Snowmageddon

Kinda funny that I didn't post during the imposed homebound days.  We did what we could to keep things hopping:

21st Century Storytelling

 Baby J had surgery during the midst of the huge snowstorm.  We went back last week for his followup appt.  I got to watch the girls while Momma, Daddy and J were in with the doc.  We read books, played I Spy, Follow the Leader and Copy Cat.  (the receptionists were laughing at Nana as she fell on the floor after Girlee J fell down an I "followed the leader".  Baby J is doing GREAT!  Whatta praise!!

Watching the hospital parking lot while waiting for Baby J's appointment

The weather was so bad, this church canceled "Grace"!!!

View from our house up the driveway to the road.

Since girlee J was developing a sniffle and the temps were perilously low, Nana brought the snow indoors.  I put snow in the shower. They probably played for over an hour!!

View from up above the barn down to the house.

Finally the temps are in the 60's and Sweet Hubby has cleared the whole driveway.  We can all get out and about now (except maybe my little bitty car... it doesn't like bad weather.)

Mirror Wars

What is a mirror war?

Well it started out very nice!  

Sweet Hubby wrote this on my mirror:

Behold the eye of beauty

I left it up because it was so sweet.

Then another day he wrote this:

Does this make my chin look fat?

So I wrote this:

THIS'll make your chin fat!

Stay tuned! 

Real Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip?

This is a question we don’t ask at our house. It’s a forgone conclusion, not up for discussion, that real mayonnaise is the only real deal.

And the other question that doesn’t get asked is brand.

It’s absotively Hellmann’s… or Best Foods west of the Rocky Mountains

So imagine my SHOCK at my daughter’s house in NY, I found NO REAL MAYO in her fridge! I did confront her about this. Not only did-I-have-to-use-the-sugared-up-SALAD-DRESSING Miracle Whip (that’s what it says on the label y’know) but I was more horror-struck by the fact that my eldest, sweet, can n’er do wrong daughter has crossed over to the DARK SIDE to Miracle Whip. And what is she teaching my perfect granddaughter? Oh my. I cannot get over it.

When we moved to MO, we began making Sweet Hubby’s lunch for work every evening while cleaning up dinner. I attempted to lighten the calorie/fat in the name of healthy changes and used Lite Hellman’s. Three years later 3 YEARS I say! he asked one day, “Do you think you could use regular mayo in my sandwiches? I don’t really like the funny tasting light stuff.” Isn’t he sweet? He didn’t want to hurt our feelings because we were making his lunch for him! Ahhhh.

So which do you prefer? REAL mayo or Miracle Slop, I mean Miracle Whip? I am not biased at all. HA!

Please take the poll on the right-->.

Blessings, Shay

Pet Peeve

In Bloggy Land I see so many stunningly appointed tables, usually in someone's private home.

I have been to restaurants with a captain and white gloved waiters that lay my napkin in my lap; waiters who describe a menu item (rather than a few lately who have never even tried the food); and who also will take the time to teach a customer the proper way to eat a particular item without looking down his nose.

I teach Foods including how to set a table and some simple etiquette and manners.

(photo :my classroom)

Maybe it's the teacher in me that wants things just so, or always tries to make everyday life a learning experience!

(photo: Washington Post)

But I have begun to notice an irritating trend in the restaurant business.

Has anyone else noticed?

(photo: at Olive Garden)

They no longer "SET" a table for customers.

(photo: at Olive Garden)

The napkin wrapped flatware is just slung on the table in a pile as you are handed your menu.
Do you feel slighted?

I do.

lightbulb moment

Do you ever have one of those obvious observations that just HIT you all of a sudden and you wonder why you never noticed before? That happened to me last week. After scraping and scraping the windows so I could see enough to make it out the driveway to get to school, a little ways down the road I noticed...

...that my side view mirrors had defrosters. Cool!
shut up Jay!

Holiday Decorating!!! as if

Christmas Blessings to All!!!
I know, I'm late to the party.
Too much going on and house too messy to do much.
I have wreaths on the front windows and the front door.
This is obviously the wreath on the front door from inside.

Entertainment center in the living room.

Cloche inside near my front door:

A little cloche detail:

Umm, this is where the Christmas Tree will go...
when we get around to getting it.
Usually the 10th is the day.
Right now there is
snow and ice on the ground
and I'm not venturing out
and risking my life just for a tree.

My dining room:

Wreaths on the kitchen windows:

Outside the kitchen, a little Holiday Spirit!:

This is just a little computer rendering
I did to show Sweet Hubby what I wanted for outside
lighting this year.
There's also a tree on the dock.
We didn't quite get any up on the roofline
but did get a star on the chimney.
See it below when Sweet Hubby was constructing it.

Isn't he just the epitome of Holiday Joy?

That's it for now!!!!
Go to these gals for
more Holiday Home Tours:
Julia
http://hookedonhouses.net/2008/12/14/hooked-on-holiday-house-tours-let-the-party-begin/
Kimba
http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/2008/12/kimbas-open-house-party.html
&
Rhoda
http://southernhospitality-rhoda.blogspot.com/2008/12/deck-halls-2008.html
(sorry, couldn't get the links to redo or whatever it's called)

5% Bah!

(webdesign.org)

I went to our local grocery store yesterday after school. One of my students checked me out and she gave me the 5% Senior Citizens' Discount. I protested, I may be close but I don't qualify as yet and I told her so. She insisted that they give the discount on Tuesdays to anyone who looks over 30 . Still, I was miffed. I stewed over this all night and came up with the answer. So...

She gets 5% off of all her assignments. That'll teach 'er to mess with 'er teacher!

Something smells kinda fishy

Y'know, I don't like to fish, never have. I think it's my dad's prejudices making excuses. My grandfather was a lobster/cod fisherman, homeport was Salem Bay (Massachusetts)

(Photo:flickr)

Oh don't get me wrong, my dad LOVED the sea and always owned a boat and could handle a skiff alone by the time he was 3 years old. Yes, I've seen the old home movies as proof! But during the depression what do you think my Pop Pop brought home for dinner when there was no money? Yup, fish. Even lobster was disdained by my dad because it meant no money to buy food. In his adult life business associates would take my dad out to dinner and "surprise"- LOBSTER!! He'd smile and gulp some down, being a gracious guest. "You didn't finish your lobster!" "Oh, I think I filled up too much on the salad and bread. I couldn't possibly eat another bite." (My dad would roll his eyes and feign disgust in the telling of the story.) Still makes me laugh. And he didn't like to fish.

My mom, on the other hand, LOVED to fish. She would tell stories of she and her gal pals getting a ride in one of the girls' mom's taxi (yes, the mom was a driver) and going down to Boston Harbor fishing on the boats for the day. Almost always one of them won the jackpot, so the taxi mom would pick them up at the docks and drive them home to clean up. Between fares, she pick 'em all up again and whoever won the jackpot would treat them to whichever top Boston restaurant was of their choosing. They were pretty hot stuff, teens walking into those hoity toity dining establishments and paying for themselves. My mom still fished as an adult, she was a member of the Lady Anglers and was even Lady Angler of the Year in the mid 1990's. Just up until a few years ago she went out fishing weekly and even an 11 day trip every year or so. Yes, ELEVEN days on the ocean, my little 5'3" momma. Even when she couldn't fish anymore she was still a member of the Lady Anglers!


Remember me? who hates to fish? I made the AMAZINGLY brilliant life decision to marry a man who loves LOVES to fish, so even though I don't fish, my Sweet Husband would go out on charter trips sometimes with my mom. Oh how they were both blissful on those trips. And when they weren't fishing together, they could sure talk about fishing. She used to look through her telescope in San Clemente and call Sweet Hubby just to taunt him with which boat she could see and what it looked like they were catchin'. He was working y'know.

I do like to EAT some fish.

Okay,the whole point of my story so far is that I am the one who hates to fish. So why oh why is MY PERSONAL BLOG being taken up with photos of FISHIES? Maybe because I love the men who are featured? Yep, that's it.



So today, I include a photo (sigh) of the BIG CATFISH my Sweet Hubby took on his phone because I was in New York with my camera when he caught it. I love that man! (he forgot to include himself in the photo)

Here ya go!
Supposedly a 5lb catfish which is supposedly gigantor for our little lake:

Ditzy Blonde Moment

More like a ditzy blonde weekend!
I was toolin' around in my little car all Saturday... went shopping, chores, lunch, etc. I drove, Sweet Hubby crammed himself in the passenger seat.

Nooooo..

I wasn't really going that fast! tee hee. I just like that snapshot!
See that left guage there? Below? The one that says 0 mph right now?

Well, that's where the miles per hour show up when driving. REALLY! And it can show me how many miles I have left until I need gas too. It can also show temperature outside. In fact anything below 36 degrees it tells me it's icy out. HA! It doesn't seem to know that freezing is 32 degrees!!! I digress.


So Saturday we are cruisin' and that guage keeps flashing! I thought maybe it wasn't working right, did I need some kind of service? Was something wrong? Nope everything worked fine and besides, it kept going back to how fast I was going. All was right with the world.


Well Sunday morning I was driving to church and it was flashing again. How annoying! STOP IT!!! Um, isn't this a lesser number than yesterday when Sweet Hubby was with me? OOhhhhh, Uh Oh, now I get it. Oh NOOOOO!! I only have 18 MILES left! That guage flashes when I'm getting low on gas!! Hey, so what is that little red light next to the gas guage??? Duh! So I drove home after church and parked it. It's not around the corner to a gas station since we live out in the middle of nowhere so I figured I'd wait until Monday. When I started her up in the a.m. it said 14 miles left, then before I got out to the road, 11!! Even though I was freshly showered, I was sweating as I was drove the 7-8 miles into town. I made it!! (were ya worried? hee hee) When I finally got to the filling station (do they still call them that?) and filled that baby up (she only takes the best Pree-Me-Yum!) she only had LESS than half a gallon in there.


Now maybe you live that close to the edge all the time but not me. Maybe you play a game with your gas guage, kinda a mental "Chicken", not this chick. Trust me friends, I have only run out of gas ONCE in my life and that was in 1975 when I was still in college in the San Fernando Valley!!! I'm not playing that game again. This is THE closest I have been to running out of gas since then... REALLY! And I bet it's a long time before it happens again! Realllllly!


Meanwhile, whatta ditz, duh, "What's that guage flashing for?" har har

Tell me your recent ditzy story!!

Scandinavian Update

Friday my students had their Scandinavian Lab.

When we do Foods 2 aka International Foods I always require tableclothes and simple flower vase centerpieces~~

this week I put flags in each vase.

And usually I have a CD that is appropriate

(this time I recycled the Paris Sidewalk Cafe CD).

They always surprise me with what they like and don't like.
They thought the cucumbers tasted bad, like something was wrong.
I reminded them of the ingredients and did it taste like the ingredients?
Yes. So they just aren't used to that flavor combo. Yes. BINGO!!!

Some didn't know what to make of the custard,

MY FAVE (Swedish Pan Cake),

served with whipped cream and lingönberries

not pictured here,

(but the Fingerprint Cookies are pictured here).

My husband loves flat bread so I include this in the menu.
The kids don't quite know what to make of it
since it is not salty, not sweet, not soft, not anything with which they are familiar:

Here's what the inside looks like.

They enjoyed cracking them into pieces but did not enjoy eating them !

My goal is to broaden the world of these small town Missouri teens.

Many will never eat at a REAL Mexican Restaurant

(only Taco Bell or Gringo's) and most

will never venture beyond the borders of our Great Nation.

I show a travel video rather than a Social Studies type video.
I want them to know the world is bigger than just our little burg.

I am not the world's biggest traveler, but I have either been to these places or God has put me in places to experience the peoples of these places.

My best friend through elementary school is Japanese and we are still in touch.

My roommate in college was 1st generation American Chinese. Her uncle had a restaurant in Chinatown in L.A. She would bring home the little white boxes when she returned on Sundays... containing the most amazing things inside. She taught me how to stir fry and some secrets of Chinese Cuisine.

When I was in college my mom was a member of the Explorers Club, headed up by Elmer_Dills of KABC tv in Los Anegles. The goal of this montly club was to enjoy the finest yet affordable ethnic cuisines of the Greater L.A. Basin. What an education that was!

I married a second generation Finn.

My mom is 1st generation Irish American but hated most of that fair isle's bland foods so she never prepared it for me. As I began to celebrate my heritage by teaching my own children I learned to love corn beef and cabbage and singing "Irish Eyes". They had wonderful cuisine when we toured the entire coast in 2002.

I've eaten my way thru a week in France.

I learned to make paella in Spain.
I lived in the San Diego area for 20 years and experienced the best Baja Mexican cuisine.
For her 80th birthday, my sweet foster mom requested dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. (For her 90th in February, they took her to a Thai restaurant). My niece had spent 3 weeks in a village in Africa so she taught us how to eat.

For my 50th we went to a Greek restaurant.

I think I mentioned in my profile that I love food.

Is it any wonder?

So Long Summer!!!!

I guess I missed a few days blogging. Been busy with personal business type errands and appointments that are hard to get once school is underway. Even a quick trip down to Arkie

to see my friends' new house. Beautiful! And room for her horsie too.

LJ and I leave in the early morning for NY state for Grandgirlee #1 N's 5th birthday. We get back late Sunday night then I start back to school Monday. MAN.. .where did the summer go?

Hmmmmm... I have been allover the place... all without leaving the country this year.

Well, let's see:

West Virginia, son in law's grad from med school

then helped them move to Upstate New York

Weeklong conference in Tucson

Almost everybody was here for for the Fourth... here with Grandma K.

Met Sissy and saw Phantom in Vegas

LJ griped that she'd never "touristed" when we lived in So Cali,
so we went to see foster sister who works here.
Next day Sissy and Hiya took us to Hollywood
to Grauman's Chinese Theatre,
Walk of Fame, Hollywood & Vine and
Pink's Famous Hot Dogs!
I guess it was no big deal to me b/c these are the places we
"cruised" or took visiting relatives when I was in HS and college.
So now, WE were the visiting relatives... ber-other!!!

Well I'll say adieu for now as I must pack.
Probably when I post next I will be in the throes of
educator muddles and befuddles.

Blessing until then!!!