TGIAF

Thank God it's almost Friday!!

I've had a pretty lonnnnnng week. I started back to school for fall quarter Tuesday night. I have AC (Alternating Current) class three nights a week now. I'm also taking a job skills class online that so far is a piece of red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and sprinkles on top. AC now?? I'm probably gonna have to study in there. It's all about magnets and magnetism and that's easy but there are SO many formulas to learn. It really is ridiculous how much everything to do with electronics deals with math. Good grief, Charlie Brown. I have a pretty good teacher, though. He's an engineer out at the base and he's pretty cool. He's extremely smart, too!! And at least I'm not the only girl in the class. There's another one. :) Our first test is Tuesday and our teacher told us we could use a 3x5 index card of notes to use on our tests. This girl is gonna write small!! Ha!!

Also on Tuesday night, somebody stole the AC units from behind the office where I work and we've had no air conditioning for two days. The cop told us there has been a lot of this happening lately and that they're stealing them for the copper inside. Like $30 worth of copper. Losers. We have been so hot!!! I hope they choke on the crack, um, hamburgers they buy with that $30. Grrrrr. We're supposed to get new units tomorrow.

Also this week, I've been working on a leak in my guest bathroom tub. It's doing the weirdest thing and if any of y'all have had this happen, please let me know what you did about it!! We have a self-enclosed fiberglass tub that would only leak when the tub was drained after I took a bath. It would not leak after a shower or if I filled the tub up and then let the water out. Just after I took a bath. I know, that's crazy talk. Don't even make no sense. But it's true!! Larry and I worked on troubleshooting it and I discovered a very small hairline crack at the base of the tub, where the water drains. I filled it full of epoxy and so far, it has not leaked again. I'm keeping my eye on it. And my foot OFF it. I kinda sorta know how it got cracked. Uh oh.

For Mama and Daddy

The Little Boat Of You And Me

September 25, 1988.

Twenty-two years ago this very day ('twas a Sunday, though), I met my Larry. The man I was born to love, be with, belong to.

He is my very best friend, my buddy, my soul mate, my hero, the true love of my life.

This life of ours hasn't been easy but it's been ours and it's been sweet beyond measure. I would not change one second of it.

There's a little plaque on a table in our living room that I found years ago. It pretty much sums us up.

It goes like this...

The little boat of you and me
Went sailing on the deep blue sea
We weathered storms and crashing waves
And we were strong and true and brave
And we were still in love so we
Kept sailing on the deep blue sea
The little boat of you and me

Harvest Moon

The definition of the harvest moon is the full moon closest to the fall equinox. That's tonight!

The harvest moon was named that because it rises within a half hour of the sun setting. Back in the old days, when farmers had no tractors, they had to work by the light of the moon to bring in the harvest. This moon is the fullest moon of the year. It looks larger than usual and will give off lots of light throughout the night. It's beautiful and full and you can even see "the face" in it tonight!

I think it's pretty awesome.

Fall Craftin' and Decoratin'

We had such a great time crafting today! Lots of good food and great friends.

Here's a picture of everybody's beautiful fall centerpieces!

I think they turned out so gorgeous, don't you?

That's mine in the back with the squash standing up. Ha!

I hate to even say I did this garden stone 'cause when I did it, it was lookin' a hot mess. Lisa MORE than helped me out with this pretty thing and I could not have brought home anything more lovely to put in my yard.

I put it right by my front door under my eucalyptus tree.

This is a closeup of my centerpiece. I'm pretty proud of it. Squash and all.

I decided to put it on my mantel, right in the middle.

I got a beautiful copper plate from Michael's for $5 to set it in.

All of these flowers, leaves, ribbon and decorations came from the Dollar Tree.

This is my mantel, all gussied up for fall.

Ami made that beeeeeeautiful fall banner and she was

sweet enough to let me have it! I love it!!

That candle is called Harvest Home, it came from Hobby Lobby and it was on sale this week for $3. It smells like pumpkin, caramel and all sorts of autumn goodness. Yum!!


Here's the other end of my mantel. Don't you just love those cute little wooden pumpkins? And the ceramic one on the end is just so pretty to me.

I also found this little plate at Hobby Lobby and I just fell in love with it!

I put it on my table in the foyer so it's the first thing I see when I come home. It will remind me to thank Him for all He has done and is doing in my life.

Buffalo Chicken Dip Part Two

It might be hot as blue (cheese) blazes but don't it look goooooooooood??

Buffalo Chicken Dip

We girls from work are having our fall craft get-together tomorrow at Lisa's house and I'm taking Buffalo Chicken Dip and whole wheat crackers (and some tortilla chips!). I made it tonight so all the flavors would be good and acquainted by the time we eat tomorrow. I tasted it and it was good but it's waaaaaay too hot for me. As my daddy says, "it burned my goozle".

But if you like things that burn your goozle, you should really try it! It has a great flavor to it and it is very South Beach friendly!!

This is how!

8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup blue cheese salad dressing
1/2 cup Frank's RedHot Sauce
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
3 cooked and shredded chicken breasts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place cream cheese in the bottom of a deep baking dish and stir until smooth. Mix in salad dressing, Frank's RedHot Sauce and blue cheese. Stir in chicken. Bake 20 minutes or until the mixture is heated through. Stir. Serve with crackers or veggies.

We're gonna make a fall centerpiece for our tables and hand paint a garden stone for our driveways. Y'all pray for me. Ami got ALL the crafty talent in our family!

Critter or Bad Young'un?

Something has happened to this tree in my front yard. Something that happened during the night Sunday night. At first I thought it was that bad little kid next door with the barking dog but now that I look at it closer, I think this was probably done by a critter. A raccoon, most likely. Have any of you ever seen anything like this before?

It almost looks like it was hit by something, a car or a bolt of lightning. It looks bad!! When I first saw it Monday morning as I headed to work, in my almost-drunken-still-half-asleep stumble to my car, all I saw was that ORANGE GLOW. I swear, I thought my tree was on fire!

I went to Lowe's and got some tree wound sealant and put on it today. This is a HUGE tree and I sure don't want it to die.

The Finished Product

Here's my circuit board all finished up and working!!
That little siren was the sweetest sound I've heard in a long time.

The first time I hooked it up to the battery, the lights came on but the siren didn't. A guy in my class realized what I had done wrong 'cause he'd done the same thing. I'd put one of the LED lights in backwards! It's hard to tell what's the right way to attach them. They're so small. So I desoldered it, flipped it around and tacked it back down, filled in one tiny little hole next to a lead and ran back up there, grabbed that battery and, hallelu-yer, the clouds parted, the sun came out, the siren came on and and the lights started flashing. It was a beautiful thing.

I had to leave it there for my teacher to officially grade (he said it looked great!) so I had to take this picture with my cell phone. That's why it's so crappy.

That was my last class for this quarter. I'm a free bird until September 28th!!

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UPDATE!!! I got my grade today, 9/17. I got a 98 on my board!! Woooo hoooooo!!!

Nine

Pork Chops Marsala

2 tsp olive oil
4 (4 oz) boneless loin pork chops
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 c chicken broth
1/4 c marsala
salt and pepper

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Add chops to pan, cook until brown. Remove chops, keep warm.

Add garlic and mushroom to pan and saute until soft. Combine broth and marsala and add to pan. Bring to a boil, add salt and pepper to your preference. Return chops to pan, cook until desired degree of doneness, turning to coat with sauce. Add a little whole wheat pasta and some steamed broccoli and slap yo' grandma.

Larry found this recipe for me to try and I made it for supper tonight. I cannot believe how good it turned out!! It was so easy, too. I've had chicken marsala and sirloin marsala at the OG, Carrabbas and other various Italian places but I've never had pork chops cooked with it. Mighty, mighty fine.

Hangin' Out At Home

Here's an update on the SunChips compostable bag! I put it in my compost June 28th, 10 weeks ago, and as you can see, it really hasn't broken down that much. Faded, maybe. The web site says it'll begin to break down in about 14 weeks so we'll see where it is in another month. It could be that my compost isn't the perfect environment for it. I'm so excited about compostable bags!! I know there's been a lot of criticism that these bags are too loud and I'm sure they're working on that so they can sell more but what's MOST important is that they don't end up in a landfill. Yay!! I hope this trend continues to include EVERYTHING that's bagged!




I woke up to such a beautiful day that I just had to get out there. I'm washing towels now for the clothesline! I just love the look of a clothesline full of laundry. I love the smell of fresh, sun-dried towels and sheets. I gave up fabric softener and and dryer sheets years ago and I've never looked back. They just have too many chemicals in them that I know have to be bad for you. I don't sneeze as much as I used to! I took this picture of that humongous tree in my backyard. I can't wait to watch all those green leaves turn orange and then brown and fall off. I'm NOT looking forward to raking them, though! :-P

Fall Is SO Close I Can Smell It!

...um, well, maybe it's this Caramel Pumpkin Swirl candle I got from Pier 1 that I'm smelling. Still, though, fall is not far away. After this lonnnnnnnng HOT summer, I am really looking forward to some cooler days. Fall is my favorite season. I love everything about it, especially anything pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin candles, pumpkin soap, pumpkin lotion, pumpkin shower gel, pumpkin lip balm, pumpkin face scrub, pumpkin muffins, carving pumpkins, Linus' Great Pumpkin, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich...that..that's about it.

I am done with trig, ohthankyousweetbabyjesus, and since I made 100 on everything except my 90's on the last few tests, I think my average is around 94. I finished up last night with the final and let me tell you, I am so glad to have that behind me. I have to finish my circuit board on the 13th and then I'll have a little break until fall quarter starts on the 28th. I had so much stuff planned that I had to get done this weekend but I've spent the past two days checking everything off my list and I've run so far so fast that now I'm all by myself with nothing to do. (I hope y'all appreciate my working in some Forrest Gump tonight! Ha!). I came home today and cut my grass and clipped shrub bushes and raked leaves and I got my oil changed yesterday and my car washed and the laundry done. So I honestly have nothing to do this weekend. What a great feeling!!!

I think I'm just gonna sit on my butt for three days. And smell my candle and dream about fall.

I Just Could Not Resist...

Happy 9/02/10!

Long live The Peach Pit! :)