Meg, sorry about the kitty. :hug:

Shannon, to roast potatoes I usually cover a jelly roll pan with foil, spray with Pam, spread out the cubed potatoes on it, then spray the cubes with Pam. I bake at 425 until they're browned, stirring a couple times (time depends how big your cubes are). I use the same technique -- spraying with cooking spray -- for all sorts of other things too, like asparagus, squash, etc. Sometimes I sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.

My dad's roasted potatoes, on the other hand, are coating in massive quantities of butter. No wonder they taste so good. Did I tell you guys about my dad's mashed potatoes? He makes them with so much margarine that they turn yellow. The first time I had mashed potatoes at someone else's house I was confused because they were white! :lol:

Pat, so cold! :brr: I would hide wrapped up in a blanket next to a fire if it was that cold here!

So last night, first I had a nightmare about someone trying to kill my dog. :fr: Then when I finally got back to sleep (after many snuggles with my perfectly healthy doggie), I had not one but TWO dreams about eating cake and cookies. Like, massive quantities of cake and cookies. I dreamt that it was DH's cousin's birthday and his other cousin brought these two giant carrot cakes to celebrate, and someone else brought cookies.

The holiday season is hitting hard. I can feel my willpower eroding.

laughing at your yellow potatoes Jessica!!!

My mashed potato recipe (not sweet potatoes) calls for butter, whipping cream and sour cream. You can imagine how decadent they are (creamy, yummy, can't eat much).

My wine tasting went well last night. DH and I were the youngest there! But we had a good time and tasted some good and some not so good wines. We bought a case of a red blend that we both liked and we'll split it with DH's parents. The buffet was perfect! Bristol Farms catered it and more than 2/3's of it was fresh fruit--melons, pineapple, grapes (so huge and good!), berries, baby apples...then they had several gourmet cheeses to try and some crackers. We didn't eat too much and came home and had some leftover pasta, but I don't feel like we ate all that much. This morning I'm not yet hungry--that comes from a great night sleep!

All that and my weight remains unchanged since my return from Italy. (sigh) I really have to evaluate what I'm not doing right.

Jessica-- weird dreams! Last night must have been the night for weird dreams though. I had a dream about a young co-worker. I was talking to her about her breasts (!) and she was telling me they were real and she had "gotten" them when she had cancer at age 20. I was trying to tell her they weren't "real" and she was arguing with me. I thought that dream was weird until my dd woke up this morning. This one will top the weird dreams!! My dd (14) dreamt that she was writing her Spanish essay. For whatever reason she had a pen in her bed (she said she had been doing homework in bed), and when she woke up this morning she had written ALL OVER herself, her PILLOW, and her SHEETS!! She was practically covered, front and back, hands, neck, etc. with just scribbles. I don't know how she reached some places. Her pillow actually had something resembling Spanish on it. She didn't have time for a shower so luckily most of it is covered by clothes! Weird....

Down below my red line this morning - first time this month. :dance:

Have a great hump day all!

Dagmar :D

Good job Dagmar!

Michelle, oh my goodness, that's funny about your DD's dream, and yet not so funny. It's incredible what the unconscious mind can do.

Dagmar, excellent job! :bravo:

Allison, sounds like a fun evening. Can you tell us the name of the wine? I'm always on the lookout for something new. We're doing the after-Thanksgiving tour of the local vineyards.

Jessica, maybe this will help :dust:

So I got home last night, excited because our kitchen was done--and it wasn't. Our handyperson said the faucet we bought was leaking. I called the company (Kohler), and the faucet appears to have been defective. We got another one last night, and the handyperson will install it today plus he had to get some different piping for the microwave vent over the stove. After that there are a couple of things (my DH is putting in the trim around the window, and the cabinet guy needed to replace one door), but once the microwave and sink/dishwasher are working, I'm counting the project as DONE!

Hope everyone is having a good Wedneday!

Dagmar~great news!!!

Sheila~I'll let you know tomorrow.

Pat~so have you ever tried (or even seen) jellied moose nose?

That is hilarious! Why just the nose? :rofl:

Can ya tell I've had a long day?

Dagmar :tired:

Okay, so I'm waiting to hear the answer to that question, Pat!

My kitchen is functional! It's so nice to do dishes (okay, have DH do dishes) in the sink, to be able to fill the tea kettle from the kitchen instead of the bathroom, to use the oven, and to have more counterspace. DH is putting molding around the window so it should look really great once that's done, but right now I'm happy that we having a functioning kitchen again.

I was going to try to get to the gym four times this week (I count my hours at the shelter as exercise for a fifth day--if you've ever walked a pitbull or a young, unruly Lab, you'll know that it truly is exercise when you do it for six hours), but I must have overdone it yesterday (or perhaps it was that last pitbull on Tuesday) because I hurt, and not a "good" hurt. Perhaps it was the massage, which is never pleasant, but the results are eventually worth the pain.

Speaking of dogs, what do you think of this guy? A face only a mother could love.

Have a joy filled day!

Allison, speaking of mashed potatoes, I was watching Food Network the other day since they have all their Thanksgiving programming on, and they had Giada De Laurentiis making her family mashed potatoes. OMG. Most unhealthy mashed potatoes EVER. She mashes her potatoes, then pours in basically a stick of melted butter, a cup of whole milk, mixes it up, then adds 3/4 C parmesan and 1 1/2 C mozzarella. Puts it in a generously buttered casserole dish and tops with 1/4 C parmesan and breadcrumbs, then bakes. When she spooned up a serving it looked like pulling a piece of pizza where all the cheese strings hang off, you know? OMG. So much cheese.

Michele, so weird about your daughter's dream!

Dagmar, great job getting to red line! :high:

Sheila, yay for the kitchen being done! Walking and playing with dogs can definitely be exercise. DH got a sore back from playing tug with our dog the other day!

Jellied moose nose? Wha...? :?: There was a kid I went to college with who was from Alaska, and while he never mentioned jellied moose nose, he did say he was surprised that in the lower 48 nobody eats roadkill. He said there was a waiting list to get roadkill moose in Alaska!

In an effort to avoid all the office junk food, I made a spur of the moment decision to take tomorrow off. I have some extra vacation time so why not? Plus it means I can skip our weekly lunch meeting and go for my run during daylight hours. Woohoo!

<---Ready and willing to eat 1/2 cup of Giada's mashed potatoes RIGHT NOW! :drool: :hungry: :lol:

Jay

Sheila~the wine is Masked Rider Gunslinger Red. Here's a link: Masked Rider Winery

Yeah, as for the jellied moose nose--I heard about it from the Travel Channel. On Facebook, I play that Kidnap game from time to time and someone kidnapped me to Anchorage. To escape you have to answer a travel trivia question and hints are given by the Travel Channel. Often you have to read a page of information to find the answer and this one talked about the "delicacy" of jellied moose nose. Frankly, it doesn't sound like something I'd eat. But then there are a lot of things I'd rather not eat. (Those potatoes are not one of them!)

I have to admit that the cheesy, strings of cheese mashed potato recipe sounds pretty good to me right now! :)

Back from my anniversary trip, still hovering around my redline, but as I was just at it when I left I don't blame the trip! :) I did go for a run lat night and my legs are a little sore, ate more marinades and sauces than normal while I was gone, so am hoping it settles out to water weight before long. I had a few pretty salty meals before I left that hadn't flushed out yet and I didn't drink nearly enough water while I was gone... Had a good trip - the cabin was cozy, the weather was fabulous. Wanted to stay longer. Back to the real world too soon. :)

Jessica - I don't blame you on the day off tomorrow! Enjoy it! Thanks for the roasted potato tip - I cubed a regular and a sweet potato and roasted them while on our trip, your directions were great!

Sheila - glad your kitchen is finally done!

Dagmar - :high: at being under redline!

Michele - that is weird about your daughter's dream. I've written during mine, but never on myself.

Allison - sounds like the wine tasting was a lot of fun. I enjoy tastings, haven't been to one in forever. Are you ready for the Thanksgiving crowd?

Pat - wow, and I'm running my space heater in my office because it is 48 outside. Eek.

Sweetnsassy - the potato recipes look great!

Meg - hope are still feeling good, ready for your Thanksgiving houseful?

I am totally not ready for my hosting of Thanksgiving next week. I have got to get on track. I completely missed an appointment I had scheduled this morning, too. Got to get my head back together. Finish my coffee. Finish opening stacked up mail and checking voice mails.

Good day everyone!

Okay, I've never had, or even seen jellied moose nose - ewwww! But yes, Jessica's friend is right, there is a list for roadkill moose. You go to the top of the list if you're on food stamps/welfare, but basically anyone can get on the list. A number of churches are on the list, and distribute the meat to people in the community who need it, including unemployed, seniors, etc. A moose weighs over 1,000 lbs, and has A LOT of edible meat. Having a group handle it is a good idea. If you're called to pick up a roadkill - which is often the middle of the night - you have to go and remove it from the road within a certain number of hours. Then the initial phases of the butchering have to be done quickly, though after that the carcess should hang for a few days for the meat to age (this is the same if you hunted the moose). Churches and other charitable organizations are more organized to do this than individuals, but there are alot of individuals on the list as well. Early in the winter the moose are in really good condition and the meat is excellent; in the spring, not so much. :) Other roadkill - rabbits (actually hares), muskrat, porcupine, etc. - is not eaten with any regularity to my knowledge.

I've been in a real funk for the past week or so, not getting anything done at work or home beyond the bare necessities, not going to the gym, basically just functioning. I don't know if it's the cold weather (now up to -10F :) ) or the darknesss, but I've upped my vitamin B, and begun sharing my DHs SAD light in the hopes of overcoming this lassitude. I know that I'd feel better with exercise, but can't seem to force myself there. Tonight I have a church council meeting, and tomorrow evening a T'day potluck at our square dance club. Sat morning is a library board meeting and I WILL go to the gym after that. It's a planned end to this whatever it is. I don't feel sick otherwise, so it's not that.....

Sorry to go on about me.

:wave: have a great day.

:wave:

This week has been so, so busy.

For those of you who aren't in the No Excuses thread, we adopted a dog on saturday, so obviously that's taking some time (but she's so sweet - very submissive, so we're working on positive reinforcement training only and she's picking up quickly. And no interest in the cats, which is good...she doesn't chase, so they're getting very comfortable being around her, even if they're not best friends yet, they're not hiding anymore).

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...n82/ellie3.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...n82/ellie1.jpg

Her name is Ellie, and we know she's part Australian shepherd...the other half may be retriever of some kind or some other combo - she's sort of a golden retriever-colored aussie-shaped horse of a dog.

That, combined with one of the busiest, most stressful work weeks in recent memory, has me scrambling to get much of anything else, including posting, done. Soo....:wave: and apologies for not being around! I am hoping it will calm down considerably next week.