A Couple of Things

I've signed up for a quilting retreat the end of next April/early May in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm one of 99 other quilters who frequent the HGTV quilting forum. The planners/hostesses are putting together a wonderful retreat. Quiltaholic posted three questions about her grand state. I answered all three correctly and was entered in a drawing for a prize. I WON!! I have a few projects ahead of this...baby gifts...but am anxious to start cutting on this too!Here's Sam's best friend since 5th grade, Ben. Ben bought a 'toy.'

Baking

Finally got the apple pie photos downloaded to my computer. I love pie dough. And biscuit dough. A former co-worker yucked me one time when I mentioned tasting dough. There's no raw eggs - I don't lick cake batter off the beaters. THAT is a yuck-o for me. But I do taste dough. That way, I can make certain that I remembered the salt. Yes. I have forgotten before.

I made a double crust recipe of pie pastry. I cut off 1/3 of the dough and set it aside. Then I rolled out the remaining 2/3 in one big sorta circle; placed it in the pie pan. Filled it with sliced Granny Smith apples that had been tossed with sugar and a bit of flour and cinnamon. Almost forgot to sprinkle it with brown sugar! Dotted it with butter. Pulled the dough up over the apples. Occasionally I will make a regular 2-crust fruit pie or a lattice topped pie. That's when I forget to do it this way. With this style "presentation" I have never had the pie juices to leak out. There's no seal to break.

While the pie was baking, I rolled out that remaining 1/3 piece of dough. Buttered it and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Rolled it up like cinnamon rolls, sliced it, and baked it for about 10 minutes. I like baked dough too. ;o) Here's the pie after it has baked on the bottom shelf. Yes, it is as good as it looks! If you want recipes, scroll down the sidebar on the right. Look for apple pie and pie crust.

Remember those gorgeous bluebonnets? There's a downside. You can not mow them down until after they have seeded. Sam barely bears it. ;o) Our neighbor, Dorothy, who owned this property two deeds back likes it even less. LOL She thinks the bluebonnets are gorgeous, but can't stand the seedy/weedy look. I know her. She would have bluebonnets only the first season.

Here's some blooming pretties. Sigh...another pretty. And what about these pretties?! Our cruise photo. Nancy, Beckle, Me, Earlene.

Happy Birthday to ME! What a Day!

...And what a night! Can't believe I got up this morning before 8 a.m. Especially since it was after 1 before I crawled in bed.


I thought Sam was going to be out of town so planned to go bar hopping...LOL! Those of you who really KNOW me are going riiiiight. Neither of us are smokers so don't tolerate smoky places very well, and he generally prefers not to go. We are big drinkers...I've got a one drink limit when we are out. And before any of you say riiiight...sometimes when Sam is there, I'll have a second drink. I just don't. Drink much that is. Sam has one or two beers. Maybe a gin and tonic. That's it.


Anyway...he changed plans so that he could be here for my birthday. So, I cancelled the bar hopping...;o)...with Earlene. Yesterday Sam asked for THE plans. He knew that I wanted to eat Chinese - which we did at noon...but what about after he asked. I didn't have any further plans. He asked about going to 'the bar.' Told me to call Earlene and go. So I did! I also notified my high school classmates via our Yahoo group. Got a call from another friend...so it was three of us.


We have yet another classmate, Richard...who has a band. Lady Chazzz and the Tramps. (I think I've mentioned them before.) http://www.myspace.com/ladychazzandthetramps Richard did a career in the US Navy...THANK YOU RICHARD! After retiring, he and his wife moved to northeast Texas and started a band. (That's Richard doing his Ray Charles imitation last night.) I like to go hear them as often as possible, but the smoky atmosphere in most of the bars really gets to me. They were playing at a restaurant in a nearby town last night. I was pleasantly surprised that the smoking was at a minimum! I didn't have to shower before crawling in bed. (Usually...you're going to get a big kick out of THIS!...I strip down to the nothings in the garage and leave my clothes out there...then tra-la-la through the house and step into the shower, washing my hair before throwing a towel over my pillow and crawling in bed. Visual image you can forget...or if you do think about it...think about Sophia Loren please.)


We had a great time! Chazz WORKS the crowd. She is the ultimate entertainer. While she is harassing...I mean entertaining the crowd, she sometimes gets so tickled she has to stop. Last night was one of those times. The poor guy she was picking on, patted her back. She said he had the most expressionless face...

Richard sings a lot of oldies...

On occasion, someone in the audience has performed with them. I didn't get a photo of Chazz's daughter...but that young woman is GOOD on vocals. While Chazz was out doing her thing...that woman can dance! The daughter would break out in a smile from ear to ear.


Last night, a young man (teenager) in the audience requested a Gun n Roses song...Knocking on Heaven's Door. Richard said he didn't know GnR rendition...he knew Bob Dylan's and Bob Marley's...but Richard sang it his way...and would only do it if this young man would sing along. He did his part GnR's style...knock, knock, knocking on heaven's doe-ah. The boy had a blast! Can't you just hear him at school?! What did you do this summer? "I sang with a band!"

Here we are...Richard and Earlene standing. Me and Melanie seated.

I moved here and started the 3rd grade. Melanie was my first best friend. The school district did some shuffling and sent me to a different elementary school, and I started 5th grade at the other elementary school in town...where I met Earlene. Richard I met in 1967/68 in high school. Thanks to my BFF for helping me celebrate my birthday!


Note: Going into Junior High, 6th and 7th grades, we had kids come in from three elementary schoolsGoing into High School kids came in from three junior highs.

Friends

I can not resist this. The following is an e-mail from a very dear friend. Read it quickly because if she sees this, I may have to pull it. I don't think I've had this good of a laugh in a long time. I merely asked for book reviews for the library's site.

Disclaimer: Names have been changed to protect the innocent...her husband is the only innocent I found in this whole thing. ;o) Any censoring was done by my very dear friend.

Yeah..........and a very happy new year to you also, Mrs. Sherry !!!

I have been on crutches ever since last year and I have read so many books that I have continuous headaches.

I liked some of the books, some I did not; some made me cry, others did not. I always finish what I start even if it's ' waaaaay wrong'. Never did like book reports. Hey, I didn't even like school, but in order to live I HAD to attend AND remain on the honor roll.........or else.

I received a bag of books from one of my church members. She joined a Christian book club and has about lost what bit of 'religion' she has because the books are coming so frequently. She swears that they are coming out of the wazoo. (whatever that is) Does the library have any of the books I have read? Probably not. So, so much for my review, eh? But just for your own info, I read 'em because they were: (1) free (2) large enough print not to stress me out (3) I was unable to leave the house to get what I wanted (4) -husband- still has a nasty cold so I had mercy on him and did not send him to get the 'who done it' type I like (5) I was too 'sorry' to even get on the computer to read and answer mail (6) I ran out of wine (7) I had to stay off my feet and elevate (8) TV was not an option ( 9) needed to unwind after the kids/grands left (10) had already finished my scrapbook of family members
(11) fully clothed, I fell down, barely missed falling into the bath tub. (12) stayed pissed with -husband- for a good 24 hours because he did not hear nor feel me when I hit the floor. At - oops...better leave weight out of this - plus, I KNOW #### well that I had to have shaken
not only the pictures on the walls but the foundation of the house. Did he come to my ####### rescue? #### NO !!!

I said a prayer of thanks, finally got up and totally forgot about the 'religous books' that I was reading. (13) the orgami frogs that I taught myself to make never did hop like the instrucrions stated (14) could not play the keyboard, while my foot was elevated (15) tried the guitar again...it sounded lousy, as usual, my fault of course. (16) And.........I DID NOT CALL YOU TO SCHEDULE A CROCHET CLASS. So I read what I had. Got religion now though.

God is good. I made it to 2009 ANNNND I got more wine. I don't take many pain pills anymore. I can finally place my foot on the floor but still cannot put pressure on it. That's a start. I will take it "one day at a time'. I have had enough 'pity parties' to last for the rest of the year. When I did finally get out of the house, I had to crawl back in
(refer to # 12) because I was afraid of going up the steps on crutches. Won't even discuss pain in my back. Been spending quite a bit of time on it. :o) Get your mind out of the 'gutter'. I am referring to the elevation of my foot.

So now you are up to date. I hope that I will be able to attend the meeting. I miss all of you.

Much love to ya,
(much loved friend's name)