Let It Go ... Let It Go!!

For those of you with grandkids, you will probably be singing that song all day now.  The Disney movie FROZEN played on television yesterday and today I feel like she came to the Central Valley.  At 27 degrees the last two nights, I am definitely FROZEN.  This is my white frost encrusted horse corral ... giving me a sense of what it's like to live back East.

My house wasn't much better at 62 degrees when I got up.  Who the heck set the heater THAT low??

Having wrapped the presents for the Elks kids, yesterday was S-Day.  Santa Claus was coming to town and we needed to get ready.  First up ... get the soldiers to stand at attention.  This is just the cutest decoration I've seen.  I may have to find one of these for my house.  At this party, the Grinch is Santa's helper, but unfortunately, he wasn't any better at pronouncing the kids names than Santa was.

We set up plates and plates of cookies and got the ice cream out of the freezer.  After six tries, looking in every drawer in the kitchen, I finally found ice cream scoops the size of Montana.  That created a slight problem when our little plastic cups were no more than Manhattan.  

For some reason, I keep getting stuck with the project that requires lots of calculations, like figure out how much water it takes to make hot cocoa with 78 ounces of mix.  There I was, boiling water on the stove again!!

Once Santa got a good start, we brought out the food and the cocoa.  I have to say that was the best cocoa I've ever had!!  Seems like no one ever sits down with a cup of hot chocolate any more.  I even topped everyone's cup with a shot of ......... whipped cream.  It was suggested I use peppermint schnapps, but this was a kids party!!

When all was said and done, there were 85 happy kids running around like crazy, stoked up on sugar enough to last at least a couple of days.  Honestly, I think this party was more for the Grandparents than the kids.  They all had a blast taking pictures, wiping cookie crumbs off their laps and cleaning up hot cocoa from the floor on their hands and knees.  Fun, right??

It is an interesting phenomena that when it comes to serving the food, there are ten volunteers who show up at the last minute.  When the line dwindles down to nothing, they magically disappear.  It's the same three of us who bus all the tables, pick up all the trash and wash everything down.  

In the end, there were only two of us to clean all those 125 ice cream dishes.  I didn't mind at all because he's the best looking guy around in my opinion.  I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing, but alas, he's married.  

What a mess ... and ice cream is not the easiest thing to clean.  Yes, we had a dishwasher, but it's old and tired, forcing the "wash before you wash" element into our routine.  Two hours later I was finally out the door.  My puppies were thrilled to see me, but being gone so long required an hour on the floor playing the ball game.  

I want to thank everyone who mentioned statins for lowering your cholesterol may not be all they are made out to be.  I'll keep aware of any symptoms and head back to the doctor if need be.  

I've waded through some of My Grandmothers information.  It's definitely difficult to follow when there are eleven children each having five children and so on down the line.  For now, I'm going to go stand in front of my fireplace and warm up.   I'm FROZEN!!!  Let it go, let it go, let it go ............ 

I'm Getting Coal For Christmas!!

Nancy has been a very bad girl.  As much as I thought I was doing good, turns out I wasn't and the results are as high as pie in the sky.  That quick trip to the Doctor's Office actually WAS rather quick.  I'm healthy as a horse in every aspect except one.  The dreaded Cholesterol!!

When he said it was 294, I thought YAY ... it's below 300.  WRONG!!  It's supposed to be below 200.  Gee, I gave up ice cream three months ago and rarely eat red meat.  Okay, not exactly rarely because I did smoke those ribs, but mostly I eat turkey, chicken and bread (slathered in butter).  I suppose those six glasses of chocolate mousse weren't great, but I HAD to find the piece of spatula.

He ordered a prescription for something I can't pronounce.  I stopped by the pharmacy to make sure they didn't need anything.  "Who's your insurance carrier?"  I don't have one.  It didn't matter what my cholesterol was because the price of the meds almost killed me.  $175.88 for three months.  It's okay ... I have a savings account and will be in Mexico in January where I'll stock up.

I actually admitted to the doctor my intention to buy in Mexico and his response was "I have no problem with their medications".  That's good to know!!

An hour later when I went to pick it up, everything had magically disappeared.  They didn't have any information.  Good thing the girl remembered my shock at the price.  They called, got another prescription and filled it.  So I'll be getting coal for Christmas, and if it doesn't TASTE like coal, then I shouldn't eat it.

The rest of the afternoon I spent looking for this book.  I truly don't know who made this up, but they went to the Isle of Man to every parish and church to gather the information.  Since it is such a small island and really doesn't have many families, I'm relatively sure anyone who has family born there is a cousin.  First however, I need to find the book.

I thought it was buried in a cedar chest way back in the corner.  Unfortunately, the only way to get there was to move every shelf out of the way.  This is actually the END result.  The chest can't even been seen.

First up, move all of the stuff OUT of the shelving units and on to the floor, then move the unit.  Most of THIS part wasn't heavy.  The problem was getting this dresser off the TOP of the chest, along with that huge piece of marble standing behind it.  Boy that puppy was heavy!!

With everything finally out of the way, I was able to access the chest.  It's full of my grandmothers dolls, many pieces of 1800's clothing, including corsets, wool tights and gloves.  I even have a folding umbrella.  There's some great stuff here!!  It should all be in a museum somewhere.  There are also lots of newspapers (my mother was the saver) including Kennedy's assassination, Elvis and Sadaam Husein's death.  Unfortunately, there was no "Grandmothers" book.

I carefully repacked everything, rearranged it all back in the corner and stared at the boxes for awhile.  I just KNEW it was in there somewhere.  I took the first box down, almost getting a hernia it was so heavy, and lifted out all the books.  There at the bottom was My Grandmothers!!  I shouted with glee!!

Inside the house, I began pouring through the pages.  First big problem!!  This was all printed BY HAND, in rather fancy dancy writing that is terribly hard to read.  It helps that someone went through the book and with a red pen, putting a star by my grandfather's information.  There are birth records, death records and census reports, all culminating in my Uncle's family.  I guess we have always been the black sheep side.  There is one small indication of my father's birth ... and nothing else.  

Interestingly enough, my Grandfather Kissack married my Grandmother Kissack.  Her maiden name was Jesse Lily Kissack.  There are MANY more Kissack's than I thought possible, going clear back to the 1700's.  It's going to take some time to wade through this and figure out who's who.  It would be exceedingly clearer if it were all typed.  Maybe that's something I can work on.  

In the meantime, all the information that Nick Russell and Mister Ed sent to me, has disappeared from my inbox.  Modern technology sure can be frustrating!!  I'm still assuming we are cousins however ... and I'll prove it when I re-gather the information.

Today is Santa-Get Your Free Toy day at the Elks.  In less than two hours, Santa's elves wrapped over a hundred gifts to be given away this afternoon, along with soda and cookies.  Lactose intolerance nixed the milk.  I'm wearing my big coat.  It was a chilly 60 degrees in my house this morning with a corresponding 29 outside.  

The Big Red Box

It's funny about RV'ing ... you meet the nicest people.  Even better, they become like family that you get to visit every so often, especially at Christmas.  

A few years ago, having barely met Barbara and Tom Westerfield, they took me under their wing and on a tour of the United States.  Pretty crazy, right?  Turns out when they are not on the road, they live about 70 miles away ... perfect for dinner dates.  As luck would have it however, I picked Thursday, which became the predicted rainiest day of the year in California.  This time they got it right.   Tom really did smile, I just wasn't fast enough with the phone in this picture in Maine I think!!

I left home in my big truck for safety's sake.  Baby is her name and she's a big, heavy 3/4 ton diesel Chevrolet truck.  I LOVE my truck.  She's gotten me out of some bad scrapes over the years and is still running strong with 103,000 miles on her.  It was barely spitting rain droplets when I left.  

In case you didn't know, Thursday is truck day in Central California.  They all get together and schedule their loads on the same day so as to clog the freeways.  The further South I got, the more rain there was, so I just tucked in behind a couple of trucks and cruised along.  In no time, my windshield wipers were working overtime.  They didn't help at all.  I should have replaced those rubber thingies a year ago, not to mention the film inside on the windshield that hasn't been washed in three years.

No problem though ... I made it to the quilt store in Clovis where I planned on spending a few hours.  Fourteen yards of fabric later (enough to back four quilts) at a big discount, I was done in no time.  Two hours to kill before meeting the Westerfields at Macaroni Grill.  This is Barbara and I at the Albuquerque zoo.

By now the rain is really coming down ... like cats and dogs ... and my poor little umbrella just isn't doing the trick.  After a little shopping, I headed over to the appointed spot to wait it out.  

That's when I spotted the big red box.  After skirting around the water dripping from the ceiling INSIDE the restaurant, Barbara presented me with salted caramel toffee bark.  YUM YUM!!!  This box steps into the spotlight in no time at all.

Dinner was okay .. not the best I've ever had and the service was iffy (we had to ask for bread several times and never did see the grated cheese), but the company MORE than made up for it.  There is a new GREAT grand baby in the family with another one on the way.  Time flies when you're having fun and in no time, I had to get home to the puppies who had been locked up for eight hours.

Turns out they had an even longer wait.  By now it's dark and my bionic eye lenses kicked in, meaning I can't see much of anything.  The concentric circles in my eyes make lights appear much bigger and brighter than they really are ... and that includes the reflections in the still pouring down rain.  No problem .. I'll just go slow.  And so I did .... until I remembered the red box I left on the seat in the restaurant.

I was about five miles away in 5:00 traffic, but I wasn't going to leave that candy.  After a trip through the entire parking lot of Children's Hospital looking for an exit ... I only wanted to turn around ... I made it back to the restaurant.  The nice manager had my candy in his office.  Back on the even more crowded roads, if that's possible, I slowly made my way on to the freeway.  California needs to put a LOT more reflectors on the highway to delineate the lanes.

There's a country crossroad that links the two freeways.  The alternative of 45 stoplights wasn't an option.  Trouble is, my eyes are even worse on a two lane road.  A two lane FLOODED road where the white line is just a ghost, if visible at all.  By now there is water everywhere in depths ranging from two inches to six.  With a long string of traffic coming my direction, I never could see the road well enough to miss the lakes.  Consequently, to the consternation of everyone behind me, we went 40 mph.  The only place I might have pulled over would have required a tow truck to pull me from the mud.

At long last I hit the second freeway and made it home in one piece.  It poured the entire way!!  The best part of the whole trip besides dinner with wonderful friends and the red box now calling my name, was the free truck wash!!

I've since heard from Jan Mains, long time RV driver, that yellow glasses help you see much better in rainy conditions.  I'm buying three pair, one for every vehicle.  It really doesn't bother me to drive in such conditions, but I'm sure it bothers everyone else because I go slower!!

It's Christmas time at the Elks, which means wrapping presents for every member's kids.  Santa arrives tomorrow, so that will be today's plan of attack.  I think I'm finally getting in the spirit!!

Control - Alt - Delete

Terrible picture of a phone, but it's hard to take a picture of your phone using your phone, right?  Back in the old days of Dell Computers and Microsoft Windows where I worked ... even before Windows had numbers ... if anything went wrong, you could hit Control-Alt-Delete and a screen would come up listing everything that was happening on your computer.  If a program was giving you problems or had locked up, you could just highlight it and hit DELETE.  Magically, THAT program would close down, leaving everything else running.

Problem solved!!  Open the program again and everything would work perfectly.  Oh how I pine for the "old" days.  Yesterday however, I did discover that Control-Alt-Delete is still alive and kicking in my phone.  I know it went for a swim recently, but has been working just fine ever since.  That is until last night when I put it on the table and it went black.  Uh oh ... that's never happened before.

Nothing I did could revive it.  I pushed every button twice, plugged it in, shook it ... everything I could think of ..... and nothing.  It's a terrible BLACK HOLE feeling.  I have no communication with the world AT ALL!!  What if something happens?  How did I live previously with no cell phone?  I suppose I could use Facebook on my computer. 

I'm now imagining trying to get a new phone before Christmas ... good luck with that ... and I'm sure the price tag will cause a heart attack.  I gave up and sat dejected on the couch.  About an hour later, it hit me.  Control-Alt-Delete!!!  YES!!  I can do that with my phone!!  I held down the two keys at once for a count of ten and held my breath.  A little Apple light appeared!  SAVED!!!  I'm so excited I'm doing a little dance.  What a load off my shoulders.  It's now working just fine!!  Sometimes that old tech stuff still works!!

It's a good thing it was working when I cooked that turkey so you could see my beautiful bird.  I said there was good and bad ... here's the good part.  I cooked it uncovered at 350 for 1-1/2 hours.  It was nicely brown and beautiful when I covered it with foil and placed it back in the oven.  Verne said about 3 hours total.  WRONG!!  Here comes the bad part.

In another hour, I checked the temperature for the 145 degree "perfect" mark.  I watched in horror as the arrow climbed all the way up to 180.  I yanked out the gauge ... no use watching it go further.  RATS!!!  I sat the bird on the counter and waited.  Fifteen minutes later when the temperature was probably closer to 200 rather than 160, I cut it up.  The bad news .... it was WAY overdone and not the least bit juicy.  Tender, but dry as the Sahara Desert.

It tasted delicious, you just needed a glass of water with every bite.  Maybe lots of gravy will help keep it from the graveyard.  I dumped all the drippings into a saucepan and made delicious gravy like my Mom used to, adding a couple cups of potato water for a little more flavor.  I actually even cooked some broccoli and made these up for the freezer.  Instant dinner!!

So for the second time, I was pretty dejected.  I had such high hopes for this bird.  My advice is to cook the turkey until it's brown, cover it with foil, then check the temperature every half hour or so.  I'm determined to fine tune this recipe since I love turkey so much.  You will probably see this again.  

In other good news, I'm typing this morning, which means I survived the 60 mile drive in the horrible rainstorm last night.  There's nothing worse than driving at night with my bionic eye lenses ... unless it's driving at night when it's raining cats and dogs!!  That's tomorrow's story!!

You Thought I Was Kidding ....

Santa Claus really did come to town yesterday.  Here's proof positive!!  I wasn't too happy about that midnight call for a sleigh ride, but I could hardly say no.  Out of all the people in the world, Santa called ME for a ride in my Chevy truck.  He could easily have picked a Ford!!

Sleigh bells weren't jingling when I picked him up, but he did have a bell he was ringing and a big HO HO HO.  It was hard for me to be cheery that early in the morning, even for Santa.

Little did I know I would soon become the Elf Helper to about twenty little reindeer.  Good thing I wore my Reindeer Boots.  They weren't impressed at all.  I rang the bell and said I was looking for spare reindeer for the sleigh and they all came running.  With their handprint horns and sparkly red stick-on noses, they were harder to maneuver than a gaggle of geese.

One by one, they got to speak to Santa while I corralled the rest.  The teacher with a heart of gold and more patience than I've seen in a lifetime, took everyone's picture.  It's funny who gravitates towards you.  One little boy's father played Santa two weeks ago ... a rather non-jovial representation ... and he told me all about it twenty times before it was his turn.  

I felt bad because he had apparently destroyed one of his horns with a pair of scissors.  He held on to the remaining one like it was gold.  Once he got the candy cane Santa was handing out, he came back to tell me about his dad three more times.  I played along ... Santa needs all the helpers he can get, even if they are Firemen in real life ... and reindeer horns fall off sometimes, but they grow back.  No worries!!

I slipped out of character when one little girl told me all she wanted for Christmas was a Hatchimal.  They run about $60 ... a pretty tall order for this less than prosperous town, not to mention you can't find them anywhere.  Some crazy writer lady who was losing money bought up hundreds of them, pretty much cornering the market, so she could sell them for exorbitant prices ... upwards of $200.00 each.  

People found out, as people will, and she has been the scourge of Christmas ... trying to make money off little children's Christmas wishes.  No one is buying ... I hope she gets stuck with every one!!

It's a very busy time of the year for Santa.  He had to get back to his toy shop, so the kids got one last hug as they promised to keep their eyes closed on Christmas Eve.  As we walked out through the yard, we got lots of waves and yells from everyone, including the adults.  What a fun way to spend the morning!!

I dropped Santa off, in spite of his invite to have a hot toddy ... it's 75 degrees out Santa!!  After picking up my new glasses (no new prescription for the first time EVER), I headed back home to this box staring at me from the counter.  Krispie treats ... Krispie treats.  After no luck finding a Hatchimal anywhere on-line, I broke down and made my childhood favorite.  

Rice Krispie treats are the bomb!!  Easy to throw together and HEALTHY, right??  

To offset the treats, I cooked a big turkey breast according to the new recipe.  It was good and it was bad.  I'll tell you about it tomorrow.  Today I'm headed off for a Christmas lunch in Fresno on what will soon become the rainiest day of the year, complete with flooding predictions.  Good timing Nancy, good timing!!

If you happen to see a Hatchimal, please purchase it for me.  I will make it worth your while.   It would be nice to make this little girl's Christmas wish come true.

The Pineapple Express!!

The Pineapple Express is headed to town, kind of like Santa Claus.  Least that's what they call the weather headed our direction.  The warm winds from Hawaii are keeping our temperatures higher than normal, but bringing lots of rain and snow to the higher mountains.  There has been many flooded streets in the small towns that have received from 5-8 inches of rain.  That suits me just fine since it's been keeping the nighttime temperatures in the high 40's and the days close to 60.

For once my timing was pretty good ... the time share I sold (basically gave away) in Kihei Hawaii will soon have a large increase in yearly cost.  It appears that big earthquake caused a tsunami on the island of Maui a couple of days ago.  Not the biggest ever, but big enough to flood the small town, including businesses and condos.  I don't ever remember that happening before.  Repairs will probably be costly, which of course are paid for by the "owners".

Magic Kingdom night went as expected.  The television's couldn't be programmed to show the numbers and the entire Bingo machine broke down, LOSING all the numbers up to that point.  Talk about a rowdy crowd!!  Apparently someone accidently hit the wrong switch.  When I stepped outside, I saw why.  A full moon (or almost full) was causing us a lot of distress.  There's nothing worse than a crazed angry bingo lady.

With other bingo games closing down for Christmas, we had lots of new people.  That's good.  Unfortunately, the "old folks" like to complain about the newbies.  That's bad!!  From the time we started until we ended at 10:15 it was a madhouse.  It's a good thing we are off for two weeks so everyone can recuperate!!

I'm off early this morning.  Santa called at midnight.  Yup ... midnight!!!!  His sleigh broke down and he needs a ride to some local schools for candy cane distribution.  I almost said no ... I hate candy canes ... but what can you say when SANTA is calling in distress.  I was a little disturbed when he said something about helping him get into his suit.  Sorry Santa, you're on your own in that department.

Up, up and AWAY!!!!!

Do You Keep Christmas??

Please tell me I'm not alone.  I tend to buy presents that I would like to have.  Gift cards are high on my list because you can buy whatever you want.  I really only have about four people to surprise on Christmas, but gift cards are so impersonal ... like a box of socks.

When I saw this unique wine rack from the same guy as the Christmas tree, I thought it might work perfect as a gift.  I would LOVE to get this for Christmas.  So you know what I'm going to do?  I'm going to keep it!!  It fits perfectly into my cowboy kitchen.  Not that I drink a lot of wine, but I think it's Cowboy cute.  Besides, it would cost more than I paid just to get it shipped.  It weighs a ton!!

Of course NOW my problem is replacing it with something resembling a Christmas present.  That's a pretty tall order when the recipient has everything, or like me, just goes and buys whatever they want.  I never know what to get them, so it's really a struggle when I want to keep what I bought for them!!  Life is tough!!  The alternative is a quilt.   Quilt ... wine rack ... quilt .... wine rack.

To make matters worse, I did it again!!  I had a quilt I wasn't thrilled with when I dropped it off at the quilter.  This will be a Christmas present I announced.  Lo and behold, when she was finished, it was magnificent and I couldn't pry it from my fingers to get it in the mailing box.  Maybe if I had in mind to give it away in the beginning, it would have been easier.  Maybe I'm just being selfish.  I can always order another wine rack or make another quilt, although the fabrics are never available the second time around.

Back to zero on the present front, the Quilter gave me THIS great idea.  I was able to purchase all this Christmas fabric at half price.  In less than two hours, I had it cut and stitched together.  I ran back to the quilter who put it on her machine and VOILA!!  Instant Christmas gift.  Of course it took me another four hours to get the binding hand sewn, but quilt (Christmas present) in a day!!!  I wrapped it up and stuffed it in a box before I could change my mind.  

On to number three ... I ordered those gift cards to be shipped to my address.  No use taking any chances.  I thought it was a safe choice since I probably wouldn't keep those.  Actually, one will go in with the quilt.  

I don't buy gift cards often.  Little did I know, now you can walk in to almost any store and pick them up.  No mailing involved.  At Walgreens for Christmas cards .... by the way .... what happened to Christmas cards?  In a section 30 feet long, both sides, there was about two feet of cards for the holiday.  Half of those were in Spanish!!  

Anyway, I found an even bigger rack of GIFT cards.  Since I wanted to get the quilt in the mail as soon as possible, I bought one to send off.  I'll just keep the one coming in the mail.  There I go again .... keeping Christmas.

In the end, I still have one present to go and I have absolutely NO ideas.  These are all long distance presents with mailing involved, so I need to get my act together!!  Today is Magic Kingdom day, I still haven't made it to Modesto, nor have I even made it to the garage to look for that genealogy book.  Seems the faster I go, the behinder I get!!!

Super Simple!!

But NOT this quilt!!  I enjoy making easier quilts with big squares.  Give me something like this with 5,000 pieces, each of which has at least four seams, and I'm overwhelmed and bored in a flash.  This wasn't finished overnight ... it has taken me almost a year.  No, I'm not necessarily thrilled with the square placement, but it just wouldn't stay on my quilting wall long enough to design the perfect pattern.  Every morning I walked in my sewing room to find it in a big pile on the floor.  So I just stitched it up.  DONE!!

Wasn't I shocked when I put it on the bed for a picture and discovered it was a King size instead of a queen as marked on the package.  That certainly made a BIG difference!!  It will also have a BIG price when it comes to the 8 yards of backing material and the final quilting cost.  YIKES!!

While hunting in my cabinet for my next conquest, I quickly found out the glass door wouldn't shut.  What the heck?  Remember these on your grandmothers china cabinet?  Apparently when they get old enough, the rollers disintegrate.  Least I think that's the problem.  After trying to slam the door and almost breaking the glass, I found half of three rollers on the floor.  They shouldn't be hard to replace, super simple, if I can find eight of them.  

In the meantime, someone rang the doorbell ... a rarity at my house.  Outside there was a box that smelled wonderful ... like a pine tree.  Sure enough, when I opened it up, here was a beautiful centerpiece for my table, complete with a candle.  My outlaw sister (ex sister-in-law) sent me a piece of Idaho for Christmas.  Just add water.  

That part wasn't quite as simple as it sounds.  Nowhere could I get a finger in to see where the actual dish was or how much water it required.  I finally just stuck it under the faucet until water flowed everywhere.  Apparently I have to do that every day ... a nice reminder of the freezing cold snow I'm missing in Idaho.

You're going to hate me for this one ... but it's Super Simple!!  A perfect idea for quick neighborly gifts and more importantly, sugar your grandkids can take home to their house.  It's just cereal ... good for them, right?  

One five ounce package of pretzels, which I couldn't find.  

I just bought a bag and measured out about two cups.  

2-1/2 cups Cheerios (Honey Nut, but any kind will work)

2-1/2 cups Corn Chex

1 cup peanuts (or any kind of nuts)

1-12 oz pkg M & M's

1-12 oz pkg white chocolate chips

1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

I added marshmallows because I had a bag that needed to go away.  

Dump everything into a LARGE bowl.  Put the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl with the oil.  Heat for 30 seconds and stir, heat and stir, until completely melted.  Now the easy part ... just pour it over the cereal and stir like crazy.  It might help to do this in the sink.  Cereal kind of went everywhere, which the puppies thought was awesome!!  Dump it onto a sheet pan (I covered mine in foil so I wouldn't have to wash it) and let it cool.  DONE!!  And boy ... is it ever GOOD!!!  Might I say addictive?  This is actually half a recipe ... you can double it if you want.  

I was so sick of sweet stuff ... I really couldn't keep my hands off the crunch mix ... I brought out my best cast iron skillet to cook some pork loin.  I was on such a roll from the kids Christmas dinner, I was feeling really good about cooking some MEAT!!  

Here's the weird thing.  I found some of that Montreal Seasoning for chicken and decided to try it on the pork.  Once nice and brown on the stovetop, I stuck it in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Another super simple idea.  I must say this is the best tasting pork I've had in awhile.  That seasoning is the bomb!!!  

Fat and sassy sitting on the couch, I received a text from Nick Russell that we were kissing cousins.  NO WAY!!!  Apparently HIS cousins have discovered their family came from the Isle of Man.  Well isn't that just interesting as all get out!!  It's a very small island that most people have never heard of, so chances are pretty good that he's correct. 

I have a book called "Our Grandmothers", researched and put together by my paternal side of the family, going back to the 1700's.  Who knows where it might be, but I'm going to be on the hunt for the next couple of days.  Having "family" in Florida is a perfect excuse to go visit and not feel bad about taking up their time, because, you know, they're FAMILY!!

TURKEY TIME!!

Up bright and early ... way too early for an old retired gal ... I headed off to the Elks to help prepare other turkey dinner for Challenged Children.  This time there were about 175 kids and caretaker adults.  Although at one time I fancied myself a caretaker, I quickly discovered I'm NOT.  Hats off to all of those wonderful people who work and teach at the schools for these kids.

Although I thought we were having ham, turkey got back on the menu because it was so darn good!!  About an hour before lunchtime, I realized no one was getting the water boiling for the "instants" or putting casseroles together.  You know me, I took charge!!  We carefully measured out all the water for the instant potatoes and stuffing and got it on the stove.  Trouble was, the guy in charge of the huge gas stove couldn't remember which pot was which, an important thing since each one had a different amount of water.

After I made four trips around the corner to point out each one, one of the guys got smart and whipped out a sharpie, whereupon he marked the pots.  "3-quart potatoes" will forever be tattooed on the side.

In the meantime, I threw together the typical green bean casserole and got it in the oven, along with the rolls.  With a pound of butter melted in each pot, we finally stirred everything together and voila!!  Potatoes and stuffing.  But where's the gravy?

Luckily, I was just in time to grab the foil from under the turkey, dump it into a pot and throw it on the stove with some water.  Best gravy ever, after ten minutes of whisking the mix into the now boiling water.  It's amazing what a little turkey juice can do.  Remember this part if you cook a turkey this way.

Amid screams, running, mumbling and broken plates, and that was just the kitchen crew, we got everyone fed.  There was lots of screaming and running from the kids too, which is why I admire their teachers so much.  That's a job I probably couldn't handle at all.

So here's the turkey recipe ... I haven't tried it personally, but will be doing so this week.  Vern used large turkey breasts only.  These particular ones were Norbest.

Cover a large cookie sheet with foil.  Unwrap the entire piece of meat and pat dry, placing it on the cookie sheet.  Brush with melted butter before sprinkling with Montreal Chicken spice.  I only have Montreal Steak, so that will be on my grocery list.  Place in a 350 degree oven UNCOVERED for 1-1/2 to 2 hours ... until it's nice and brown.  Cover with foil and press it down around the bottom to the cookie sheet.

Back in the oven for another 1-1/2 to 2 hours until a meat thermometer reads 145 degrees.  That's when he takes the pan out and leaves it on the counter to sit (still covered) while it keeps cooking for about 15 minutes.  He said the final temp should read 160, but I know the "recommended" temperature of turkey is around 165-170.  That part is up to you.  When he took the foil off and sliced it up, it was the juiciest most tender I've ever eaten.

All the recipes I've ever tried say to tent the turkey with foil first.  That's the mistake he says, because when you take the foil off to brown and finish cooking the bird, that's when it dries out.  I'm giving it a shot this week.  I'll let you know how it works.  He did say he cooks whole turkeys the same way, but uses smaller ones ... 12 pounds and under.  I probably wouldn't want to try this recipe for the first time at your Thanksgiving dinner ... you know, just in case.

In other good news of the week, you'll be happy to know I found the tip of my spatula.  I bit down on something in the second to last glass of mousse that didn't quite feel right.  Sure enough, here was the piece I had been looking for, rather chewed up.  I'm guessing this particular spatula is about 30 years old.  Maybe it's time for a new one!!  At least the company didn't find it!!

Even though it's still sprinkling, I'm going to try and make it to the big city today for the last of my Christmas shopping.  I've tried this three times now and never made it.  Wish me luck!!

DOUBLE STICK!! I'm BACK!!

Unfortunately, I've got to run ... another Elks Challenged Children's lunch with over 200 kids.  It's a good thing lots of the food is INSTANT (Stove Top stuffing and canned yams)!!!!  I don't have too much trouble with that!!  Will come back and finish this blog in a couple of hours!!

That was a pretty long couple of hours.  Whew!!!  What a day!  To begin with, on Thursday, I headed off to the Doctor's office for blood tests.  Needles aren't my thing unless I'm on the giving end with my animals.  Good news was that I got right in at 8:00 ... first appointment of the day.  Bad news was it took her DOUBLE sticks to get the pint of blood they took, along with small talk about if it still hurts, there's a tendon there that I might have stuck the needle into, so we'll just stop and use the other arm.  Okay!!!

By then my blood pressure was so high the vein was highly visible, making for a quick extraction.  From there, I went into town to pick up my latest quilt.  Fall has finally come to Central California as the leaves on the trees are gorgeous.  We might have missed it altogether since it's now back to 60 degree nights and rain.

As usual, I was ready to pass this quilt off on to an unsuspecting individual until I saw the work my quilter did.  It's just amazing to me how a ho-hum quilt can become something fabulous after she has done her magic.  RATS!!  Now I have to come up with another Christmas present.  Lo and behold, sitting on her table was a beautiful quilt that looked like bubbles.  She told me her secret was simple, full length strips of fabric purchased at Joann's for 50% off, and sewn together.

I ran, drove actually, to the store, found most of the same fabric and raced home.  In two hours I had another quilt and my Christmas present problem solved.  She will work her magic in about a week, just in time for Christmas mail.  The good news is I have enough left over to make another one if it's one I just can't live without!!

For now, I'm going to go have a second cup of coffee and recover from the Challenged Children.  THAT was a hectic day to say the least!!  I also have the "perfect turkey" recipe to pass along.

We're Finally WET!

Yesterday was a day to remember Pearl Harbor.  I finally remembered about 9:00 am, after I had written the blog.  I hope everyone gave a little thought to the Veterans and civilians who fought so gallantly for our country on that day in 1941.

At long last, California is getting some of the wet stuff.  I just wish it wouldn't rain on my parade quite so much.  Every time I plan to hit the Game Refuge, it pours!!  The clouds came up and bowled us over as the rain began to fall.  I don't usually mind the rain much, but today it's blowing and going in all directions and sheets of the wet stuff are hitting my windows in waves.

Absolutely nothing else happened yesterday.  I became a little anxious when my phone started acting up, figuring I was going to have to buy ANOTHER $500 masterpiece of technology.  It seemed to be working, but there was no sound.  I finally discovered it thought the earphones were plugged in, which they were not.  

After a few minutes of looking, I finally found the REAL headphones and tried them out.  Sure enough, they worked fine.  I just don't want to be walking around with plugs in my ears all the time.  After following all the directions on the internet, as a last resort, I finally stuck it in a cup of rice.  

I'm pretty sure rice doesn't work quite that fast, but within 15 minutes, a recheck found the volume back to normal.  I did a little dance.  There will be NO new phone in this household.  At least it SEEMS to be working fine for the time being.  

There won't be much of a blog this morning ... I'm rather cranky without my morning coffee.  My new doctor wants to drain some of my blood just to see where I stand.  That will probably lighten the load considerably and lower my blood pressure.  It's really not that high ... only when I'm stressed, like when I tried to chop my finger off or when I dropped my phone.

See you on the flip side!!  

The Magic Purple Apron

The mornings around here have been pretty spectacular.  Or at least they were until yesterday, when we were socked in with fog.  I guess that's something like pulling a sock over your head so you can't see.  Travel on those mornings is pretty iffy with crazy drivers trying to prove the fog doesn't bother them at all.  It's also been downright COLD!!  Every morning has been in the 30's ... brrrrrrrrrrr.

As much as I wanted to, I never got in that nap yesterday.  Gearing up for the night of adventure at the Magic Kingdom of Bingo takes all day.  There's laundry to do, puppy pressure to play the ball game and house cleaning to get done, not to mention trying to salvage those leftover ribs.

I put them in the oven at 325 for an hour, which resulted in warm ribs.  Still tough as leather.  What have I got to lose .. I left them in for ANOTHER hour before finally having lunch.  Still not done enough, but better.  Good grief ... I think those came off an old mastodon or maybe a T-Rex!!

In no time, the appointed hour arrived and I headed off to town with a handful of aspirin.  I yawned all the way, so upon arrival, I ordered a large coke.  I need all the caffein I can get!!  

The King's Men have taken to meeting up in the Sky Lounge pre-Bingo to gather enough strength to handle the peasants.  All this time I thought they had a drink of the mead variety, but come to find out, it's all been non-alcoholic beer.  Plied with bowls of peanuts, pretzels and popcorn, we all went downstairs, mumbling and grumbling, ready to meet the crowd.

My only mission for the night was to get a Magic Purple Apron from the Chief of the Storage Room.  Every time I help out at a dinner function, and there are MANY times, I'm given a filthy dirty apron from the "wash" bin.  Seems the Castle Chef hides the aforementioned magic pieces of material for his own pleasure.  All of the Mucky Mucks have their own, which I covet, so it's my duty to abscond with the first one I find.

It was a rather easy night, since most of the peasants are broke buying Christmas gifts.  That's a good thing ... at least their money is going for a good cause.  That's when I discovered our doors were missing.  Someone removed our last bastion of safety from the peasants, who now flood our area before we are set up.  

Come to find out, the Grand Marshal couldn't find doors to fit his chambers upstairs, so he stole ours.  Seriously??  I'm coming down in the middle of the night and putting them back!!  After much discussion, we all decided that wasn't going to happen, so we had a stomach churning hotdog instead.  

That's when I hit up the Chief of the Storage Room for a magic apron.  Of course once the part time help heard "I" was getting one, everyone ELSE wanted one too.  You know how that goes!!  Alas, there was only one in the Castle and it was awarded to me!!  YAY!!  I'm now one of the prestigious kitchen slaves!!  

I didn't tell anyone, but I'm going to wear it at home too.  I know it holds magical powers that will make my ribs cook faster, my chocolate not seize up and my gravy not lumpy.  I'm still playing Russian Roulette with the chocolate mousse dessert since I haven't found the missing tip of the spatula.  I have three more to go!!

As luck would have it, I wouldn't have ANY unless it was bad.  I lost my phone in the Sky Lounge ... it came out of my back pocket, but was luckily found by Prince Charming.  When I got home however, it promptly fell in the toilet.  I guess I do have SOME luck, because it happened BEFORE I sat down.  Note to self ... never put your phone in the back pocket of those pants again!!  It survived, thank goodness, both the dunking, the washing and the hair dryer, with no ill affects.  

Really, I think I should have that nap now!!