Shameless Plug for a friend's book

I highly recommend this book....I have read part of Eva's novella in this book and let me tell you...get your fan out and turned on high as she is one smokin' steamy author and gets a +10 Steamy factor from me!

Fortune’s Fool by Bianca D’Arc, Eva Gale, Cassidy Kent, and Selah March
May, 2007
ISBN 1-59426-909-2

Four mistresses of erotic romance present a collection of tales destined to get pulses racing. Sexy psychics offer delectable divination in the past, present, and future.

KING OF SWORDS - Biana D’Arc: Sparks ignite when a psychic meets a special ops warrior aboard a space station. When enemies attack, will close quarters and danger draw them together?

TEMPTING FATE - Eva Gale: An up-and-coming banker falls for the town palm reader. She might be breathtaking, but a spinster from a notorious psychic family is hardly the career boost he wanted.

MIRANDA WRITES - Cassidy Kent: A novelist becomes a fortune-teller for book research. When an FBI agent mistakes her for a counterfeiter, danger and romance ensue. Will she meet her deadline… or wind up just plain dead?

FLESH AND BONE - Selah March: Tortured by a sadistic murderess, a detective may suffer an agonizing death. Only a local psychic can find him, but will she save him? Or be caught in evil’s web?

Length: Quasar (96K)
Rating: 4 Novas

Recipe - Pea Soup

Pea soup

2 meaty ham hocks (1 3/4 lb total)(I love using the Honey Baked Ham ones).
16 cups water
4 large carrots
1 large onion chopped
2 celery ribs chopped
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb dried split peas picked over and rinsed
1 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
5 cups 1/2 inch cubes pumpernickel bread
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup frozen peas unthawed

Simmer ham hocks in 16 cups water in deep 6 qt pot uncoverd until meat is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Transfer ham hocks to a cutting board and measure broth. If it measures more than 12 cups continue boiling until reduced to 12 cups. If less than 12 cups add water to get to 12 cups. when hocks are cooled discard skin and cut or shred into bite sized pieces. (Reserve the bones.)

Chop 2 carrots and cook along with onion and celery in 2 tablespoons oil in a 6-8 quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, 6-8 minutes. Add split peas, table salt, pepper, ham hock broth, and reserved bones and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until peas are falling apart and soup is slightly thickened, about 1- 1/2 hours.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400. While soup simmers, toss bread with remaining 3 tablespoons oil and kosher salt in a large bowl, then spread in 1 layer in a large shallow baking pan and bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Cool croutons on a wire rack.

Halve remaining 2 carrots lengthwise then cut crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Remove bones from soup with a slotted spoon and discard. Add carrots and ham pieces to soup and simmer, uncovered, until carrots are tender, 10 - 15 minutes. Add frozen peas and simmer, uncovered, stirring, until just heated through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt.

Serve soup with croutons.

Soup is best when made, without frozen peas, 1 day ahead to give flavors time to develop.

Family and Bonding

Most of you know I come from a large family. I actually lost count of the number of 1st cousins I have since I don't know half of them....they are from my father's family as he was one of 18. Most of my 1st cousins live in OK with the remaining in TX and KS the last I heard (we get a yearly update from my grandfather's estate...which is a story in itself). Since my parents were the only ones of either of their families to move outside of OK, I rarely got to see, let alone meet my younger cousins. There were just too many of them to remember. Last count I had 200 some 1st cousins.

Ok...you had to have a background there to know why my family (the IL side) has stuck together. We do things together and get together a minumum of 2 times a year....one long weekend in the summer for a reunion, and to celebrate Christmas. There are other occasions during the year (confirmations, baptisms, communions, marriages, anniveraries, etc) but the 2 times we are all together are those 2 times a year. One of the other occasions we started in our family is what we personally call our own version of "While You Were Out". Basically we take a member of the family and redo their bedroom while they are gone for the weekend. Our first subject was one of my nieces. My brother and SIL and their 3 girls moved into a house and each girl finally got their own bedroom. The youngest (13) happened to get the room decorated in Winnie the Pooh so she became the 1st subject. We painted and updated her room from a child's room into a teen room in the colors she had picked out already (not knowing that it was going to be done that weekend or by anyone but her father). It was a huge hit and all that could helped out. We basically decided on doing between 2-3 rooms a year and would schedule them when most of us could do it and decide on who we were doing based on need.

For the 1st time, last weekend we did one of my sisters. Her husband was in on the plan and had pre-ordered the new furniture with delivery to take place that weekend. My sister had ugly 70's shag carpeting and this ugly avacodo toilet and orange sink in the adjoining bathroom. She wanted wood flooring so her husband also had gotten new flooring for her and we were to install it. Her 2 girls got her to pick out what color scheme she had been thinking on (she was easy since one of her girls was moving back to IL and redecorating). So about 2 months ago, her girls came to Chicago with their kids and went shopping with my daughter for all they would need, including paint. Everyone was assigned something to do for the room (taking pictures of her 3 grandkids and having them framed).

Here are the before pictures:





Here are the after pictures:






I think we did a good job. Luckily for us, there was this gorgeous wood floor sitting underneath that ugly carpeting so we ended not having to lay a new floor. But we did find out that her outside walls were not made of plaster but of something that does not allow hanging pictures so we had to do a repair and repainting of the one wall then a run to the hardware store for something to hang pictures on that kind of wall.

Next up is......nope can't tell you just in case any of my family has found my site here.

College or youth pranks

M asked me in the previous post what I wrote here meant: "participate in a panty raid in the boys dorm" so I thought I would answer that and add a few other things I have done.

I grew up in the 60's and early 70's...the beginning of the hippy and sexual revolutions....so many of these might not be applicable to what you have done or seen.

I will answer M first....participate in a panty raid in the boys dorm....is just that. A panty raid meant that one goes and gets the panties (underwear) from a member of the opposite sex. Since this was a sorority thang and on campus there was this one greek frat that all the Italians and cool guys were in....the names of some of those guys were put into a bowl and one by one each of us pledges would draw a name out. We had to somehow get the underwear of said name. Now you have to go back to those days....college dorms were not co-ed and I went to a Catholic college. There were girl dorms and boy dorms and neither were close to each other...they were across campus from each other. Basically we had to sneak into the dorm (the biggest obstacle was to get past the front desk monitor who didn't allow the girls to go up to a boys room or vice versa...you got called down and you had to meet each other in the drawing room) and then get into the named boys room and get a pair of their undies. Well, many tried and many failed. I won't tell you if I succeeded failed.

Other things I have done or seen done: during band trips I would push the limits on the rules. Each year we took a huge trip (one year we went to Washington DC, 2 separate times to Florida, and once to Canada and down to NY and past Niagara Falls). We always went by bus. The rules were we were not to be in the hallways after curfew. Well, I will say I was never once in a hallway but I learned how to pack a rope with knots and climb out windows and go to the party room (there was always one). I won't say who did it, but I did happen to see a bra raised on the Canadian flag pole right under their flag. I will admit to ordering a pizza and giving them my credit card number, then ordering a taxi to go pick up said pizza and deliver it to my hotel room. I never stepped a toenail outside into the hallway. I followed the rules.

Other things: my father was a high school teacher and I knew all the teachers on a personal level (they attended parties at my parent's house). I would take pictures with my Brownie camera of them getting drunk and riding tricycles or their cars down the street or over the lawns. I would 'forget' money and would walk into the teachers lounge and ask for my father who I knew wasn't there. I would say that he forgot to give me lunch money (we were supposed to take our lunches from home instead of buying them). Teachers would give me money like it was candy and would never say anything or ask for it back. Another thing was my father used to sign piles of hall passes. I would take oh say 10-20 from a pile and use them to get out of class and meet my friends. Now I could have sold them for a pretty penny but no....I didn't.

There were numerous other pranks in college dorms...penny one into their room, use a manila envelope and fill it with shaving or whipping cream....push it slightly under a door and stomp on it (it would flood the room with the cream)....short sheet people...put frogs in their beds....sew the legs closed on their underwear....

Come on....I can't be the only one who has done/seen things like this......spill your prank!

Hell Week

When I was in college and pledging a Greek sorority, we had miscellaneous things we had to do....strike a match then recite the greek alphabet 7 times forward and backward without burning your finger, stike another match and recite your drivers license number forward and backward 10 times without burning your fingers, clean the other member's rooms, participate in a panty raid in the boys dorm...you get the idea. Life was somehow simpler back then. All I had to do was work 8 hours a day, go to school for 6 hours a day, sleep for 5 hours a day, and socialize the remaining times. Hell week then.

Hell week now: My week started in the dentist chair....after never being in a dentist chair and experiencing either a shot in the mouth or the drill for 53 years...I was in that chair 3 different times this week. Seems my mouth does not like the glue that holds on my temporary bridge and is repelling it. My diet this week is tepid water, lukewarm yogurt, mashed potatoes, pureed foods. Anything else I am in pain. Was back to the dentist on Saturday and today after the shots wore off: pain again. Then I decided to make myself new pillows for the couch because I couldn't find any I liked in a color I liked. I started a couple of weeks ago cutting out the fabrics. One finger got a wee bit close to the sewing machine needle and got basted which just pissed me off since I had to wash the fabric then to get my blood out of it. Work this week consisted of 14 hour days only to come home and work on my own billing service clients...oh and signing the contract on the reception hall and still trying to find a church for the wedding. Friday I finally finished the pillows and made matching curtains. Saturday before dentist I made my marinara sauce. After dentist I threw together 2 lasagna pans and made garlic bread, packed...then we were off to to sister's house 3 hours away to help with the makeover where other members of the family were (some had been since Thursday). We finished this morning with 30 minutes to spare. It was a success and our most ambitious project ever....sister's face: priceless. But right now all I can think of is getting this last load out of the washer and into the dryer so I can go to bed....and thinking the cicadas have made their appearance already....and I have to work the entire week.

Dentist

I go to a dentist every 6 months for teeth cleaning. Have all my life. Never ever had a shot in my mouth nor a cavity so no experience in 53 years but normal cleanings.

UNTIL. TODAY.

I happened to be one of the lucky ones who not only has never had a cavity but I didn't get wisdom teeth either (I say that I was smart enough already). But....I had a baby tooth that lasted 43 years (never had a permanent tooth there). Until now I wore what is called a flipper:

But with taking it in and out every day, I would end up having to replace it once every couple of years.

My dentist finally talked me into a partial bridge. She said....piece of cake. No problemo.....remind me to not believe anyone who says something is easy as my life recently has not been easy one iota! Today I had my first shot...actually it was 4. Ok...mouth a little weird. Ok...eyes starting watering....ok can't feel mouth or tongue and started drooling.....thinking to myself...I will need to do makeup repair. Then dentist and assistant come in. She tests it all....yep all ready. She asks me if I am ready....I am like...I think so but in reality I said i sheenk sho...

Then the drill comes out. Let me tell you that is worse than 500 fingers scraping over a blackboard. Shrill and whining. Podiatry drills are not like that. Plus I am still drooling which I don't feel until it hits my neck....thinking to myself now I need to change scrubs too.....

I learned talking is not an option. Between the fingers in the mouth and the drill there was no room for any type of meaningful conversation...not even how's the weather....Oh she would ask.....I think I mumbled.....dunno can't remember...but why would someone talk to you or attempt to carry on a conversation with someone whose mouth is numb and your fingers are shoved into it?

Now I am done. No one told me I wouldn't be able to talk for HOURS or eat....now changing my scrubs from my drool and putting on more makeup was the least of my problems. I had to work. I had to answer the phone. I had to speak. I had to enunciate. I couldn't do any of it. No one understood me......my husband was dying laughing....he had to dodge the groin kick. But my mouth wouldn't move in the way it needed to so words would come out normal.

Then I am figuring my mouth is starting to feel less numb....good....ummm...NO... not good.....PAIN.SETS.IN. She had told me that I would probably have some nerve pain from drilling down the 2 teeth where she was attaching the temporary partial to....but she is talking to someone who has had over 10 abdominal surgeries and cancer treatment and never took a pain pill. WRONG.AGAIN. I am living on ibuprofen. I don't like talking as it hurts to move my lips across the sensitive areas. Eating is a joke. Wedding diet is loving this. I finally went to the grocery store and bought some baby food. So for the next 2 weeks until my permanent brace gets in, my diet will consist of scrambled eggs, pudding, warm jello, cool soups, no ice, baby food, mashed potatoes, and anything else that will slide down and not chew.

I really have to learn how to say NO.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all! Today has been ummm....shall we say interesting? I had set up a Mother's Day lunch with my mother and father and added hubby's mother and father at this place where they serve family style and have country fried chicken, mashed tators, corn fritters, plus a variety of salads (cottage cheese, kidney bean salad, cole slaw, and pickled beets). It is close to my mother's house so they wouldn't have too far to drive. The plans began for this a month ago and the place and time were picked (we try to alternate which place we go to - either near hub's side of the family or near my side). Well, then daughter asked if her bf (now fiancee)'s parents could come too. I said no problemo. Remind me to never ever ever ever ever say that again.....please just shoot me or shove something down my throat will ya? Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...I am begging you.......

Last week I received an email from daughter's fiance's mother (luckily I was copied on the thang) who informed all of his relatives that this was a surprise engagement party for daughter and her fiance. I was like WTF? It's Mother's Day...not an engagement party. And my side of the family were being told during the luncheon that they were engaged....so in said email it stated that presents or just a card is welcome. So #1 dilemna of what looks to be a very long year of wedding planning....do I tell my side so they come prepared for an engagement party? I didn't want to do that because my daughter doesn't like surprises of any kind and it wasn't an engagement party....it was Mother's Day! So I sent an email back to this mother asking who was paying for this and I didn't think my daughter was going to be pleased. She emailed back that the brides family pays for the engagement party. Yep the F word came out.....that set this past week off to a good start.

Hubs took it out of my hands and called daughter and told her who in turn called fiancee who in turn called his mother and although I wasn't privy to the conversation...I can sure imagine what was said! Well, it ended up daughter had to call my family telling them about the engagement and that this was just a Mother's Day get together but his side was going to be there and then told his side that it was not an engagement party. All but one of my sisters and brothers attended today. Most of his side turned up. I got the pleasure **insert eyeroll** of sitting across from his younger brother....change of life child who has never learned the term discipline in his life nor how to act in public (said brother is a freshman in high school and should know better). You all would have been proud of me. Instead of wacking him from across the table, I got up and walked and mingled to let off steam. All his side brought presents like it was their wedding day. My side brought nothing.

It is going to be a very long year.

But I always look for a positive in the events of the day. My husband gave me a box of chocolate covered cherries and a digital picture frame for my desk (it holds multiple pictures and I can either freeze it at one picture or keep it changing pictures) and the new kitchen garbage can I wanted and a new set of dryer balls. Kids got me a new set of sheets and 2 new 8x8 pyrex square cooking dishes (I broke mine). Now for the bonus: it is now peaceful and quiet and I can do whatever my heart pleases.

Mother's Day Cards

I had to run some errands today so went to the Hallmark store to get Mother's Day cards for my mother and MIL who I get the pleasure **insert eyeroll** of having lunch with on Sunday along with daughter's fiance's mother and her family. So there I was trying to pick out cards.....and it seems I wasn't the only one having problems.

Taken from another blog I read:

you mean what kind of mother's day card did i get for my mother?

i don't know her address

they're ALL true

I was teasing about the mother's day card. Dry sarcasm. (I was reading through them at Walmart and putting them all down.)

At least I know it wasn't just me....other people in this world feel the same way. What is it about the cards for me? They are either too syrupy sweet I want to puke...or they are way too funny and over the heads of who I would want to give them to or they are perfect but giving that card would only perpetuate the 'given by the idiot for married my precious son'. I. AM. DOOMED.

Where did the simple cards go? A simple thanks...no fluff...no frills...

Meme'd again

The Rules:
* Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about him/herself.
* People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
* At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
* Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

1. The only jewelry I usually wear is my wedding ring, my Mickey Mouse watch, and my angel pin.

2. My lasagna and for that matter my marinara sauce contains vegetables but you would never know it because I puree them.

3. I love fried cornbread, black eyed peas, grits, and collard greens.

4. I will eat rattlesnake, turtle. and most things but I hate sardines and chocolate covered grasshoppers.

5. I don't swim but I love snorkeling.

6. I will watch Oprah occasionally but I won't watch Martha Stewart.

7. I don't like butter. I use olive oil and balsalmic vinegar with a bit of freshly grated parmesan on bread and I use lemons instead of butter for lobster and crab legs.

8. I used to swipe my father's hall passes (he was a teacher) and get myself out of class all the time.

Weddings

Well, daughter and her bf got engaged exactly 6 days ago. We found out Saturday night...well Sunday wee morning when they finally landed at Ohare and came over to pick up their doggies. Ever since they told us, there have been nightmarish of problems rising up every single day. We already had the reception rooms booked and deposits made...we still have to haggle on prices, sign the contract, and pick out the menu...but at least we have the room. Daughter and fiancee have already made out a guest list which has become a problem (not on our side)....who are the bridemaids and groomsmen....to an innocent Mother's day get together when daughter and fiancee were going to announce their engagement to everyone that got turned into a surprise engagement party that is now not happening as we told daughter what was going on....to finding out today the church she was baptized and confirmed in and her church won't allow her to have that date....it isn't that there is another wedding...it's that it is confirmation Sunday and thus no weddings are allowed. The date they picked is special to them as it is their anniversary of going out. Moving the date is not an option. Finding out where they are going to be married now is.

For those of you who have children who have married...please tell me tomorrow won't bring another calamity....please.........359 days to go.....

Meme'd

1. Parent or grandparent?
Parent of a boy and girl and 2 in heaven, and 2 cats. Grandparent of 2 English bulldogs and 1 sugar glider. Yep they count if I have to feed them and clean up after them.

2. What TV mom do you most resemble or relate to?
I know some of you won't believe this but a lot like Roseanne with a wee bit of June Cleaver but I don't wear dresses and I don't do windows.

3. What did you want to be when growing up and if you are NOT doing it now what changed your mind?
I always wanted to be a doctor or vet from the first time I saw a horse being born. I ended up being a nurse although I did get accepted into medical school. Funds were just not there (I paid for my own schooling) and I couldn't work full time nights while in medical school like I did for my bachelors so I went for my masters.

4. Imagine you have the ability to change your looks by combining two different nationalities or races, which two and why?
I am truly a Heinz 57 (German, French, Irish, Scottish, English, Polish, Russian). I think I would like to keep the Irish part of me but add maybe Italian for the olive skin so I wouldn't burn within 5 minutes of being in the sun.

5. What craft would you want to learn and why?
Well, I pretty well know how to do them all. I sew, cross-stitch, crochet, knit, hook rugs, braid, quilt, scrapbook, done pottery, painted pottery, done stenciling, hung wallpaper, made candles, made soap, tye-dyed, embroidered by hand and by machine, and made jewelry. About the only one I haven't done and have been fascinated by is free hand painting. Mine looks like art deco style when it really wasn't supposed to be.

So now it can be your turn. Just follow these simple rules.
1. Leave me a comment on this post saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Waiting

I hate waiting. I am more into instant gratification. If I want something I don't wait to put it on some wish list...I just go buy it. I should also mention I hate shopping too...I make my list and go get it. Period. I don't ever deviate from said list unless I can't find it on said list. I won't go to different stores either. Everything I buy I get from a designated set of stores I am shopping at that day. I never look for the cheapest. I figure my time is worth more than the few cents I would save from getting it somewhere else. If something strikes me, I get it. If it doesn't, I won't buy it.

Okay...back to the waiting. Daughter and her bf are on vacation this week...their anniversary week. I figured they would get engaged on their anniversary which was yesterday. She promised to call me the moment it happened....I even told her to say yes first then call me....My cell phone was never out of my site...even went to the bathroom with me...and to the wake last night. Did I get a call? Nope....so maybe it didn't happen....or maybe it did....won't know until she gets home tomorrow night...meanwhile I wait.....and not patiently.