calling all guinness fans...

I'm looking for a new favorite slow cooker recipe involving Guinness...any suggestions?  Leave a comment!  I would love to hear from you!

fatal attraction

Alex Forrest: [to Dan] This is not gonna stop. It keeps going on and on.


Oh man...watched Fatal Attraction for the first time ever the other night. Could barely get to sleep afterwards. What a creepy movie!!!


In order to not get completely weirded out, I paused for a good laugh at the 80s-ness of it all. Take, for instance, the standard-issue fried out perm and shoulder pads larger than a linemans' uniform...


Glen Close as Alex Forrest - Fatal Attraction, 1987


Can you believe that was even SOLD in stores??? Thank goodness we're past that...right????

ahhh, springtime at home

The grass is finally starting to green after what felt like a really long, cold winter. And just the other day I saw the hyacinth trying to come up! Yea for spring!! I'm hoping things will continue to warm enough for bike rides to become comfortable. I desperately want 2009 to be the year I get my old figure back (or somewhere closer to it at least). The past three years of incredibly stressful & busy work, combined with much enjoyment of local culinary delights & becoming an oenophile-wannabe, have definitely taken their tolls. Time to get serious. :)

from the kitchen

I've adored the time I've had to spend in the kitchen over the past several months. Plus, having my folks' totally new kitchen to work out of hasn't been all that shabby either!

I'm trying to brush up on my baking skills (which are quite rusty). Unlike cooking (which I find is easier to 'shoot from the hip' with), baking involves much more chemistry and exactness. Beat something too long, get the flour off by just a touch, open the oven door too soon...and poof...a masterpiece is tainted. There have been a number of near disasters, but I guess that's part of the fun of it all. My favorites have definitely been anything sweet. ;)

I can't wait for summer to bring more local fruits for pies! Especially huckleberries...mmmmmmm....

meow update

It's been an interesting challenge, juggling three cats in the house (oh dear me, my poor folks).

Meow is the family tabby tom cat, who has first dibs on the domain. He appeared at the house several years ago (and my mom said "don't feed him, he'll stay!" and I replied "yes, I know!" as I handed him tuna). He takes care of the 'neighborhood' for us, though, with 'population control' being his speciality: squirrels, birds, rabbits, etc. But when he's not terrorizing the local wildlife, he's sleeping - and prefers to do this in the house. It's difficult for Bear to understand why he has to be locked in the basement when Meow is sleeping, an extra set of VERY long and VERY sharp claws, as well as considerable size difference, would quickly seperate the boy from the man in a fistacuffs. Something I'm very keen on avoiding.

So, Meow still reigns supreme.

But Bear has prime real estate: he sleeps on my shoulder every night. :)

kittie update

finally found data cable for the camera (woohoo!), so I have some photo blogging to do!



the kitties are doing well these days; Bear has no qualms about telling me (loudly) who's Boss (should have named him Squealer). his new favorite adventure is trying to climb into places he shouldn't be and requires PLENTY of supervision. (sigh) Dallas is a sweetheart, though, as always. she loves to wake me up in the morning by kneading my neck while purring.

thank goodness for Zyrtec is all I have to say. I adore these furballs.

prague

For the readers who don't know, my dearest gal pal just moved to Praha (Prague) with another one of our sweet friends!  They are enrolled in a teaching English abroad program.  Below are some of the first photos of their experience posted to Coco's Facebook (which I've snatched for those of you without Facebook)...

If you're interested in following their adventures, you can track them here at their newly started Prague Blague:

http://pragueress.blogspot.com/

(I've also added their local time and weather to this blog!)

Happy Birthday, Shawn!

and here's to many, MANY more. :)
love ya man,
cvo

(if you received this by email, click here to view entire post)

Morgen...

...there better be a blue czech dot on my visitor list soon; and a link I can add to my new favorite "Prauge Blog"!

(I'll also need some pictures other than these I stole off the internet.)

Current Prague Time:

there is one good thing to be said about sleeping alone... ha!

mmmm...cookies

ghosts

wedding toast

email jokes

Neither Blonde Nor Female

These contractors are installing steel pillars in concrete to stop vehicles from parking on the pavement outside a Sports Bar downtown. They are now in the process of cleaning up at the end of the day and anxious to go home.



How long do you think it will be before they realize where they parked?

taking it to the maxi

I'm on a mission to find a very easy-to-sew pattern (read:  beginner level, not requiring a serger) for making a maxi dress (or grecian dress or sundress)...

The design I'm after:  fitted upper bodice with a sexy v-neck, strappy straps that cross in the back (love that - no slippage!), an empire-like waistline, and fabric that drapes loosely and flows out from my body and down to my toes.

The fabric I'm considering:  cotton jersey knit, or some other very comfortable, breathable, lightweight cotton.

(click to enlarge)

Do you have any tips, hints, links, or pictures of similar dresses you've made for yourself?  Please leave a comment!  

(And who knows - if I get good enough, maybe I'll make one for you as a thank you for your help!)

june bugs & pig tails: what summer should always be made of...

My 2nd cousin Mark continues to uncover (and post on Facebook AND tag me in, for all the world to see!) documented relics of my '80s childhood.  Thank goodness most of the pictures are my favorites any way, including this quintessential 'summers at Grandma & Grandpa's house' photo...

(my cousins and I;  c.1986, Gma&Gpa's Farm in the Lower Valley)

What you can't see (or hear) are our 'prize captures' (and doomed pets) - June Bugs - hissing their dissatisfaction at us regarding their captivity in our specially crafted peanut butter 'bug jars.'  (Don't worry all you PETA-lites: Grandma poked holes in the lids for ventilation...)  

And then I'm sure we left our exotic farm finds to bake in the sun while we ran through the sprinklers, played hide and seek in the corn stalks, rode the horses bareback through the grapevines, chased wild kittens, explored the old chicken coop, outhouse, & musty cellar, had snacktime of cottage cheese with home-canned peaches, napped next to Grandma's library and Grandpa's guncase, woke up to play "None of Your Beeswax" (our name for our very wildly aerobic, loud, and injury-prone pillow-fights, always requiring "The Alligator" to heal somebody's game-related wounds [you'll have to ask if you want an explanation  ha!]) and "Spaceship" (our version of Star Trek, complete with a 'medical sick-bay doctor' and 'planetary landing preparedness pills,' consisting of Grandma's colorful pill-book we found during nap-time and whatever 'medicine' [M&Ms, peanuts, etc.] we could surreptitiously abscond with & over-indulge on)...basically, getting ourselves into any sort of highly-imaginative and adventurous trouble we could possibly get our hands on (R&C - remember our 'experiments' with vitE capsules in the bathroom??  ha!!)...

...soon enough we'd have forgotten entirely about the curiously nasty, striped & noisy critters that roamed all over Grandma's garden, making squishy messes under our sandals on the path to her door...

  

June Bugs - (c) 2005 Christine

I swear: those quarter-sized beetles somehow looked a whole-heck-of-a-lot cuter when I was 5. 

(While there's definitely no jury out on my continued tom-boyishness, you certainly won't find me picking up one of these creatures again anytime soon!)

seriously, DVDs & toy heli's?? beyond embarrassing...

Our fantastic new 'Administration of Change' is definitely stirring up some change for us...

Take a gander at how royally - and unabashedly - peeved off our (former?) closest ally appears to be (should be? has every right to be?) at Pres. Obama & the Mrs. right now, according to some folks over at the Telegraph...

• Barack Obama must grow as a statesman if he is to lead the free world
  
• President Barack Obama just plain rude to Britain. Don't call us in future.
  
• President Barack Obama dislikes Britain, but he's keen to meet the Queen
  
• Did President Barack Obama gift Gordon Brown unplayable in the UK DVDs? Developing...

And don't you just love thinking about how the moron behind 'royal gifts' being toy heli replicas & a box of DVDs (that may not even work in British DVD players) is actually EMPLOYED...  Don't tell me that in all the recently unemployed population that there isn't ONE SINGLE QUALIFIED PERSON AMONG US who couldn't have researched, prepared, and presented better 'royal gifts' alternatives than toy helis & DVDs?!?!?!?!

Makes my blood boil.

Let me go on record again to say:  I didn't vote for this Administration.

oh dear me...

Don't get me wrong - I think the idea of a woman President is awesome...but I'm so glad it wasn't this woman...



Has this Administration not heard of Google Translator?
http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en#en|ru|reset

Where's America's Election reset button? I'd like to push it, please...

egg trick

think this actually works, without fail?? I'm going to try it and see. I'll let you know what happens!

can you say "YUMMMM!!!" ???

I'm definitely trying this recipe sometime soon...

Chile Lime Tequila Popcorn Recipe