Minkee Monday

This is the 2nd pair that has fallen into the Minkee trap. The first was DH's. This set is mine...Need I say more?

Dinner recap

Dinner was a relative success. I managed to make it through without a major embarrassment. It was easier than I thought to avoid asking anyone if they needed to potty and I didn't once break into the ABC song !! I did however use the wrong knife at the appetizer course!! After I did so, I had no idea where to put it? The bread plate? The table? At one point, I had 3 knives on my bread plate!!!

The meal/award dinner was at the Republic of Texas. It began with appetizers served on a rectanglular plate. There were five tidbits on the plate and the food was placed so the plate sat on the table perpendicular. It was a very pretty presentation. A house salad followed the appetizer. For the main dish, I ordered the 5 Star Pepperloin. Here is the menu description -FIVE STAR PEPPERLOIN Eight-Ounce Grilled Tenderloin Tournedos Topped with Five Blend Peppercorns, Jack Daniel’s Demi-Glaze. It was served over mashed potatoes and asparagus.

The tenderloin was fabulous, out of this world, crazy delicious and tender. I never, and I mean never order beef out. What posessed me on Thursday night I don't know. I stopped ordering beef years ago because I have the worst luck with getting the toughest, most gristle filled piece of meat. This dish restored my faith in ordering beef. The delectable main course was followed by cheesecake and coffee. Oh yeah, the wine flowed all evening. I don't drink wine but managed to imbibe in my beverage of choice. It was easily the best meal I've ever eaten out. The biggest problem is that I now know how good this restuarant is and what they serve. DH may be in trouble on our next anniversary.

Oh did I mention that the resturant is on the 2oth floor and over looks the city and the bay. It was a spectaculr view. Unfortunately I sat with my back to the windows facing a huge head of a bison! Luckily it was so far above me I could avoid it's one eyed stare.

As I said, other than using the wrong knife for appetizers, and as usual talking too much to total strangers, it was a successful evening. DH received an award for 10 years of service. Af ew others received 10 year awards, one man a 30 year award. It was really nice for his office to honor these folks and do it so nicely. I'm just glad I managed to not embarrass DH tooooo much.

Oh I have a limited life!

Going to dinner with the BIG bosses. DH has a "years of service" dinner. We are going to a fancy schmancy restaurant. I do hope I remember how to act around people who
- are taller than my knees
- call me by my first name
- are trusted to drink out of a cup with more than 2 oz at a time
- potty on their own
Hopefully I won't wipe any faces or cut up anyones dinner!!!!

Halloween wall hanging

I made this about 4 years ago. As usual I made one for myself, and one for each girl. It' one of my favorites. It comes from a Art to Heart book.

S'mores

We live in the city. Now, I was raised camping and doing lots of outdoorsy things. My girls...not so much. So on Saturday night, when Mrs. S called to say they were making s'mores, I asked her how??? I don't remember her answer but they live in a 1 bedroom apt with no amenities. Not wanting to miss out on s'mores, I told them to come on over. Here they are using the only logical thing we had available for "marshing" marshmallows.

The grill! Not any ole' charcoal grill but a gas grill!!!! It was too funny!!!!! But we perservered! We should have removed the grates but in our haste to cook and devoured these little goodies, we didn't think about it until they were blazing hot.

At one point, Mr. Fancypants decided he wanted a char on his marshmallow so he did so with a lighter!! Never mind the method....the results were fabulous!!!

Now here is the weird part. My sister lives 1500 miles away. On the same night, at roughly the same time, her and cheergirl made s'mores....in the TOASTER OVEN!! I thought we were silly trying to roast them on a grill.LOLOLOLOLOLOLOOLOLOLOLOLOL~~~!!!!!
As she said on Facebook, what are the chances that sisters living hundreds of miles apart make s'mores in a very unconventional way, on the same night? I have always said that we have some telepathy thing. Further proof is all I say, further proof.

Asked and Answered

Did you know that you have a finite amount of space on Blogger? That all of your pics posted on your blog (blogger)go into a Picassa account? That you can link photos from other picture hosting sites to blogger? Well I didn't but Paula the Quilter, and Sandy do. Bloggers are the best. They explained and doublechecked for me. They were right there typing me the answers. I so appreciate all the help. It is incredible in just a few hours, with a few helpful bloggers, I grasped something that had been confusing me for a long time!

The Flip Flop Quilt

I could have sworn that I'd already posted this quilt. (if you've already seen this, sorry. I just couldn't find it. Point me to the right spot so I can stop pulling out tufts of hair!) I would have been willing to bet on it! I searched and searched my blog to no avail. Thanks to Sandy I was able to add my webshots photos to the blog. Bloggers are the best!!!





This quilt was a total labor of love. It is also one that I entered into a quilt show a few years ago. Not such fabulous comments from the judges but that's ok. I really didn't enter it to be judged, just to be seen.

You have to read the label in order to understand the quilt. The label give both an explaination of the quilt and a legend to explain each block. I freemotion quilted it on my home machine. You can't really tell but I echo quilted the flip flops to look like they were in the sand. The blue fabric looks like bubbles. The fabric from the quilt came from my stash. Frugal. The flip flop trims were purchased. Very expensive!

Webshots help

I have been searching and searching for a blog post about my daughers flip flop quilt. I cannot find it. Nor can I find the original photo. I do have the picture on my webshots site. I can't figure out how to get it back. Do I really have to buy my own photo in order to have a copy of it? I can't find the answers. All I want to do is post it on my blog. I do not want a link. I want to save all of my photos from webshots and then delete the file. Plus, if I blog it as a link, I won't be able to have a picture of it saved in my blog files. Any insight?

Minkee Monday

I was once again fiddling around with my camera. I used the cat as my subject.

The Aloof Look

Doubling as a rabbit? Mouse?



Curiosity close up!




Sepia Tones.....




I'm ignoring you!






Just cute!



close-up....interesting how I managed to NOT have red eyes...I don't know what settings I used!



I've about had enouuuuggghhh...zzzzzzzzzzz

I'm OUTTA HERE!

APPLES!

I find this so funny. I have loved these apples since the first time I saw them. I never considered making them until last few years. I looked at them and saw too much potchkying around (it's fiddly work). All of a sudden I was hell-bent on an apple pattern. I finally had one but then that potchkying thing kept me from making them. Two years later.......

A big tower of apples. It took me too long to finish them for the 2009 gift. I put them away for another day. But I can finally say that I made them!

What am I up to????

I've been busy. Yes. I have kept up with the gift a month for my girls. I forgot to photograph a few months and has changed. I still need to finish my work though. I'm thinking of continuing this gift a month until next year. It's been a challenge but fun! I'll show the finished product another day.

A little mystery....(HA! not so much if you know what they are! )

Minkee Monday

I just don't know.........she dances to the beat of a different drummer......

AuntieCamp 2009, The final chapter

Mr. Wildthing has this awesome telescope. I was duly impressed with his knowledge of the stars, planets, ect. We took my camera and put it up to the lens to get this shot. It may not look like much but it is Jupiter WITH 4 of it's moons circling it. I had no idea Jupiter had multiple moons let alone having ever seen it. Very, very cool!

See! This is near the end of my trip and Mr. Wildthing understands to just go with the flow of goofey Auntie, smile, and take the picture!

I love this picture! You see, I thought for sure I could whoop him at Guitar Hero. Ha! What an egotistical such and such I am!! LOLOL!! He is GOOD! He just calmly sat there and whooped me but good! Of course he then smuggly smiled to himself when the whooping was particularly dramatic!

One day "Auntie Camp on the Road" went on the road. We went to visit my/our grandma. We had the requisite lunch at Milk & Honey and then turned around and went back home. You can tell from the pictures that Grandma was thrilled that "Auntie Camp on the Road," went on the road!!

Cheergirl came to visit during Auntie Camp. Here they are together, Wildthing and Cheergirl. I tell you, I'm not too sure who had more fun during Auntie Camp. I think we'll keep it our little secret that it was probably the one that took the longest to recuperate afterwards! These guys are so much fun and I think that they may be the closest thing to grandchildren that I will get. I'm already looking forward to Auntie Camp 2010. Perhaps the two of them will come together to Texas!

Auntie Camp on the Road #2

All week Wildthing couldn't wait to cut the grass. Can you blame him?? They just bought a brand new lawnmower. Does this look like fun or what!? He's getting good at mugging for the camera! Besides, I was there at his every move, documenting it on film! Every self respecting Auntie must teach their niece or nephew something their parents would frown on. My contribution.....teaching WT (wildthing) to whistle through his fingers. It's loud. It's piercing. It can be annoying to parents. It's perfect!! LOL!! I can create a loud, piercing, whee-oo-whit! with my whistle. WT practiced and practiced (it's really harder than you think) and by the time I left was creating a very respectable whee-ooo-whit sound himself. I think I've taught him a life skill that he can pass on to his unsuspecting relatives!

We visited the zoo. I tell you, I haven't been to a zoo in YEARS! It was a beautiful day and it was alot of fun. Unfortunately we discovered that one of us is wayyy smaller than an adult male ape and one of us weighs the same as a couple of female orangatuns............

One more installment of Auntie Camp 2009..........

Auntie Camp. On the Road

My nephew was unable to come to Texas for the first annual Auntie Camp this summer so....If Wildthing (his baseball name) is unable to come to Auntie, Auntie goes to Wildthing!!! Auntie Camp #2, was in N.E. Ohio! (Auntie Camp #1 was here earlier in July) I know that this is months late but, because I use my blog as a journal, I really wanted to include it.

We went here....and to the locks that were there but Auntie forgets the name. I've never been on a boat that goes through a lock system. It was interesting. Unfortunately, we were stuck with a camp group. Needless to say it wasn't a relaxing tour!

Mr.Wildthing wasn't quite used to me and my loud and camera happy ways on day 1. He is looking at me a bit like "What is this woman thinking and why does she keep taking my picture!" It didn't stop me!



We took a lot of "self portraits." I wish I had longer arms.




Here is Wildthing at Fridays. Again, he is not too sure WHY I have out the camera but we are having a good time. By the time I left he he was rolling his eyes when he caught sight of my camera!

With Cheergirl, I taught her to sew. Wildthing and I baked. We stuck to the easy stuff that tweens love....PIZZA and CINNAMON ROLLS! We made the pizza dough, kneaded it, added the toppings and ate it all week!

Another day we made Auntie M's famous (according to me that is) cinnamon rolls. Again, yeast dough, rising, rolling....

All the while, the peanut gallery waited impatiently while the delicious smells wafted into the other room!

I dragged him to the Bass Pro Shop. Why? No idea. I just wanted to go there.

Besides, he dragged me to a baseball game! Yikes! Me. Baseball. Uhmmm. Well, it IS Auntie camp and that means it is his choice. Luckily I really like the eating before the game. If you are a M*A*S*H fan you will appreciate that we went to see the Toledo Mud Hens and ate at Tony Packos!

Look at the size of this hot dog! It was called the MOAD, the mother of all dogs! Here we all are, mugging for the camera, myself, Wildthing, My SIL and brother.
More in the next post.