Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Arkansas Visit

Thought I would share some photos from our trip to Arkansas to see my Dad on his 81st birthday. I will save the birthday party photos for a future post.

This was our airport breakfast. It was stuffed with ham & cheese. All the restaurants were open at 8:30 in the morning - even Popeye's serving chicken. I was surprized when I saw that pile of fried chicken that time of morning. Oh, has anyone else noticed that if you have a drink in the gate area that security people walk around and stick something in it to test it?

This is the Monticello Healthcare facility where my Dad is staying. One of my high school friend's mother is also there. They used to be next door to each other but they had to move my Dad closer to the nurses's station so they can get to him faster - when he wants up, he wants up right then. He's taken some falls and one resulted in a broken hip.

He doesn't like it when his hair gets too long (I should remind him of his photos from the 70's, LOL) so we found a barber shop.


After the haircut. I think she gave him an extra short cut because he went so lkong between haircuts that this cut would buy him some time.

A typical meal when in Arkansas - fried catfish, hush puppies, okra, and corn fritters. I don't remember corn fritters when I grew up in Arkansas. Inb fact the first place I ever had them was in Anchorage but they are good. I don't believer Jerry has ever been to Dumas without eating at Catfish Kitchen.


Sunday, October 25, 2009

Halloween Clearance Sale

Eddie as Dracula

Daisey as Snow White

Roxy as Cinderella
So I finally ventured out of the house today because I needed dog food and a collar/leash/harness for Roxy and the store had pet Halloween costumes and toys on clearance sale. So.......since I did have an online event tonight for pets, I purchased three outfits. I read in the paper today that it was OK to shop again, LOL.



Meet Foxy Roxy!





This is my new foster dog, Foxy Roxy. She should be with us at least 5 weeks because she is undergoing treatment for heart worms. She was found as a stray in Jefferson Parish, near New Orleans. She should adopt out quickly because she is super sweet, housebroken, and cute as a bug!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Day 2 At Home

Thank goodness for the wireless internet and Showtime on Demand, LOL.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

I'm Home

....and it's cold! I was hoping to warm up after freezing on two airplanes but it is only in the 60's here today. WAHHHHHHHH

The Chicago skyline was beautiful. The lake was clear and I enjoyed watching the sailboats from the air. (I kow, going through Chicago to go from Little rock to Tampa is absurd.)

I didn't take many photos in Arkansas and I'm too tired to upload the couple I did take but I will post in a day or two, I rpomise.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

I'm In Arkansas

Trip was uneventful which is a good thing when you are flying ;)

We had a little birthday party for Dad last night - it was his 81st. I have photos but I probably won't post them till I get home because not downloading them to Dad's computer.

Today we took him for a haircut and then to have his car serviced and then lunch. He's gotten skinny so it felt good to watch him eat well.

Last night driving from Monticello to Dumas was eventful. We saw a deer, a possom, a coyote, and unfortunatly, we ran over an armadillo. Someone on FB told me that God made armadillos so that Texan's could enjoy possom on the half shell :)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Quilts, Quilts, Everywhere!

Suddenly, there are three quilts in my life...................

This is the memory quilt I am working on for my Dad. I am going to Arkansas on Wednesday (to see him for his 81st birthday) and I am wishing I had started this a month ago so that I could give it to him then. The center blocks are all assembled. I am waiting on fabric to come in the mail to do the photo transfer blocks - so far I have just printed them on the photo transfer paper. There is also a person or two missing that I would like to include. I have a dark purple for an inner border and the binding but not sewing it on until the other fabrics arrive just in case I change my mind.;)

This is one of two quilts that Ratbone Rescuesis auctioning off this year. They received enough blocks to make two quilts! This one has the four blocks I made. To see more photos or learn more about the raffle, click HERE. I am a volunteer for Ratbone and I got my Eddie through the organization.

And finally, I bought raffle tickets for the quilt shown above. It is from the web page of Rat Terrier ResQ. It is a beautiful quilt and has photos of a couple of my friend's dogs. If I were to win it (I never win anything except jury duty) I believe I would give it to that friend. To learn more about this raffle, click HERE.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Chapter Three

Thought I would share one of the things I have been doing isntead of blogging - I have been writing a story. I hesitate to say "book" because that seems to imply something that is published. It's a triple murder mystery that takes place in Kodiak, Alaska. Here's one short chapter (keep in mind this is a FIRST DRAFT):

She barely had time to register that the truck in the driveway was backed so far into the driveway that it pressed against the garage door before she heard the knock on the door. Her heart wanted to greet him with “why are you here” but her brain displayed images of two little girls in her head that caused her to soften. “Is there something I can do for you?” She said with the most civility she could muster.
“I’m here to get my TV” he replied.
She considered standing up to him and refusing his request but since she didn’t watch much television and she lived by her mother’s rule to choose your battles carefully so she stepped aside and let him in. It wasn’t the issue of the television that annoyed her as much as it was the idea of more disruption in her life. She moved toward the mammoth television to help unhook it from its life support of electricity and cable.
“It’s raining so I would like to take it out through the garage” he said. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you open the garage door while I unhook everything?”
She instinctively obeyed without even considering she had a choice and headed to the garage through the kitchen access. She reminded herself to get a decent light bulb for the garage fixture. When the old one burned out all she had available was a 25 watt bulb and the light would have been insufficient for an organized garage much less this chaotic one.
As she weaved through the clutter and approached the garage door lock and handle, she felt an arm slide around her waist trapping her left arm and another around her upper chest trapping her right arm. What was he doing? Trying to hug her? Something didn’t feel like and she resisted. The arms tightened and soon she felt something soft covering her face.
What is that smell? She tried to think and break free but her resistance was waning. Suddenly she felt so tired. That smell, so familiar. Ether!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Salon Saturday

I did something today that I have not done in many years - I went to a "real" salon. Typically I go to one of those quick cut places and usually "correct" the color myself - this is my code word for "covering grey".

Geez, my hair had gotten long while I wasn't paying attention. I wore it clipped up to keep off my neck.

Last photo before the cut!

This is going to make wigs for cancer victims.

After...............I didn't set out to get a bob but when the poneytail was cut off it fell into an angled bob naturally and I kinda liked the look. It's probably a good transitional cut as opposed to going really short all at once.

The back shows what a good job she did on the color. The most surprizing part was that they colored my eyebrows too! LOL I had no idea that was something people did.

Best part - she thought I was 35, not 51. ;)

Friday, October 9, 2009

Thank you Cousin Diane

I am working on a memory quilt for my Dad and was a little short on photos of his siblings - I could grab a photo of his great grandmother but finding one of his brother Raymond took some help, LOL. Anyway, Cousin Diane came to the rescue. I am sharing a photo of my Dad and his three brothers.

I don't know why but when I see this it reminds me of all those photos of the Kennedy brothers. Perhaps same time frame and a bunch of boys ;)

Anyway, they are (left to right) Melvin Manning, Carl Manning (daddy), Raymond Manning, and Johnny Manning. All born in Lawrence County Arkansas. Melvin was a school teacher and then later an administrator. My Dad worked in parts most of his life (mostly agri but also Buick for a few years) and was once a soda jerk! Uncle Raymond was a farmer, and Uncle John was a business man and mostly notably, to me, one of those businesses was a beauty school in Kankakee, IL. He is the dad of my cousin Diane who supplied this great photo. Thank you Di!



Monday, October 5, 2009

Aniak ("Annie") 1993 - 2009

Sadly, we lost another pet today. Two humans, three dogs, and a cat is now two humans & two dogs with the passing of Annie Kitty today and Chloe in January. I will retain the blog name in their memory. Here is my favorite photo of the two together.

Annie was in her prime in this one and Chloe was very young. In fact, I believe this was during her first week with us. Annie had been with us about a year and was two years old. They were good buddies, at first. But even sweet Annie couldn't tolerate the puppy grabbing her by the ear and spinning her around on the linoleum floor.

Dear Annie, we will miss you. Your sweetestness will remain forever in our hearts. Mama & Papa


Sunday, October 4, 2009

Calling All Quilters

Well, actually, any fabric hoarder will do ;) Or, a quilt shop with retired fabric.

I'm in the process of making something from fabric purchased on eBay. I decided to go bigger and bought more of the only fabric the seller had left (not pictured) but I would really like to get a little more of some of the others. I would especially like to get more of one of the lighter ones to contrast with the dark I was able to find.

I've will put the names/descriptions under the fabrics from when I saved the images after ordering a while back.

Carmine 5845

Autumn Glory

Also, Autumn Glory


Red Violet Vine 5383

Red Plum 5740

Lava
Oh, they are from the Princess Mirah collection by Bali fabrics.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Hubby LOVES breakfast but I didn't feel like getting dressed to go out so instead I decided to cook breakfast. Bad news is that I did not shop for ingredients for making a big breakfast this morning so I had to make due with what was in the fridge.

I found 4 eggs - that's good, I can make an omlette. There is some bread for toasting although it is not the type one would cover with jelly. Oh right, we don't have any jelly :) Cheese is always good in an omlette. The only veggie around is baby spinach. Pass on that. And for the flavoring, it was either shrimp, scallops, or crab. I couldn't face deveining shrimp this morning so crab it was.

You gotta break some eggs.............................................

And then you ahve to torture them with a German egg whisk..........................


While the pan is heating on the new stove you slice up some bread with whole cloves of roasted garlic (look near the tip of the knife).


Line up your slices like little soldiers in the toaster. Soon it will be their time. Always like to have the bread ready and waiting so all I have to do is push the lever.


What's breakfast without somesort of fruit? It was either blueberries (too small), grapes (nah) or those Asian pear apple (YES!). I core and peel them because I find both bitter. I know, there are vitamins in that skin.


Need to get the crab meat out of the crab shell. Forgot how throny king crab is. I use my Victorinox steak knives for everything. Somewhere there is a gourmet chef rolling over in his/her grave ;)


See! It worked beautifully. I really haven't found much these knives can't do.

Turn into bite sized pieces. Ok, bite sized pieces minus TWO.


Do the egg thing. I add water to my egg before I beat them so that they get fluffy. I cook the bottom and then push the sides down to allow the raw egg to seep down. I could keep doing this until I leave just a little creamy center like a traditional omlet but, not being an egg fan, I don't want a soft spot so.....

I'm more of a frittata gal. I seasont he eggs and then put them under the broiler to firm up a little.

Then I layer the ingredients - this time king crab and cheese - and replace under the broiler to melt the cheese. I used a small pan and had lots of ingredients so I chose to leave open. If I had used a larger pan, making a larger omlett, I would have folded it.


The plated meal! It was simple and tasty. Who needs a cooking show on the Food Network when I have the entire blogsophere, LOL.