Happy Friday. I have so much to do. I am hitching a ride with a friend and taking a short trip to Chicago. We leave Good Friday (a week from today) and I am basically coming in to surprise my Mom so we can be together for Easter. I was talking to her yesterday and she asked "isn't anyone planning on coming down to Chicago soon???
I said, "'fraid not Mom, they all seem to be busy but I will come down in the summer".
I am getting a ride to Palatine and my sister will pick me up at Woodfield Mall. She is going to walk in the door at home and tell my Mom she picked up something for her at the mall and then I will walk in the door and yell "SURPRISE"!!!!!! It will make her happy. And yes, the irony that I will be in Palatine and Woodfield Mall Laura but this is a rush trip and I am not even sure I will be staying much more than a long weekend so I can't really make any plans for this trip
I am not saying anything about it on Facebook because there are some FB friends who might question why I am not making plans to get together or might spill the beans to my Mom. But I have a lot I want to get done before I go and the days are going quickly past me. It will be interesting, I have not been to Woodfield Mall in 11 years - I hear things have changed a bit. Interesting to hear that the JCP there will be closing. Would not think that would be one of the stores since they always did a good business and it was one of my go-to places when shopping for work clothes. They closed the JCP at our tiny mall in the next town last year - it's where I got a lot of the display fixtures for the thrift shop. When we walked through the Sears store the last time at the mall - it was dead in there, even though it was near Christmas and the rest of the mall was crowded. Sorry to see these big stores shut down. To your question Laura I put dried parsley and herbs in the compound butter and used fresh chopped parsley in the parsley buttered noodles. But only because I had some fresh on hand. I might use fresh herbs in compound butter but only if I was going to use it within a day or two. When I do the garlic butter, I keep it in the refrigerator and use it as I need it - I just figure the dried herbs will hold up better. A touch of butter, a bit of olive oil - really makes a flavorful sear on the meat. The pig lard I rendered also is a nice sauté option - even for eggs. The good news is that you only need a tiny bit of it, but it does tend to splatter a lot like bacon grease would. I went a bit overboard at the market with the fresh fruit - I sure have a lot of it to eat before I go. They had a giant box of strawberries at Walmart and they smelled so good. The small box did not have a strawberry scent even though the berries looked nice. I have learned that no scent = no taste, which means they got picked before they ripened and we gassed on the way to market. We had some sliced strawberries and rice pudding for dessert the other night and I ate a few berries but have to cut up the rest and either freeze them or make a sauce or something. Ugh
a lady bug crawled in my coffee cup and I almost drank it
Nina sees a bug on the wall and it makes her go nuts. She barks at it and chatters and runs all over whatever - animal, furniture or human - to get at it. Laura - this must be the week for catching up on laundry
Terra - that would be nice if you and Scott can get to the dance. Hope so. Have fun!
Annie - we have to do the vet thing with Meadow and her nails. I wish we could sedate her for an hour and do it ourselves but she is soooo skittish. I try to tell her she would not have to go through the trauma of getting snatched and zipped into the carrier bag if only she'd let us do this ourselves but NO. And like Sassy, when she is at the vet, she is very calm and lets them do their thing.
It's nice everyone fusses over Sassy - how can you resist those sweet eyes and face? Did Sissy make it through her babysitting adventure ok with all those kids?Dee - I hope all turns out well with the breast nodule. That has to be scary, especially if there is a history of cancer in the family. I'm not sure how you avoid it except for awareness and routine exams. I think a lot of it has to do with luck of the draw too - the gene just "turns on" for some people. Hope you have things to do while R is away so you aren't missing him too much.
Michelle - bummer on the shoulder - I didn't realize you can get calcium deposits on the tendons. Hope you can manage the pain for the time being. It's good that you were given some alternates for exercising. Good luck on the job hunt.
Well it's noon - half the day is over. Best get busy here. Have a good weekend everyone.


Don't know if it was the weather or what but attendance was disappointing. Part of it was a baking contest and there weren't many entries. Had I known I would have attempted something but I am a savory cook and not a dessert baker, but I would have tried anyway. We made (funds raised) about 1/4 of what we did last year.
It was pretty funny. I was asked to help out at the end writing up credit card payments and counting the cash box. It's funny how many people "oh I DON'T want to deal with money". You would think they were putting their hands into a box of bugs or something. They just don't want to "be responsible".
We stopped at the submarine sandwich shop to pick up some dinner and he realized he could not find the SD card he had switched out of his camera. The one with ALL the photos he had taken at the event. We looked all over - no dice. We went back to the restaurant, told the hostess but had little hope of finding a postage sized black plastic card on a dark patterned rug in a large room. I did a sweep and before I finished DH proclaimed it wasn't there and wanted to leave as our sandwiches were getting cold. He was very bummed out on himself. I left my name and number with the hostess and said that if anyone picked up the card and looked at the contents, they'd know what it was from and more than likely would return it since we were all there for the animals. Just before the restaurant closed for the night we got a call - the hostess found the card on the floor at the next table I WOULD have looked at had DH not shoo'ed me out of there. So all ended well, thank goodness. I had 2 tiny samplings of cake and the sugar really hit me. I just can't eat that stuff any more. Probably a good thing.
Smart of you to save some of your time off for later this year - you will probably need it.
Hope your travels went smoothly. Countdown is on at work – 8 more days!!
What, no one gives you an Easter basket??!! No fair!!
I think you need to do the “hint, hint” thing to the hub and kids…but I bet you enjoy making up their baskets and giving them to them more than you would receiving your own.
Lucky day for dh – got off the speeding violation with a warning, and the lost SD card was found. You’re right about the water heater, probably should replace it before it fails. The only positive I can think of with the prospect looming of replacing it ourselves is that bf is even more skilled and experienced with plumbing than he was back then, so it should go alright. The worst part (IMO) will be removing that fiberglass blanket on the old one. Bah.