Make Mine Supers (6)

LOL! And the last on the other thread.

Ami 

I love grilled salmon on a cedar plank with teriyaki glaze!!! Good stuff, Maynard! Carrie...one of the things I love about watching Deadliest Catch is that the guys look out for the greenhorns, but still give them a hard time. It seems like they are one big family and take care of each other. He'll be well looked after and have an incredible experience to look back on.

Ami ~ Hugs, honey! LOL! I hate it when storms come in back to back. We're about to get hit with some but not severe. So glad dh doesn't work there anymore! Bet cleanup will be fun. Not!

My stinky dogs got a bath today and they're in heaven. I've got one sleeping on my foot while I work and the two little ones curled up behind me...so I can't sit back. I'm dying of thirst but hate to disturb them, they look sooo comfortable.

I can't imagine what it would be like to live with tornados, Ami. Those hurricanes Ellen Too, are like our cyclones and they are bad enough. Not that we have been affected by them lately, other than extra wind and rain. The bad weather here last week saw 10 inches in one day. It was coming down in blankets not sheets!! The creek in the parkland area at the back of our house came up so rapidly it was unbelievable. We are on a slight hill so no problems with it.

Carrie, YahOOoo for the contract. Well done!

Chelle you must be next heh girlfriend?? Your doggies sound lovely. Mine is an oversized rat. LOL he's a mini fox terrier and never did grow!! He loves being the center of attention again after the children moved out!! Because it is getting chilly he is wild about his rug again (a throw rug) he goes around and around trying to get it just right, some under him and some over him, then he twirls around so that all of him is covered. He usually ends up in the corner or over near a window, or under a chair. Very funny to watch.

The wrist is still very painful might have to go off to my own not-so-bright doctor. 

Christyn I love the sound of your hero folder. Hmm

Kim, best to get that sucker dealt with. My mother was in her mid 70s when she got hers done. She is SO much better and she recovered remarkably well. All the best with it. We will keep you in our prayers.

Better be off now. Hello - waving to all

Annie 

Is it hot or what? We just got back from a weekend in Chicago, and it was hotter than hell there, too, and we must have walked 8 hours a day on various tours, etc -- saw the White Sox, which was fun. Busy, busy weekend, but fun, for our eleventh anniversary. Came home to more heat, but it's fine, better than snow, though it makes concentrating on work a little harder, which is what I have to get back to today. :) We did a food tour in Chicago which was wonderful -- lots of walking, since it was an "off the beaten path" kind of thing, but we got to find some little specialty places we wouldn't have otherwise. My favorite was a specialty olive oil/balsamic vinegar store -- this stuff was so good you could drink it (in small quantities, of course), but needless to say, I have several bottles of oil and vinegar being shipped. ;)

Kim, sorry to hear about the surgery -- at least you got to find out through the ultrasound which is easy, compared to that other horrible scan they do. Wishing you a quick recovery with everything you have going on...

Vieve, hi! I've been scarce here myself, but thanks for the congrats on the 4. :) Of course, I can't take complete credit, as 2/3 goes to my anthology mates. :)

Carrie, big yay! Sounds like lots of good news in your corner, and happy to hear it. :)

Kay, welcome back and high-five on your top pick! 

Chelle, meant to say congrats on your contest final -- I can sense your sale party just around the corner. :)

Have a great week everyone,

Sam

Jeannie, these were amazing. I bought 2 liters of pomegranate balsamic, aged 12 years, and one tangerine, aged 18 years (the longer they age, the sweeter they are). Then, two extra virgin olive oils (one blood orange, one lemon -- the shop instructed as to what combinations to choose), and they are amazing. Apparently the olive oil here comes from the first cold press, and has an acidity of .03 or lower, and the expected acidity for extra virgin is .08 -- so this was really smooth. I'm dying for the package to arrive... We visited chocolate shops, pizza, spices (the spice merchant was also way cool -- supplies many of the Food Network chefs), but the olive oil/vinegar was really my favorite.

If anyone wants to try them, the shipping is not horrible -- email me, and I'll send you the URL.

Sam 

This thread is the one I have to archive the most. You all are a chatty bunch.

Saw Sam's title of Vinegar and wondered if I'd said over here about how burnt I got at my youngests baseball game. I'm a huge fan of all things Balsalmic. In fact, last night, I made dressing for the shower. It's extremely easy. It's B.vinegar, EVOO, garlic powder and sugar. They're all to taste--never actually got a recipe. The other one is EVOO, Apple Cidar Vinegar, Soy Sauce and a wee bit of sugar. Makes an awesome chinese type dressing.

Kim, hoping they schedule your GB surgery soon!

I like canned Salmon. I make Salmon type patties and my kids go ape over them. I've had a piece of grilled--a tiny one and it wasn't seasoned really...so I don't like to yuck someone else's yum--but maybe if it was seasoned and cooked by someone who knew what they were doing, I'd like the fresh salmon. I'm a seafood eatter, that's for sure. Every time I watch Deadliest Catch, I get very hungry for Crab legs. Crab's my all time favorite.

Rae

Hey-pals,

I-got-notice-from-one-of-the-registry-offices

that-say-since-the-4th-is-on-a-Friday,checks

will-be-given-on-Thursday-and-the-office-will

be-closed-on-Friday.

When_i-went-to-Vegas-with-a-friend,we-decided

to-stay-two-nights-to-get-a-bit-of-rest-instead

of-driving-right-back.However,we-had-to-be

back-by-Sunday-morning-for-other-obligations.

So,-we-left-about-2:45am-driving-back-to

southern-California.She-drove-the-first-half.

We-stopped-at-Denny's-in-Baker,California

for-breakfast.Afterwards-I-drove-the-rest

of-the-way.I-dropped-her-at-her-house-by

7am.I-got-back-to-my-area,went-to-the-grocery

to-buy-ingredients-for-a-dish-for-a-potluck

at-church,then-got-home-and-cooked.

Needless-to-say,I-went-to-bed-that-afternoon

and-rested.

I-plan-to-be-off-that-weekend,I'll-probably-have

a-movie-marathon.

I-just-say-JackieCOllins-on-the-Today-show

plugging-her-latest-potboiler.

Aurelene

Y'all are chatty! (I have to insert a southern-ism for Amy who has a VERY hard time understanding that Louisville is not pronounced Louey-ville. )

Hello, ladies! We're back, we had a fabulous time and I'm so totally exhausted I haven't been able to move until the last ten minutes when I crawled my butt over to the computer.

Sam, good to see you!

Jeannie, will you take pics of Montana for me?

Storms: glad everyone is safe. We lucked out and had rain but no massive storms. A great thing since we were under tornado watches for about 48 hours straight. That's so unnerving.

Lori Foster's weekend: I got to visit with Amy and Marcie!  It was so much fun. The anthology went over so well. I hope it makes a ton of money for the battered women's shelter. Amy made me laugh like crazy and we talked about everything from kids to work to husbands and more. Such fun.

Ronda/Jeannie, you guys are out of school? They've been out for well over a week here. There was a huge sigh of relief from the teachers (and me). It was a rough year.

Gotta run do laundry. We, um, leave Wednesday for the second trip.

BTW, remember me saying the dh wasn't happy with his job? Well, he more or less gave his notice six months ago. Then reminded me of that a few weeks back. Then, on the trip, he refused to take a call from his boss. I asked why--and was reluctantly told that he'd given final notice his last day before the trip. ACK! Um...yeah. I was more than a little unnerved being on this great vacation knowing, technically, the dh was not employed (he had offers on the table but nothing confirmed). Well, he called Saturday while I was at the event to say he's now employed again. Did you feel the breeze created when I sighed in relief?? Now is NOT the time to be without a job.

Kay

Aurelene, I love Dirty Jobs. Some of them gross me out, but others are so funny.

 I posted a few of the pics from the trip on my website blog! Check them out when you get a chance. I didn't want to overwhelm anyone's computer so I'm going to post a few at a time.

 Kay

Believe me, I know, as we just bought a car that consumes gas more than our old one, but you know, we just drive less, shop more efficiently, etc, and slower. I think America is just finding itself in the same place most of the rest of the world has been for years -- and we were kind of spoiled, having big cars, more than one, and consuming without really needing to think about it, and now we do have to think about it.

So while I won't argue that change is difficult, I also think this has been a long time coming. I was thinking about the transit worker's strike in NYC a few years ago-- and how many people said they lost weight walking instead of riding! And now, many companies are allowing workers to telecommute, and we all have to think more about our consumption. While I also sigh when getting gas, I remind myself it's not necessarily a bad thing to have to be more mindful of what we consume, and maybe we'll all develop some good habits! :)

Sam

I know, the housing in Chicago was nuts, too -- there was one "single family home" that a tour guide pointed out, that had been renovated last year -- to the tune of 26 million dollars for the reno.

Kinda put my kitchen in perspective, LOL.

Sam 

LOL Ami -- I think the family who did the reno probably plans on staying in the house forever -- I can;t imagine they could get their investment back, not even in the city, and it was a gorgeous brick mansion, but still... Rooftop gardens and all that, and it was huge, but STILL.... LOL

Another family, again, in a single family home, was building a new construction in a nearby neighborhood, and the thing was HUGE -- for 5 people -- something like 8000 sq ft on each floor.

I really dislike that kind of conspicuous consumption, when there are people starving who sleep on park benches at night. I think it's fine to have the best you can afford and enjoy the money you earn, but it would seem to me that someone who could spend that much money on a reno could have spent half, and maybe spent the other half on some worthy cause. I can't remember, exactly, but I do recall from one of my classes some statistic that said while lower and middle income families didn't give as much in terms of dollars as wealthy people, they gave far more in terms of the percentage of their total income.  And they also get taxed more.

Aiy.

I also saw on The Today Show that using yourr AC is actually more efficient in the car than opening the windows -- the windows create drag that eats more gas... AC uses something like 1% of one gallon more in a well-maintained car.

Sam 

Kim--Horses are getting expensive, too, because of the fuel it takes to harvest the hay.  I was paying $75 a ton, not that long ago, and now it's up over $200 a ton.  I'm hoping it'll be lower by the time I buy.  A working horse eats between 20-30 lbs of food a day.

Kay--You can have all the pics of Montana you want!  Just let me know what you want, and I'll get them.

I have to turn my power off, now, literally, since it's getting too hot outside to run the generator. (Oh, did I mention my house runs on diesel?  At $5.00 a gallon.  One third of a gallon an hour for electricity--gets kind of spendy, you know?  We're looking into solar, but it's pricey, too.

Off to conserve-

Jeannie

Susan, I empathize but you sweat and you still get heat headaches? Though I know the feeling on the treadmill. I got heat stroke by minus 20 C (0 F) while sledding a particularly tough passage of rough ice ridges and a bunch of young particularly unobedient dogs Being in the wilds I stripped down to my skivvies and put a load of snow on my head. Then we got over the barrier and I started to cool down though the headache lasted another few hours despite ASA.

Dogsledding is very physical!

Gas by the liter in Canada. Four liters to the gallon, price ranges from $1.24 to 1.30 = $4.96 to $5.20 a US gallon - depending on the location, city#country - cheaper in the country, probably because of low overheads. Then co-ops offer rebates for as much as .11¢ per liter.

No matter where you are, there are always those drivers that will burn gas zooming past you, and they’re not all driving SUVs. I’ve been driving a big one for a year now, yet it consumes less gas than my previous 4x4 pickup - we need 4x4 where I live off an unmarked gravel road, five miles from the nearest real road. Of course, I make a point to drive at 55mph and we too try to make every trip count.

Since I need a large cargo area for my doll business, I had looked at a three-quarter ton van. Should be economical, right? Wrong. Then within three months we returned it to the dealer. It had just about shaken to bits. Hence the Expedition. I’ll never regret that expensive decision. I was forced off the road onto a gravel shoulder at 55mph by a semi that had misjudged the oncoming traffic. The Advanced Tracking System enabled me to steer onto the shoulder without tipping into the ditch. You should have seen the vehicle dance while I tried to avoid the side of the semi. He carried on. I stopped to recover my breath and see if my 80 year-old passenger was ok (I’m a volunteeer driver for one senior). All traffic had stopped. I’m sure they were expecting to pick us up from the ditch. "Friendly Manitoba" is the province’s motto. Drivers rushed to make sure I was all right.

Yes Sam, consumerism is really out of hand. And people tend to show off. I may drive a big SUV but our house is simple, don’t even have tv. We compost (composting toilet too), grow food and harvest wild plants, and leave the lightest possible footprint on this earth. We also avoid plastic containers, especially the throw-away ones, buying from bulk food stores with our own stainless steel containers. Next we’re thinking to convert to solar energy.

Jeannie, pricey to set up, but once it is, the savings are worth it. We lucky ones have hydro (had to buy five poles because we’re too far from the road) and if we go solar, we can sell our surplus energy to Hydro.

Carrie, waving back... through the rain, but the wild berries needed it.

Vieve

My son needed me to look up a google map while he drove to a search and rescue site (so he could get to the site) so the power is back on.  He's there now ready to find a missing person. 

Vieve, I'm in awe of your lifestyle.  I'd love to have a power company to sell my power back to, but they want $500,000 to hook us up.  They are not playing nice at all.  We found a guy who would run a trencher up here and lay the lines for $40,000, but the power company said no--in spite of the fact that this guy contracts to the power company--trenching and laying lines!    They want their other $460,000....for what?  I'm not certain.  Just once I'd like to get up in the middle of the night and turn a light on to find the bathroom.  I'm looking into options to go solar.  I really do want to reduce my footprint.

Kay--I forgot to tell you congrats on dh being employed--after scaring you...

Off to cook.  Dh is coming home.  Hope I can find the kitchen.  He's been cooking for the past year.  I don't know where anything is.

Jeannie

I'm not slamming SUV's either--with a family of six, we're going to need a bigger vehicle than our minivan soon enough--but I was mostly commenting on the speed. Weekly, we have people on the news whining about gas prices, but yet they aren't slowing down! No matter WHAT they drive.

We try to live small, I guess, too. I'm an avid recycler (so are my kids! They don't even think about it), I buy as local as I can for food and I do keep an eye on the energy we use. Not always easy.  Sam, I didn't know that about the AC vs. windows--makes sense--twist my arm, I'll keep up with the AC!  

Jeannie, I didn't know you were off the grid like that. I can't believe the company wants $500,000 to hook you up! Esp. if they can't tell you where the money is going. Too weird.

I'm trying to get dh to look into starting a windmill company--parts at least--most of them come from Europe. Why can't they come from here?

Ami 

Hi,

I'm still snowed under at work and home. I read everyone's posts-this is such a wide-ranging discussion, isn't it? Love the way you're all so thoughtful and connected.

Keep cool, drive safe, have fun!

Writer Ellen 

Jeannie, how far are off the grid?

LindaC

Just a flyby. OMG I'm not packed yet! No one is packed and guess who gets to do it all?

 Jeannie, good luck with the generator issue. Wish I had an answer for you. The dh is quite handy when it comes to cars etc and he's working on something to help us save fuel. Already tested it and it worked. Now it's figuring out a way to mount it and go from there. He's testing it on his truck first, then will tackle my SUV. If he can make it work, we might be onto something... <G>

Carrie, I wasn't in the room when they raffled off the Super basket so I didn't get a picture of the winner. :( I did get a picture of the basket my gal won but only because she wasn't present at the time and they put it back for her. I happened to be in the room then.

 Did I mention how much fun it was to see Amy again? She cracks me up! (She's trying to corrupt me but I'm resisting.) Chatting with Marcie was great, too. It's nice to see people in such a relaxed setting. National is just...frenzied.

Gotta run. My bed is covered in clothes (still).

Kay

Carrie!  Congrats on DSs diploma!  and not having to stand in hot lines at DIsneyland!!  DS will love his Alaskan adventure!  Maybe there's a book in it!  But you'll be busy with the CURRENT project!  COngrats!!

Hugs to all skirting weather!!  Be safe!  That's an order!

So good to see Vieve!!  Hope your time away has been productive!!

Jeannie...lizard writer?  LOL  Be careful no one makes a pair of boots out of you  I can see you standing real still waiting for the sun to go down...and then all h*ll breaking loose!  Today is the kiddies' last day...I have two more days...each with a half day workshop!  What genius thought of this!?  But I'll survive!  Enjoy your summer...refuse to let it fly by!!

I hear you on the dentist!  Treat yourself to a great bottle of wine...or vinegar!!  Have a safe and enjoyable trip to visit your mom!

Ami...pine trees have a tap root...one dominant long root that goes straight down, where as desiduous(SO misspelled) have roots that spread out wide making it tougher to knock over...there are pine trees at the entrance to the golf course...but fewer than there used to be!

I haven't seen Top Chef...sounds like I might be missing something...  My indulgence has been The Bachelorette...I like this girl a lot...she seems so much more genuine than most of them...one of the guys id from close to here, so I'm compelled to see how well he does...

Sam...I'm ready to visit Chicago!!  You make it sound like loads of fun!!  I'd love to find a food tour like that!  We always want to know where the locals eat to avoid teh tourists and have an excellent meal at the same time!!

Susan!  46+ titles and still looking!  OMG!  I admire your perseverence and imagination!

 Holly...hope your "cleaning" and such are all productive!  You have a graduate and one going into high school?  You must be swamped with stuff to do!

Arulene...DH is begging me to go to Vegas...I'm game, but it's hard to find someone to keep TWO kids for a week...and Vegas is about 2800 miles from here...

Kay...so sorry for your DH's work drama...but hopefully it's all worked out now!  Back to back trips with a conference in the middle...it's a good thing I look GREAT in green!  Try to rest in there somewhere!  Sorry about the mountain of laundry!  Try not to get swallowed in the stacks!  I can SO relate!

Gas prices...We're incredibly lucky that DH's company car covers our personal usage up to 25% of the miles...that includes gas, maintenance, tires, insurance...and my car seldom leaves our county...we just take or I take DH's car...still, my Honda Accord gets great mileage, and it pops my eyes out to pay $58 dollars to fill up my 15 gallon tank!!  I only do it twice a month, but it's still an incredible number!

I agree about the over consumption consumerism!!  OMG the money that seems wasted!  Our neighbor's $30,000 pool and Lexus in the garage that gets used six weeks a year leaps to mind!  We are in an area where recycling in a HUGE chore because the county chooses to have ONE drop off location and would really rather just cram it in the landfill...but we persevere! 

Jeannie...Lucy is so sweet and cuddly...and growing so fast!  She is going to be big!! 

Yesterday, while rooting around in the garage, she got a fish hook in her paw (OUCH) that required an emergency visit to the vet...only our guy wasn't the vet on call this week...the guy that is on call is also a member of our school board and after waiting 45 minutes for him to call me back, I called my principal and asked if he could help me find the vet...who happened to be attending a CHild Nutrition banquet with the principal...who asked the vet to call me back...so DH takes Lucy and I get the kids to bed...vet ends up being 45 minutes late...buts Lucy to sleep, pushes the hook through, it didn't even bleed, and refuses payment bacause he was late...how amazing is that?  Ask me if I'll vote for him again...

Guess I'm a pretty horrible pet owner, huh? 

Well...I'm going to attempt to clean off my desk...for the LAST time this year!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!

Linda--I am in the middle of nowhere, lol.  Actually I'm 35 miles from the big town (8,000 people) in one direction, 10 miles from the little town (200 people) in the other.  Not much in between except for ranches and small acreage and a whole lot of federal land--which is why there aren't many neighbors. (Nevada is 80% federal land.) The families up our draw are each on 60-100 acre properties.  We were so upset when one of them built a house a mile from us--so we could see it!  She could have built on the other end of her 80 acres, but no.  We've learned to live with seeing someone else's house, but it took time.  Wow--it's great that your husband has a company vehicle!  So, do you live out in the boonies, too?

Holly--You're writing a teen parentlng book?  How cool.  And what a job--parenting teens and writing a book on it!

Ronda--The end is in sight!  I'll be thinking of you as you get through your meetings (which to me are much worse than a regular work day!)  Hugs to Lucy!  Poor little thing.  I would vote for your vet.  What a guy!

Waving to Writer Ellen!  Hope the writing is going well.

Kay--You are a dynamo--first Hawaii and then a conference.  I really want to hit a small conference this next year.

Jeannie

I happened to stumble across my new cover on Amazon last night before I hit the sack and I love it. Of course, had to share. Hope I don't get popped for breaking a rule...

Very appealing. Very cute kid!

 LOL Ronda, don't be too envious. If you could see the bags under my eyes from exhaustion you wouldn't be so green.  We had storms roll through last night that had us running for downstairs. Scary stuff. Just a lot of wind and rain, lightning and thunder, but we got about two hours of sleep total because they came one after another. Sheesh. Don't they know we need sleep?

This is my last post until we return. No internet access, no cell phone, no computer. ACK! LOL The internet junkie in me will definitely be in withdrawal. Maybe I will get some relaxation time in after all. I've got everyone packed but my house is a wreck. We have to leave early to make a shopping stop in Cinti, too. DD managed to outgrow her shorts in a month since she tried them on and has nothing that fits comfortably. *sigh*

Take care and don't have too much fun without me!  

Kay

This cover is really awesome. They did a great job with Annabelle and Honey, although Dean looks a little young but that's okay. He's handsome and that's what counts. In fact, they nailed that scene, so I'm not complaining!

Kim 

Sorry, the Sammy Haggar song keeps running through my mind.  I have a bit of a lead foot on the accelerator, but I think I'll be learning to moderate that with gas prices continuing to climb.  So that confirms Sam's theory.

Kim, that's an absolutely wonderful cover!!  LOVE it!

Kay, I'll send a belated good wish for a terrific vacation.  I saw your pics from your Hawaii trip and it looked like such fun.

Ronda, I thought our dog was the only one to get into fishing hooks.  As a matter of fact, the vet pretty much said so.  I'll have to tell him he was wrong.  Our dog's tangle with treble hooks cost $250, so give your vet a big hug along with your vote.

Vieve, wild berries might be well worth the rain!  Anyone who has extra precipitation, feel free to send it to Arizona.  Do we have anyone here from Wisconsin?  Or other areas in the midwest that were hard hit?  I hope everyone is okay.

Writing on my WIP yesterday was...wonderful.  Wonderful seems to be my repetitive word for today.  Anyway, I reoriented myself in the story and everything seemed to just flow.  Totally a great experience because I was afraid I might have trouble jumping back in after being away for a while.  I'm going to try to hit the writing hard so when my day job comes through, I'll be ready.  I'm still waiting to hear on a couple jobs....Waiting can be the hard part.

Most of today was spent driving Mom's Taxi.  It so disruptive to my schedule -- kind of like having a child in kindergarten.  I just get kids dropped off and they need me to turn around and pick them up again.  This goes on all day long some days.  I'll be writing tonight.  Hopefully, the house will be quiet....Yep, I agree with Holly.  School being out has a definite affect on my quiet time.

Gotta run!

Carrie