It Worked!

"The days that make us happy make us wise." ~ John Mansfield

YAY!

The standard Sunday night question in our house is "Will you stay home with me tomorrow?" Always asked by me to Pooldad. Being a stay at home Mom for most of our 15 years I have come to feeling melancholy on Monday mornings because my best friend and partner in crime has to go back to work and the kidlets would leave for school. I would be alone, talking to the pups for the day. I simply never want the weekends to end.

And for all these years he still laughs when I ask and invariably goes to work the next day.

But not yesterday! Woohoo! He actually took a personal day and stayed home to play with me. YAY! That was pretty big because he doesn't just take a day off "because" - and he had to miss some serious days while I was in the hospeeeeeetal, so I was thrilled when I heard him call work early Monday morning to let them know he was staying home.

Have I already said "YAY!"? Oh, yeah. Hee, but really it was great.

We did the usual - hung out, watched movies, lined up important paperwork for the upcoming school year [seriously? I have to dig up Squirrel's immunization records, really? bah.] and played taxi for Wallene [nothing like a last minute birthday party to get us out of the house, right?] And took the dogs on a long walk.

Mundane, typical - call it what you will. I think it was the perfect day. Picked just for us.

The * is a Stand In for O Today...*bviously

I was going to title this "Food P*orn" but since y'all mistook the word "Prom" for "P*rn" a couple of posts ago I have been getting some pretty odd search hits on my blog and I just don't want to disappoint the p*rno searchers out there, 'kay? heehee

This is the way Pooldad served me my hotdog on Saturday evening.

Devilled eggs - notice the missing four? Yeah, well I never quite have a dozen of these make it to the table - what with Pooldad and the dogs hanging around.
Pooldad's favorite pickled beets, onions and eggs.
I hate, hate, hate these and not because of the taste.
I hate them because my husband likes to eat them straight out of the 'fridge [when he thinks I am not around] and inevitably spills beet juice in the 'fridge. These have actually been banned by me because beet juice is really hard to remove once spilled.
Pooldad and I made a deal - I would make them, he could have them at dinner and the rest of the container has to go to work. Let them deal with the beet juice. :D
Another batch of chicken all ready to fry up.

Me! Frying away.

See the yummy pieces already done?

I keep them warm in the oven [at 200 degrees] until all the pieces are done.

It takes me about two hours to fry them all.

Well worth it tho' I say.

Fried chicken has a funny history in our family - well, it is funny to us [now] - because it is such a popular dish and at one point I stopped making it. About 10 years ago I had made a huge batch of it and after feeding all the kids I put Pooldad's and my pieces in the oven to keep warm until he got home from work. Meanwhile I went to take a shower. When I got out of the shower I saw that he was home from work and started to plate dinner. Imagine my surprise when I opened the oven and saw the last 4 pieces of fried chicken devoid of skin. You know - the BEST part of fried chicken? The crunchy, spicy deliciousness? Yep! Gone. Pooldad had come home from work and while I was in the shower he had stripped each and everyone of those pieces of their skin. I was looking at naked chicken. I turned around, handed him his plate and said "It will be a cold, cold day if I EVER make fried chicken again." And I was good on my promise for about five years until one day I was craving it so I made it and it is now back in rotation - but you better know that the kids keep a watchful eye on their Dad now - because they don't ever want to go through another five year moratorium on the goodness that is Mom's fried chicken.

~

Another fried chicken fun Skippy family fact: For Squirrel's 16th birthday party Pooldad cut up 10 whole chickens which had me frying the resulting 80 pieces from about 3 am in the morning until the time of her party. I just pray that this isn't what Wallene picks for her party when she is 16 because I never want to do that again. :)

~

Okay - I think I can't stop posting about food for a while. hee

Having Another Problem Leaving Comments

I have been to Phelan's and Olde Baggs n' Stufft and I have been unable to leave a comment about their posts because the verification word isn't coming up. I am just getting a box with a red X. When I try to use the handicap version [click on it and it speaks the letters?] I hear a garbled mess.

So if you see me "lurking" on your blog please know I do have something to say [what's new, right?] but I can't leave a comment. Sorry.

For today we are relaxing inside because as we watch the weather alerts it keeps getting hotter and hotter - in the past hour it has gone from 95 degrees w/ humidity to over 100 degrees. Too hot to even go outside.

Instead I am cooking. Again. :) We had apple muffins with granola and fruit salad for breakfast that Pooldad [muffins] made - new recipe, very popular and for dinner we are having fried chicken, coleslaw, macaroni salad, devilled eggs, baked beans and yeast rolls. Oh and I have been cajoled into making pickled beets and eggs as they are one of Pooldad's favorites. The only thing leftover from yesterday is the macaroni salad so the beans and devilled eggs need to be made again. I don't know what it is about baked beans but I crave them lately.

I find that if I keep the sodium out of breakfast and lunch - for example I will only eat the fruit and drink juice for breakfast and have a salad for lunch - I can save up the sodium mg.s for dinner and can have a taste of just about everything. It is a good thing I don't like devilled eggs tho' - and no skin on the chicken, although it is the best and most fattening part. The salads are vinegar based which cuts way down on the sodium and the beans can be made vegetarian [i.e. no bacon - way less sodium].

So, I am off to cook - y'all are invited if you are in my part of the world. :) Hope you have a great Sunday.

No Camping...But We Have Strawberry Pie!

We had to stay in town this weekend. No worries - we have an unexpected house guest and so we stayed.

Instead I decided to make stuff. The "stuff" being food. We are having a cookout tonight and so far we have:

• Devilled Eggs
• Hamburgers and Hot Dogs - grilled
• Macaroni Salad
• Baked Beans
• Watermelon
• Strawberry Pie
• Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Not too amazing - but I love making these kinds of meals during the summer. Wallene calls them "Thanksgiving in June". I guess if I was a nice blogger I would post pics - but we haven't eaten yet. :D

Tonight we are going to watch "Valentine's Day" and "The Tooth Fairy" with popcorn and Kool-aid.

Anyone want to guess how old our houseguest is? :)

Hope everyone has a great evening and a wonderful Sunday.

Summer Entertainment - Skippy Style!

When it is too hot to play outside why not put a tent up in the living room and invite your friends over? Don't forget the dogs.

Or bake cupcakes - lotsa' cupcakes

[This was my third batch in two days]

Like the cupcake tree?

I found it at party city - I love it!

Or fall asleep in random places -

like here:
or here:

I couldn't decide who was more asleep - Wallene or Scooby.

It's a Toss Up

Do I want to gnaw off my arm because I am starving or because the joint pain is too much?

Can't decide - but I swear either is a really good option right now.

Although...my leg is a [somewhat] meatier choice and my knees and ankles hurt more.

Then again - not being a cannibal? [or what do you call it if you do it to yourself? giggle. dammit, give me pizza]

hee :D

Bravo Comcast- You Jerks

Between my gas company and Comcast cable services I seriously think I should live in a cardboard box and not deal with the stupidity anymore.

But...I have to admit heat is nice and I like to, once in a while, make a FREAKIN' phonecall.

Stupid Comcast.

They came out today to fix our phone line [that has been non operational for over two weeks] and they turned off our cable instead. Nice, you idiots.

Now no phone and no TV [and I have the basic of cable - just local channels because you have to have cable to get ANYTHING anymore and the converter boxes just do not work. Wondering who the Cable Lobbyist is in DC these days - they are powerful as all get out to get this passed.]

Thank goodness I still have internet.