small pork loin, adding some zucchini, all of which I figured to barbecue.  With the grill heating up nicely, I threw on the pork and waited ..... not so patiently.  Fifteen minutes later, it looked just about like it did when I put it on!!  I was OUT of fuel.  Rats .... DOUBLE RATS!!!

With no backup propane, I tossed it into a frying pan and threw it in the oven, which of course took some time to heat up.  In the end it was a little tough, but edible, as was the squash after I nuked it for a few minutes.  

Today I'm going to stock up on Lean Cuisine!!

Sometimes You Win!!

I think I've probably told you about my ribbon winning experience.  It pretty much doesn't exist.  When I was a kid on the ranch, my brother who was enrolled in FFA got not one, but TWO big steers for the County Fair.  I was enrolled in 4-H.  I got a motherless calf ... a heifer no less ... that needed to be bottle fed.

I worked with her every day, fed her until she had a beautiful female shape and trotted off to the fairgrounds.  The very first day upon weigh-in, she ran away with me and had to be corralled by the fair crew.  That was devastating enough, but then show day arrived.  There were only TWO of us in my class and I got THIRD place.  He said I should have been showing a STEER, not a heifer.  My brother got Champion and Reserved Champion.  I cried and never entered any competitions again.

Here we are 50 years later and my friend from Sacramento wanted me to enter a quilt in the Dixon May Fair (just outside Sacramento).  I really didn't think that was a very good idea, but she insisted.  The only one I had at the time was my Alaska quilt.  If you make a quilt for a show, you really should know ahead of time, because there are criteria they judge by.  Don't ask me what, since I have no idea.  At least you should try to be very accurate in your seams and corners.  This was one I just threw together!!

Imagine my shock and surprise when she sent these pictures saying I won a ribbon.  Fourth Place!!  Darn ... I've gone DOWN in the ribbon world, but was really thrilled to see a ribbon at all.  I figured I would be lucky if I got an "entry" ribbon.  So how cool is THIS?????  Winner winner chicken dinner, even if they did spell my name wrong!!

I REALLY felt good when I saw the competition I was up against.  Can you believe this Best of Show in my class?  All the little squares are only one half inch wide!!  Maybe next year I'll actually make a quilt just for the fair!!

Because I forgot this image yesterday, here's the three of us with our triplet purple cows.  That's Diane on the left (we worked together at the County for eleven years) and her friend Tammy.  I can't wait to scout out another class like this, with or without the wine, and do a little more painting.  

I spent most of yesterday morning driving around the neighborhood.  Early in the morning, my dogs began barking like someone was breaking in.  Come to find out, the two golden labs next door had escaped.  Delilah and Captain were off like a shot.  I only saw tails as they rounded the corner.  

A quick call to the neighbor and we both took off in our vehicles looking for them, with no success.  An hour later, I came back, thinking someone must have picked them up.  About ten minutes after that, they were discovered three miles away and captured by some nice people who held them in jail until neighbor Kim bailed them out.  Now THAT was a WIN!!

From there it was on to the Magic Kingdom of Elks Bingo.  What a snarky crowd!!   I was sure it was a full moon, but alas .... just a bunch of grumpy women .... and one man!!  Some how we got out at 9:30 with the skin on our backs still intact.  I'm pretty sure that's because we upped the ante and paid $250 for each winning game.  

In spite of the crowd, the King, the Lawyer, the Accountant, the Court Jester, Prince Charming and the Castle Knights had a GREAT time kidding around.  That's a WIN in my book, and sometimes payment enough!!

It's All The Rage!!

When Miss Patty Chance and I were in Tucson last winter, we ran into two ladies carrying pictures that were just alike.  When I asked about it, seems there was some kind of painting class where everyone paints the same thing.

When I found out they were actually doing that right here in River City, my girlfriends and I signed up, mostly because here in California, they do it up right!!  Mimosa's and all the wine you can drink!!  See that purple cow in the distance??  THAT'S what we are going to paint!  Good luck with that, I thought!  I'm not sure wine and paint mix well!!

All ready to go with acrylic paint, brushes, easels and for this project, a block of wood.  Originally the idea was to use old fencing, but apparently it was TOO old.  She walked us through step by step to create our masterpiece (cough, choke!! ).  Sorry, but if you saw the end results, you too would chuckle!!  First up, draw an outline in chalk!  Notice the already empty bottle of wine on the table.

Second, fill it in with purple.  By this time we all had something pretty alien looking.  We decided it was the eyes and the airplane-wing ears.  I of course used too much paint, since the wood grain SHOULD have been showing through.  Have another glass of wine ... it will be fine!!

Before long, Diane was on her SECOND bottle!!  Did I mention that this class is being held at a winery just outside of town?  

Everyone was getting a kick out of their alien bug-eyes.  It took awhile to get the hang of it ... three glasses of wine I think it was.  Pretty soon, I lost track completely!!  After explaining what to do, the instructor turned on some great country music so we could all rock out while she gave individual tips.  By now, we were really getting in the groove!!  Especially me because you KNOW, I don't drink!!

Needless to say, there were LOTS of different purple cows in the end.  Some looked like the example and some looked ..... well ALIEN is the best way to put it.  I saw one that was a white cow with black spots.  She must have gulped down THREE bottles of wine.  Then she left it ... didn't even want to take her painting home.  It really was good ... a true to life cow.  Kind of insulting that she left it on the table I thought, but then maybe I had too many glasses of wine!!

So here's my PURPLE COW!!  Pretty simple cartoon-like, but this was so much fun I want to do it again.  At the end of the month they are painting a great American Flag picture and a seashore landscape that I wish I could try, but alas, I will be heading down the road by that time!!  

In case you were wondering, it's $37 for the class and a couple of drinks.  We purchased the bottles of wine because it was cheaper than $6 a glass.  Everything is included, along with aprons so you don't ruin your clothes.  Don't worry about that paint on the floor, I understand it can be scraped off.  By the way, her name is Lavender!!

OH NO .. OUT OF ADVIL!!!

Little did I know what a stressful day it would be yesterday as I became Head Chef in the Elks kitchen.  That's sure a step up, right?  A very large step off a tall CLIFF!!

Up at 4:30 in order to feed the dogs and make myself as presentable as possible at 6:00 in the morning, I was tired before I even started!!  Arriving at the kitchen, I met the leader of this Mothers Day shindig, who immediately put me to work making Mexican Egg Casseroles in those big pans that fit in buffet line warmers.  Eggs, salsa, the taco/hamburger meat I cooked and jalapeños.  They went in the walk-in to keep cool.

As soon as the ovens heated up, top one 300 degrees, bottom 400, he explained what went in which oven.  No need to explain to me I said ... I'm not cooking.  Where's the Chef-guy??  Long story short, apparently Chef-guy wasn't coming in.

That was NOT news I wanted to hear, but Bingo Bob was in the kitchen helping, and he's done this many times before.  I breathed a sigh of relief, which immediately felt like I got punched in the stomach.  Bob left me alone to go set up his waffle table.  Wait ..... how long do you cook the biscuits??

Just stir the eggs every ten minutes or so and get those sausages in the oven.  YIKES!!!  Pretty soon I was tossing around baking pans the size of an aircraft carrier deck, cooking sausages and biscuits.  Then someone mentioned the ham.  WHAT HAM???   The two huge pans in the walk-in that need to be broken down into smaller pans and baked ... and get the hash browns.  HASH BROWNS??  By now, people are lining up outside and I'm a wreck!!

As the Mexican casserole looked done, I moved it to the warming ovens.   When the buffet was ready, I smothered it in cheese and more jalapeños before sending it to the front.  Only 5 more pans to cook.   The biscuits were easy ... line up 80-90 on a pan and warm them up.  I meant to check the label on the box these came in ... they were fluffy and delicious, just like homemade!!  

Throwing around all those huge heavy pans reminded me of muscles I haven't used in years!!  Here's the final tally .....  6 casseroles, 10 pans of hash browns, 8 sheets of sausages, 8 pans of ham, 10 sheets of biscuits and 8 sheets of waffles, all cooked by yours truly!!  

I had those four ovens full and spitting out breakfast for four hours.  The biggest shock of all was that I didn't burn a single biscuit!!   These are the scrambled egg and sausage gravy guys!!  If I ever thought I might want to be a chef, this experience squashed that FLAT!!

It all worked out in the end, though I was pretty exhausted by 12:30.  About that time it dawned on me that no one mentioned seasoning anything.  After finally getting a taste of the hash browns, they definitely could have used SOMETHING!!  I'll remember that in case the REAL Chef decides to stay home next year too!!

The worst part ..... I woke up several times with achy muscles and finally decided to take an advil.  Lo and behold ... there was NONE!!!  Oh NO!!!  How did THAT happen???  I grabbed my keys and wandered in the darkness to the motorhome.  I considered just falling onto the bed there for the night, but needed water for the advil.  Funny, I smell sausages with a hint of sweet waffles!

I really need to get my act together today.  I'm hoping for a quick recovery since tonight is Purple Cow night!!  Yup ..... PURPLE!!!

  

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

Where's the beef????   It's in the bag my friends, it's in the bag!!  Needless to say, the Elks guys don't know about my illustrious cooking record ..... YET!!  First thing they gave me was 12 pounds of ground beef and said  brown it up.  Using a frying pan the size of which I'd never seen before, I set to cooking the taco/hamburger meat for the Mexican egg casserole.  I could barely lift the pan using both hands when it was empty, so the MEN had to come dump it into the big pan for me.  When done, I divided it up into six bags, ready to make the casserole this morning.

The Mothers around here are treated like royalty with beautiful sliced ham, hash browns, egg casserole or plain scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits with homemade sausage gravy, alongside fruit cups, danish, muffins and waffles with strawberries and whipped cream!!  That's a pretty tall order when there's 3-400 people expected for brunch.

In between all THIS cooking, we whipped up 15 racks of ribs, four huge pork loins and a ginormous seven layer dip as a going away party for one of the bartenders upstairs.  She's moving to Jordan.  Not quite the beachy ocean location I would be looking for, but we all wished her well.

I layered muffins and danish on five pans about two feet across before adding juice to six gallons worth of cups we filled with fruit.  Then it was back to the RV-wheel-size frying pan for sausage cooking.  They don't mess around here ... this was for homemade sausage gravy to top some beautiful biscuits. 

Next it was boxes and boxes of link sausage, placed on huge cookie sheets for quick cooking in the ovens this morning, as well as prepping for the biscuits.  

Those flames down at the end were NOT from me, because I KNEW you were going to ask.  I was nowhere near that end of the kitchen!!  I think someone was cooking chicken just a tad too much!

With everything finally together and stashed in the walk-in, I headed home, just in time for the rain.  In no time at all, I was just like Jessie, snoozing on the couch, waking up occasionally to check the score of the Giants game.  What a game it was before we finally won!!!

This morning was even earlier than yesterday (ugh 4:30 am), with casserole prep beginning at 6:00.  I'm a morning person, but even though I'm up, I don't WAKE up until 9:00 or so.  Asking me to whip up casseroles this early in the morning might be a mistake!!  

To all the mothers out there .... I hope you have a WONDERFUL and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

Another Year, Gone In A Flash!!

I don't celebrate birthdays much, at least not in my house.  In the first place, I can never remember how old I am, and in the second place, I don't want to know anyway!!  Seems I'm always a year or two off.  At any rate, at least SOMEONE wants to give me presents .... Joann's craft store sent a nice coupon.  How sweet is that??

Yes, I know the only reason is to get me in the store so I will spend even more, which usually works in their favor.  Yesterday however, I just might have come out ahead ..... maybe ..... just a little.

You know I love cupcakes and have recently come across several recipes I want to try that require things I don't have in my pantry.  These little candies that you make with a mold are one.

The easiest way to make these decorations is to melt Wilton's candy, pour it in a mold and voila!!  Candy!!  Even "I" can do this!!  

It was a nice birthday surprise (mind you, they are a few weeks early) when I received the 25% discount coupon.  It was even nicer when I discovered everything Wilton and cake decorating in the store was already 25% off.  Being the accountant that I am, I quickly figured out that meant 50% off anything I wanted ... and I wanted this cupcake/cake carrier, along with some frosting tints, candy molds and miscellaneous hardware.

So what did I do when I got home??  I made pie of course!  Having stopped by Harbor Freight for lights to hang over our rally site, I ran in Food Max (right next door) just to pick up a couple items.  This seems to be Save Mart's lower end store that I never shop at.  Wow has it changed!!  The interesting thing is they have almost everything the big store does, but at lower prices.  I'm not sure how that works out, but I saved $8 on $28 of food, all name brand stuff.  The downside is you have to bag it yourself ... unless you act very confused and the nice girl does it for you!!

Back to the pie, if you like peanut butter AT ALL, you will LOVE this.  Soooooo simple!  Whip together 8 ounces of cream cheese with one cup peanut butter, blend in 1-1/4 cups powdered sugar, then one container cool whip.  Mix well, scraping bowl, put in pie shell and stick it in the freezer.  How easy is that?  Of course I didn't make the crust, but you could, out of crushed oreo cookies instead of graham crackers.  Super fast for company ... or four more birthday parties for me before I begin another year.

Yes, I celebrated a little early, hoping maybe I can get in another couple of dessert celebrations before the month ends.  People talk about their birthday week, I'm having a birthday MONTH!!  I'm also hoping to make cactus cupcakes, but that will have to wait.  I'm due at the Elks kitchen at 8:00 (Ugh ... I hate these early hours) to prepare what we can ahead of time for the big Mother's Day Brunch ... complete with champagne and roses!!  That of course, means ANOTHER early morning tomorrow!!

An Expensive Bunny!!

Bunnies are cute, there's no getting around that.  I had my share back in the day when I raised Chocolate Dutch bunnies on my back porch.  All I can say is DON'T DO IT!!  Cute as they are, don't get one for your grandchildren either.  They are a LOT of work, not to mention the smell, and they multiply like ..... well ...... rabbits!!

I had good intentions of maybe catching up with Barbara and Tom Westerfield, my adopted RV family from Fresno, but was waylaid at every turn.  I finally drug (literally) the queen mattress and box springs out of the closet (yes the closet is that big, pretty crazy, right?) and tested it out as a replacement for my current queen bed.  It was a NO GO.  Not wanting to drag it all the way back to the back bedroom closet, I stuffed it in the bathroom.  Definitely NOT a good idea, since that bathroom is half the size of the closet.

The local group that accepts furniture, wanted to pick it up immediately, or in the next three hours, which I agreed to since I thought I could wait that long for the bathroom to open up.  That put me behind schedule for visiting my friends and the quilt store.

Even though I rushed to the store in Clovis, it was now lunch time, with not a parking spot to be seen.  I said a little prayer for parking.  AHA ... someone is backing out on the other side.  I drove around the block only to see someone take it right in front of my eyes.  My little prayers didn't work this day .... I did that five ... count them, FIVE times before finally finding a spot two blocks away.  Now I have to pray for forgiveness for saying all those really bad words!!

I wandered around the shop quickly, looking for something interesting when I spotted this rabbit quilt.  From reading what I could on the back, you fuse fabric to a backing, cut out the flowers you want, then glue them to fabric, following the rabbit outline.  Cute .... I can do that!!  Final quilting holds all the pieces in place.

It required voile, whatever that is, so I asked the nice saleslady to help me.  Too bad I didn't realize immediately what a good saleslady she was!!  Before I knew it, I had signed up for a two day class to make this (actually a truck quilt, but I'm substituting a rabbit), purchased a portable iron, another ruler, special scissors and yards of fusing material, not to mention the flower and background material.  At least I have my own sewing machine!!

I almost fainted when she told me the total price!!  I will have to put this puppy, or rabbit actually, in my will to offset the $250 cost!!  YIKES!!!!  When she saw the look of shock on my face, she mentioned that the iron, ruler and scissors could be used over and over again.  With a big sigh, I slowly walked back to my truck packing all my new goodies.  It would have been cheaper if I had bought REAL bunnies!!!

Since Barbara and Tom were tied up with accountants and the BIG storm was threatening, I headed back home.  It was a much faster trip without all that weight of money in my wallet.  My truck never got washed since the storm split right up the middle, leaving us high and dry.  So today, if I can figure out how to use that pressure washer I purchased awhile back, I'll give it a good bath in the driveway ..... if it doesn't rain!!

Cinco De Mayo ... Everything's Blooming ...

The great thing about springtime is all the beautiful flowers blooming.  Of course along with that comes allergies, sneezing, coughing, runny nose.  Hanging out over my morning coffee for a couple of minutes seems to help!!

This is Beach Party finally completed.  Don't you just LOVE that backing??  So did my quilter and her friends.  They took all of the selvedge pieces that contain the name so they can go online and find their own.  If I can find an open wall, this one will become a display piece.

Just as I was finishing up the quilt, Cooper jumped on my lap, having just come from outside.  YIKES!!  My senses were immediately assaulted.  Apparently he and Jessie found something nice and dead in the back yard.  BATH TIME!!  Not his favorite activity, but if I step in the bathtub with him (shoes and all), he handles it much better, shivering like crazy of course.  Ten minutes of blowdrying and he's exhausted!!  Back in the tub, Jessie thinks the world has come to an end.  

All clean and pretty, we wandered through the back yard, admiring the blooms.  I should have worn one of those hospital masks.  The honeysuckle is starting to smell divine, in between sneezes.  In spite of the terrific storm a week or so ago, most of the flowers have survived.

One thing I'm really good at growing ..... dandelions!!  I can grow a weed quicker than I can devour a cupcake!!  They are a fun challenge to photograph though, so I haven't drug out the Roundup!

Most of the afternoon was spent on the phone.  If any of you have ever dealt with California DMV, you will feel my pain.  I paid my Jeep registration March 24.  It expired April 24 and I have yet to receive the tags.  Rather than spend four hours in line, I chose the second option, call in and spend 90 minutes on hold.  I kid you not ..... 90 minutes!! 

While I waited, I discovered they had cashed the check on April 27.  It took them 33 days to cash the check and of course they haven't even mailed the tags yet.  I printed out the cancelled check just to prove to the nice Police Officer that they received my payment.  My truck payment was mailed April 25.  No telling how long it will take to process that one.  I've been a government employee and I KNOW they can do better.  That "I just don't give a $hit" attitude irritates me no end.  Reason # 3 to get out of California!!  

Here's some interesting trivia for you ... Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, in case you were wondering.  It's a celebration of Mexican resistance to foreign intervention from France at the Battle of Puebla.  Funny, it's celebrated in the United States more than in Mexico.  

My plan today is to head to Clovis' quilt store, in spite of the black clouds overhead.  My truck needs to be washed badly and I'm hoping nature will do it for me!!

Chili Cheese Fries?

Summer began with a bang yesterday.  I shouldn't have mentioned what great weather we were having.  At 9:00 in the morning it was 80 degrees, humid, overcast, muggy and HOT.  It doesn't look like today will be much different.

I spent most of the day working on the latest lap quilt, only to discover a rather large design flaw in the layout.  I double and triple checked the pattern ... yup, I had sewed it together correctly, just like the picture.  Operative word .... SEWED ... meaning I'm not taking this puppy apart.  It will just be a SQUARE lap quilt instead of an OBLONG one!!  No one will notice!!

When lunch time rolled around, I had chicken in the fridge that needed to be cooked, so I took time out to make chicken marsala.  This is a super easy recipe even I can make.  Season and fry chicken, take out of the pan, add butter and mushrooms.  When almost cooked, add 1/3 cup sherry and 1/2 cup marsala wine.  Put chicken back in and simmer.  If I was smart, I would have boxed some up for dinner at the Magic Kingdom.

My brain was still stuck on the quilt I think, as I wandered off to the Elks lodge about 3:00.  At least I remembered to take the cupcakes with me.  They were a hit ... and gone in 30 seconds!! 

It being the first Tuesday of the month, we figured to be crazy busy ... and we were!!  Everyone came in with their wads of cash rolled into bundles and bought more cards than normal.  Before I knew it, my stomach was growling up a storm.  I'll have chili cheese fries.  The Castle Lawyer went to order for us. 

Where in the world did THAT come from?  Chili cheese fries ... no one orders chili cheese fries!!  I suppose it just jumped into my head that since the hotdogs and hamburgers make my stomach hurt, I'd try something different.  Didn't I try this once before?

What a disappointment, kind of like the quilt!!  A huge soggy mass of undercooked french fries, covered in a disgusting mass of something brown, sprinkled with a little cheese.  They should have doubled the cheese.  It was the only redeeming factor.  No wonder no one orders chili cheese fries.

The amazing part is my stomach was okay, but I woke up four times because my hips and shoulders were aching.  Time to pull the second queen mattress set out of the closet for a trial run and donate this one.  As I wandered around the house in a haze, I kept hearing a beep.  It MUST be the chili cheese fries talking to me.   It took twenty minutes to figure out it wasn't the smoke alarms, it was my house alarm.  

I pushed all the buttons trying to discover WHY, when the phone rang.  Uh oh!!  Apparently there is a Health Issue button.  Who knew??  At least now if I'm having a heart attack, I'll know how to get help, which almost happened when they asked me the passcode.  It's 4:30 in the morning and I haven't had my coffee yet.  It took three tries!!

Come to find out, the alarm system lost the day and date.  I have no idea how to fix its memory since I'm not that good at fixing MINE, but I'll give it a shot ..... after a couple cups of java!!

My tip of the day is ..... DON'T order the chili cheese fries!!  

On Point ???

Sometimes I just wander through my back yard.  There's not a lot there really, just some green grass, some past-their-prime dead roses and a nice white plastic fence.  I don't look beyond the fence because the corrals are full of weeds with no horses, usually bringing about a melancholy feeling.

I try to push that aside and take advantage of the weather, which has been spectacular, hanging out around the 50's at night, 70's during the day.  Funny how I never appreciated any of that in my younger days.  It's fun to watch the birds, gophers and snails as I drink my morning coffee!!

I spent several more hours spring cleaning, with another full truckload going to Goodwill.  I still have two closets to go.  If I could just get that bed out of one closet, I'd probably have another load.  I wouldn't say I'm a hoarder, but I definitely inherited my family's bad habits of saving EVERYTHING, including those twin sheet sets when no twin bed exists!!

What I saw out of the corner of my eye on a quick trip to the garage was this window reflection.  Yikes!!  I'm missing a beautiful sunset!!

This is the only time of year I like Central California ... springtime brings pretty sunsets and nice weather.  I guess you could say it's "on point".

I don't think those words have ever been in my vocabulary.  I thought that was reserved for ballerinas, a subject that never arose in the cowboy household I called home.  Yesterday however, it came up in a conversation with my quilter Ann.  She said this quilt was "on point".  It's made with squares, but they are sewn on their points.  So THAT'S why I've been having so much trouble trying to figure out this one.  

As you can see, I made the outside triangles like the pattern called for, but they are all too big!!  This on point stuff is crazy!!  I'm just hoping it will all come out in the end.  

Ann finished quilting this beauty that I totally forgot I had.  It's called Beach Party and I love it!!  Another keeper!!  The quilting has bubbles and swirls like water on a sandy beach.  Pretty soon I will be able to carpet my walls with quilts!!

All in all, a pretty boring day, although a cupcake picked me up around 7:00 pm, as well as a Giants win against Cincinnati.  

It's Magic Kingdom day when I'll pawn off the rest of the cupcakes on an unsuspecting crew.  Maybe I'll keep just one little "on point" tasty morsel for myself .... or maybe two in case I require solace if that quilt doesn't turn out right!!  

Perfect Timing!!!!

Some people seem to have perfect timing.  They always get in the right line at the grocery store, they walk up to a slot machine and win $3,800 (recently happened to a friend) or maybe they walk in a quilt store and get a 75% discount on everything they buy.  Perfect timing seems to elude me!!

As I was walking out the door to the Tamale Festival, my phone notified me the Giants game was on at 10:00 am.  Perfect timing!!  Since I found out the eating contest wasn't in the best part of town anyway, I opted to watch the game.  Maybe I'll do a little baking on the side.

While at Walmart the other day, I found Duff's Pink Camo cake mix for the regular price of $2.98, compared to $4.98 in Save Mart.  It was an impulse buy, I admit.  Not that I need cake when I have Oreos in the freezer, but I've been hankering to make something pretty.

With the Giants ahead in the game, I was definitely feeling the vibes as I gathered all the stuff I needed.  My timing was perfect here too ..... I had one egg for breakfast, leaving only one in the package.  Well for heaven's sake!!  I sat down on the couch to contemplate my dilemma.

I couldn't stand it, so while the Mets were up, I made a mad dash to the local market.  My timing was perfect again ... no parking spaces!  It's Sunday after church and the place is packed!!  No worries, I parked by the garbage cans, holding my breath, and got back an inning later.  We were still leading!!

In no time at all, I had camo cakes in camo wrappers with pretty pink sprinkles.  Who's going to eat these you ask?  Well two disappeared before I could even get them put away in tins I keep in the freezer.  The Magic Kingdom of Elks will probably get the majority I thought, as I ran to the medicine cabinet for a Tums.

My timing wasn't exactly good on these either.  It's hard to fill the cups with three tablespoons of different colored batter all at the same time.  Still, they are pretty cute, taste delicious and ..... well they are cupcakes!!  Who could resist that??

During commercials, my timing was a little better as I sewed the other square box quilt together.  I'm not impressed with it at all.  My guess is it will become a donation.  THIS one on the other hand, I've taken a liking to.  There were enough commercials to come up with this placement and cut out all the little triangles.  Now if I can just figure out how to sew it all together!!

Today is a planned do-nothing day, sort of like yesterday ... and the day before that!!  I'm determined to get to the quilt store in Fresno, but am trying for perfect timing when there's no traffic, either on the road or in the store!!

You know what?  (The light bulb comes on!!)   My timing is finally perfect .... I have cupcakes for breakfast!!