Saturday, March 31, 2012

Things I Never Thought I'd Do

We saw the trailer for the movie 'Hop' last year and I told myself UGH!  We are NEVER going to watch THAT movie!!

So it was with a certain amount of unease that I found myself renting (at Neve's urging and insistence) the movie 'Hop".

I NEVER thought I'd do that.

And I NEVER thought I'd turn it on a SECOND time!

AND I never thought these words would come out of my mouth "Larry, come watch this part!  It's so funny!"

OMG.

Grandkids.  They do funny things to your sensibilities!

Thanks, Audrey.....

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Electronic Family 3

( I am crammed into the back of Larry's Jetta, on the way to Knoxville, TN, taking Larrys' little brother Stuart home from a visit.)

Me:  Larry, HOW do you get this travel cup OPEN??
Larry: Which one is it?
Me: Audrey's.
Larry: Just turn it.
Me: It doesn't work!

(Texting Audrey)

Me:  How do you open that travel mug of yours?
Audrey: Which one?
Me: The one with the books and crap on it.
Audrey: Just turn it.

(Still not able to get coffee out and by the way, I just want to mention that I hadn't had any coffee AT ALL so far..) (And it is, like, noon.)

(Phoning Audrey)

Me: HOW DO YOU OPEN THIS THING???
Audrey: Just turn it!  It says open and closed - right?
Me: IT. IS. NOT. WORKING.
Audrey: How much coffee do you have in there?
Me: About 1/2 full.  Oh.  I guess you need to tip it more than usual.
Audrey: Yeah, mom.

Then the rapt audience in the front of the Jetta decided to weigh in.

Stuart:  What the heck kind of a coffee mug is that??
Me: SHUT UP.  DON"T JUDGE ME.

I blame menopause.


Larry and Stu celebrating UK's win!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

A Cautionary Cookie Tale

We've all seen the Chocolate chip cookie recipe on the right side of Facebook.  You know, the one from the Just a Pinch site.

I made them the other night. I didn't have a plain cake mix, so I used a lemon cake mix and added pecans and white chocolate chips and oh my goodness they were great!!

YUMMY!!!


So that got me to thinking...How about using a Red Velvet cake mix??  With white chocolate chips??  Maybe a little bit of cream cheese frosting on top??
And since we were having people to dinner the next night - it would be perfect!!!

They came together perfectly!  I even added some extra butter (everything is better with butter - right??)

They were beautiful!!  And tasted sooo good!!

Pretty, huh?

But later that night when Larry and I were brushing our teeth, we noticed that we couldn't rinse our mouths enough... Where was all this pink water coming from???

And then it hit me!!
Red Velvet cake is easily about oh, say 40% red food coloring, which, when spread out over a big ol cake isn't that bad.
But compacted in about 3 dozen cookies, we're talking ALOT of red food coloring.
And then upon further consideration I realized that the red food coloring was going to present itself in other well, physical ways.

How did I manage to hit the cookie exacta??  Gorgeous and gross at the same time?

We threw the cookies away.

Who wants to brightly caution their guests "Oh, and after eating these cookies, don't worry!  That's not rectal bleeding!"

Not me.

Monday, March 19, 2012

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

A year ago, Larry got a six week notice from his job.

The

And it was funny, because the six weeks ended on the day of his last final for grad school.

Waiting

Then six weeks became twelve weeks as they found things for Larry to do at the office and keep putting his name in for jobs.  Then in July they rescinded the notice and said he'd be there for three more years.  But he still had no contract - no job.

is

Right now is a tough time to be a Government Contractor.  There is no money and there is a HUGE labor pool.  For example, if the job calls for an expert in Afghan breakfast foods, they don't want anyone who knows the basics and could learn the rest.  They have the ability to say no, we'll take the guy who actually cooked eggs for the Afghans.  As I said a HUGE labor pool and not many jobs.

the

So six weeks ago today, Larry got another notice.  He is looking for a job, they are helping him look for another job, we've made cautious plans regarding restructuring our lives.  We are lucky in the fact that there are some retirement savings that we can tap, military retirement pay that will help with the mortgage and a military medical plan.  And Larry learned about the Post 9/11 GI Bill so that he can go back to school - maybe learn about Afghan breakfast foods....

Hardest

And then last Friday, Larry got a call that gave him another week of work while they are waiting to see if this other job comes thru.  And now we are waiting again. 

Part

Like we have been waiting for the last year.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger....

Friday, March 16, 2012

Necessary Corrections 2

Today Neve and Audrey and the girls and I took off for Shirlington to have lunch with Poppop and Mary.

While we were walking back to the parking garage we were nearly run over by two seriously yuppie parents and their huge sidewalk gobbling stroller.

Me:  Look Neve!  Isn't that a pretty baby?

Neve:  Um, no Mimi.  That baby not pretty AT ALL!

They nearly turned around and ran us down again!!


Nope, not at all....


Monday, March 12, 2012

My Husband is in Love with Another Woman

I've always known that there were other women in my husband's life.  You know, the usual...his mom, our daughters, a certain boss at the NSA...the usual.

But then, I started noticing that whenever a certain self-proclaimed "bosomy and bottom-y" TV chef would be on, LT would be riveted to the screen.

I am talking, of course, about Nigella Lawson, the Domestic Goddess.


                                      Thank God she lives in England.....


There was day she made some sort of English-style roasted beef, piled it in a roll, shoved half of it in her mouth, then warned us not to try this at home...She then went on to explain that she could do this because she has a very accommodating mouth.

Larry fainted

Our son Shayne shared in the appreciation of Nigella.  I mean it was nice that father and son had something to leer, er, I mean talk about.

Then I noticed that his affection was fading.  Was there another woman who had captured his fancy?

Actually, it was another woman and her ranch.

I am talking about the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, of course.

                                              The Other other Woman.

He is in love with the ranch and with Marlboro Man and anything that they do that is farm related.

And don't forget Charlie and Walter, the basset hounds.

At first, I thought oh, this is just a passing fancy.  Larry's from Oklahoma, it is just state pride. He'll get bored soon.

But no.

He reads her blog.  He googles the ranch.  He tells me Charlie stories.  And at 10am on Saturdays, he is ready, coffee cup in hand, to watch the Pioneer Woman on Food Network.

Audrey , surprisingly, has sympathy for him.  She has stated, after making Ree's cobbler, that she too would marry her.

Maybe I won't tell them that her new cookbook comes out tomorrow...

And that I have had it pre-ordered for about oh three months...

Thank God they live in Oklahoma....

A Saturday with My Husband

Larry and I found ourselves in the odd position of having a Saturday morning with no grandchildren!

(I had been exposed to viral pneumonia and there was NO WAY I was going to chance passing it on to Jessica!)

So after we slept in as long as the girls would let us...(Lucy and Ellie are EARLY risers) we decided to go get coffee and a muffin at the Red Truck Bakery in Warrenton.  Yum!!   And the table that you sit and drink your coffee at was made from a barn that General Phil Sheriden actually touched!! 
(Very important to Civil War types...Like Larry...)

Then we went to the Tractor Supply Company.  It is pretty much as important to Larry as Target is to the rest of us. 

(I was going to say that it was as important to him as IKEA, but that would be pure blasphemy.)

(Nothing is as important a IKEA.)

Then we went to Wegmans.  I love Wegmans.

Then we went home, settled down with more coffee and a cat on each our laps, and watched the Pioneer Woman.  (Larry does NOT miss the Pioneer Woman.  More on THAT later...)

                                  



Raliegh says Hey....










Then Larry went outside to work on Audrey's car.  

And I cleaned up the toy area, with Mary's help.  (She picked the wrong time to swing by...)

Lucy and Ellie share the toy corner with the grandbabies..  They are NOT happy about this.  Neither are the grandbabies.  Life is rough.  On a related note - LOOK YOU CAN SEE THE FLOOR!!!!!

Oh and we moved furniture and almost adopted a 12 year old dog for Audrey and talked and talked and talked.

And Mary took us out to the Outback for supper!!  SWEET!!!

What a great Saturday!!!