stories

Had a very nice, but very busy weekend...full of surprises.

Beth ended up coming out not till Saturday morning, then we drove about a half hour South on 71 to go to the Outlet Mall in Lodi. What a gorgeous day to walk around outside. I made a few purchases - I had wanted to get started on my picture frame shopping (we're giving wedding photos as Christmas gifts) but Mikasa had jack. I bought clothes instead, and a few more pieces of Pfaltzgraf to add to my collection.

So, we get home, and the phone rings, and it's Julia. This is how our conversation went:
Julia: Hi!
Me: Hi!
Julia: Can you hear me ok? I'm on my cell phone in the car.
Me: Yeah. What are you doing?
Julia: Traveling.
Me: Traveling? Where are you?
Julia: I'm on 480.
Me: WHAT?
Julia: What are you doing right now, because we'll be there in a half hour?

We had a good laugh over that one. Inevitably, every time Julia and Matt come to visit, we have a new story to tell.

Saturday night we went to my favorite sportsbar Cleats - they have the best burgers I've ever had. There was a group of 7 of us, 3 which were from New York. We all got ID'd (even Gerry who is 40), but the management gave the New Yorkers the biggest hassle because of the out of state licenses. Beth got a little irate, and I think probably could have punched the waitress in the face.

Sunday after church we went out to brunch where Kevin was lectured about smoking several times by the restaurant's owner. He stood over our table explaining that he has had 4 heart attacks and detailed the specifics of his open heart surgery to poor Kevin who has been through enough health related issues as it is. Meanwhile the rest of us tried to choke down the remainders of our breakfasts.

It was a good weekend.

you are the "I hate you so bad" happy
bunny. You hate everyone and eveything and your
not ashamed of it.


which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Today my parents celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary. Unheard of, practically, in this day and age, although happily lots of my friends' parents are still married to each other. I suppose I can only hope my own marriage will last as long as my parents', and survive as well as theirs has. Speaking of which, my first anniversary technically is in three weeks. Yikes!

Courtney and I occasionally swap recipes. Here's the one I shared today:

Simple & Sweet Kielbasa Appetizer

Ingredients

2 lbs. Kielbasa
1 24 oz. jar applesauce*
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Cup brown sugar**

Directions

Preheat oven to 325. Simmer Kielbasa for 20 minutes in about 1 inch of water. Drain and cool to touch. Slice kielbasa in to 1" pieces, on the slant. Spray 9 x 13" baking dish with Pam. Add kielbasa, onion, applesauce, and brown sugar. Mix together well. Bake uncovered 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Makes a nice appetizer, but I've had it over brown rice with a salad, which is fantastic.

*You can use cinnamon applesauce if desired.
**Use dark brown sugar with regular applesauce, or the light brown sugar if you use the cinnamon applesauce. I think using the dark sugar with the cinnamon applesauce makes it just a little too sweet.

This is SO yummy.

Feel free to copy, and enjoy.

happy fall

I love Autumn, but most especially I love Autumn food. Ok, I love to eat no matter what time of year it is. It's a wonder a don't weigh 200 pounds. (Two jobs, 3 cats, 2 dogs and a husband keep me pretty active.) I am so looking forward to apples - apple pies, apple crisp, etc. I also have my food pet peeves. I cannot tolerate foods flavored like other foods, i.e. Barbeque or Sour Cream & Chive flavored potato chips, strawberry flavored applesauce, grape flavored bubble gum, anything flavored orange or banana. You get the idea. To me, these are the grossest foods imaginable.

I have to come to work to recover from the weekend

Friday night was wedding rehearsal night, after which I was exhausted. It was a long week.

Saturday, the wedding I played for was a piece of cake, if rather boring. All the Brides like the same music, wedding after wedding, regardless of how tedious it is for us church musicians to play the same thing (Canon in D) over and over again. I'm sick of it, really. I played extremely well, except for a little problem I had with the Principal stop on the Great sticking, which was easily remedied by a registration change. (Our organ is the most archaic piece of CRAP imaginable.)

Saturday night we went to Lou's 25t birthday party. Good food, but obnoxious Romanian relatives, who were all dressed to the nines for an outdoor picnic...ties, 3" stilettos, tons of make up and perfume. Ick. One lady was even wearing a green leather business suit.

Sunday after church Kevin and I spent most of the afternoon with Harley at the Akron Emergency Vet Hospital. Turns out she has a urinary tract infection that probably could have waited till today for her to see our family vet, but I was a little concerned (ok, PANICKED) because of the urination of blood happening with her.

Needless to say I got nothing accomplished over the weekend around the house or the yard. This week is just as busy as last week with Kevin's doctor's appointments, more Vet appointments, and Beth's visit possible on Friday for this weekend. Sheesh!

Subject: The Cleveland Browns


Q. What's the difference between the Cleveland Browns & the Taliban?
A. The Taliban has a running game

Q. How do the Cleveland Browns count to 10?
A. 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5, 0-6, 0-7, 0-8, 0-9, 0-10

Q. What do the Cleveland Browns & Billy Graham have in common?
A. They both can make 60,000 people stand up & yell "Jesus Christ" !

Q. How do you keep a Cleveland Browns player out of your yard?
A. Put up goal posts

Q. Where do you go in Cleveland in case of a tornado?
A. To Cleveland Browns stadium - they never get a touchdown there!

Q. What do you call a Cleveland Brown with a SuperBowl ring?
A. A thief

Q. Why doesn't Akron have a professional football team?
A. Because then Cleveland would want one

Q. Why was Butch Davis upset when the Cleveland Browns playbook was stolen?
A. Because he hadn't finished coloring it.

Q. What's the difference between the Cleveland Browns and a dollar bill?
A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar

Q. How many Cleveland Browns does it take to win a Superbowl?
A. Nobody knows and we may never find out!

Q. What do you call 47 people sitting around a TV watching the SuperBowl?
A. The Cleveland Browns

Q. What do the Cleveland Browns and opossums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road