Friday, January 25, 2008

Blog Tag--I'm 'IT', for now, heh, heh, heh

Mary, the owner of of one of my favorite blog sites, Momathon, tagged me. What is Blog Tag? It's the latest fad. As the tagged person I have to list 6 inconsequential things about myself and then list 6 more random blog sites. I've posted the rules below for those people that have been tagged.

The Rules:
Link to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

6 quirky things about me did take some thought. Let's see what the peanut gallery, a.k.a. the family, thinks. What a bummer, none of them wanted to go down in herstory as an important contributor to this segment of the blog. Non-important, is the key word, and that is the difficult part.

1. Rocks!
I'll bet you're all sitting there scratching your head and going, 'Huh?' Everyone has their likes and dislikes, and we can be pretty vocal about it. Well one thing that lots of people don't know or don't take seriously, is my love of rocks.

Now, I'm not talking about the polished rocks that you see in many stores, although those are nice too. I'm talking about unusual shaped (sometimes even ordinary, but a nice color certainly helps) rocks that you can find in most senic, country areas or sometimes the local rock quarry &/or garden center. Right now, on my front porch, I have a small jagged piece of Red, South Dakota Granite that was left over from a landscaping construction that occurred at a local business. It was left in the dirt at the construction site for months. It looked as if it had fallen off the truck as it was driving from the site storage area to the construction zone. I kept driving past it as I went to and from work and one day I stopped and picked it up. After all it was a piece of liter.

There have been a few people that I've spoken to concerning my desire for rocks but they must not understand or believe me. I've told them, "When you are traveling from Denver (or wherever) to home, would you stop and pick up a rock for me? It doesn't have to be anything special. Just a rock from the area." So far, to date, no one has brought me a rock from anywhere. What do you have to do to get people to understand? Beat them with a rock? ha... ha...

I was talking with a friend the other day. Looking around her house you can see rocks on ledges all over the place. She totally understood exactly what I was talking about and she has her friends trained to bring her a piece of earth from the very different places that they visit, hint, hint. So, if anyone comes to visit me, please feel free to bring a rock (it doesn't have to be huge) as a momento of your visit. Just don't throw it through the window.

2. Onions and Garlic
I love onions and garlic. When cooking there is nothing better than using these fragrant bulbs. What I like best about them is the way my hands smell after I've cut them up. I'll go around the house for the next several hours smelling my hands. Sometimes, it'll last for a day, especially if it was a large cooking project. Now, if that isn't quircky, I don't know what else would fall into that category. So, if you see me smelling my hands, you'll know that I must have just finished cooking something tasty for my family.

3. Dirty Dishes
I hate dirty dishes and if they've been sitting on the counter for several days, clean dishes. I don't mind washing them, that's not the problem. I don't like seeing them sitting around on the counters. Although, I would like some help getting them washed and put away, since everyone contributes to the mess, it would be appreciated if some people would help take care of the debris. My husband has helped and hurt the situation. He has trained all of us to rinse our dishes before we put them in the sink, this is a good thing. That helps by keeping any nasty odors down but this means the dishes pile up to a large degree before anyone washes them. That's a pain in the butt.

4. Garbage
It burns my britches that although we have been living in the same place for 9 years, everyone "forgets" to take out the garbage. The garbage gets picked up every Tuesday morning. This means that the garbage and recycles need to go out to the curb every Monday evening. Does anyone ever remember? Rarely!

5. I laugh like a "Hollywood" witch
My mother and I used to practice laughing like the 'evil' witch. We were making a Halloween tape in order to scare the trick or treaters. Off and on again for a number of years we would get a giggle by practicing Macbeth's witches' soliloquy. To this day, every once in a while, this mischievous, evil laugh will sneak out. Macbeth was always good for a giggle between the two of us.

6. Snow
There are few things that I enjoy more than a good snowfall. I love going outside in the middle of the night while the snow is falling. The ambient light causes the whole world to glow. The sound of the snow falling and hitting the ground creates a gentle hissing sound that sounds like singing. The cloud cover creates an impression that it is warmer than it really is. The snow will hit your eye lashes and coat them with a thin layer of moisture that can turn into ice or melt, depending on the cold. It's a great feeling.

When I've told people that I love to go for walks in the middle of a snow fall in the middle of the night, I always get these looks. What are you, nuts?


Now for the links to those people I've tagged

I'm including why I've tagged each site.

1. Sweetannee has some marvelous pictures of nature and birds, she should be included in this list of sites.

2. Martinha has a wonderful collection of postcards from around the world. You should check them out.

3. This is the last lunar eclipse until 2010, at least in my area of the world. Silk Creek Portal site has some great progression photographs plus a lot of other 'stuff', enjoy.

4. Jeff-In The Berkshires is a very pleasant place to visit. Observations about life, pictures, etc. are right up my alley.

5. Duffyville shows the joys of life and family.

6. Kelly Time has some great pictures and comments.

Finally, Mary, I want you to know that I took this game of tag seriously. I just couldn't post any little quirck. And, lets face it, there are probably a ton more (wish the family had contributed, I'm sure they would have come up with some good dirt). But, I don't think I want to go through this again, at least not for a while. I probably sound like a lunatic. Nope, sorry, that was last night, the complete lunar eclipse was 2/20/08, in Nebraska, USA. It was a sight to see?

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Rush - Subdivisions/Take Off, Eh! 9-22-2007

My husband and I were talking about music this evening. We both came to the conclusion that the cleaned up version of "Live" music still does not compare to actually experiencing a concert. Although the music is a little bit distorted the effect is as if we were "really" there. Enjoy the Rush!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Peanut Butter, gotta love it?

Peanut Butter the staple of many a child's afternoon lunch. Creamy and Crunchy they taste great. I have made so many peanut butter cookies that I couldn't guess how many I've baked in my life-time. I used to make double batches of peanut butter cookies as snacks while I was going to college. I'd go home for the weekend and bake dozens of cookies and then take them back to college in order to treat my friends.

Now I smell peanut butter and I cringe. My favorite afternoon snack of peanut butter dipped carrots are on the list of NO-NO's. There is a little known fact that when you have children your metabolism changes. At least it wasn't known to me. With my first child I developed a sensitivity to peanut butter. With my second child I developed a full blown allergic reaction. Thank goodness, at this point it is not life threatening, which it can be for many people that are allergic to peanuts. It just feels like I'm having a heart attack.

Thank goodness that my daughter is not allergic to peanut butter or her life style as a vegetarian would be much more difficult. Although, I will confess, I'm jealous. I'd love to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, peanut butter cookies, or a Butterfinger candy bar. I guess there are some pleasures that we have to give up for our children but who knew it would be such a basic one. As I write this I am smelling the intoxicating scent of peanut butter cookies. Who knew that it would be my daughter's favorite cookie, kind of ironic.

I have to include the family favorite cookie recipe for those people who would like to make a batch.

Peanut Butter Cookies From The Michael Family Kitchen:
This is the peanut butter cookie recipe we used as kids in my Mom's kitchen. We still use it because it is so good.

Ingredients:
1 Cup shortening
1 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup peanut butter
3 Cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:
Thoroughly cream shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
Stir in peanut butter.
Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl; stir flour mixture into creamed mixture.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto un-greased cookie sheet.
Press with back of fork to make a crisscross (coat fork with granulated sugar to prevent
sticking).
Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) about 10 minutes.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Notes:
For richer cookies, use 2 cups flour.