State of my backside

Oh how I wish my daughters and their spouses were slugs! Instead they are driven, determined young people.

I have be fiddle faddling around with the same 10 lbs for a year now. It is annoying and I've been looking for inspiration....ANYWHERE!! S0, we all made goals for the month of June. This was all my stupid idea. I said that I wanted to lose 10 lbs for the umpteenth time. Serena and Chris-A made goals too. Aviva and Chris-S didn't. Serena held to hers and about 10 days ago asked us how we were doing. WHOOPS! I had forgotten about it!!

After discussion, Chris-A and I made a deal for our goals....little did I know he planned on sticking to it!! LOL!! He is giving me a run for my money! But....if all goes well over the next two days, I will have attained my goal!! WHOOHOO! (don't get too excited as I had gained that 10 lbs).

For July it seems we all have goals, DH not included as he is healing! My goal is 4 days a week at the gym.....Chris-A dittoed my goal.....my muscles already hurt! Aviva has a gym goal, Serena and Chris-S have the same goal.

The way I see it the month of June goes to Serena for inspiring us...uhm and making us feel bad that we weren't working towards our goals. I am hoping that the month of July will go to me and that Chris-A will poop out with the gym! It's not easy for me to go toe to toe with him...he's almost half my age!

The unknowns here though are the rest of the family....they may just surprise us and be the winners! Any way you look at it we will (hopefully) all be winners by the end of July.

Lat week we had to have a plumbing re-route as we had a leak in the slab. Ever since we've had no hot water to the washing machine. Luckily he came back today and has managed to cut not one but two additional holes in the wall! These two will be added to the 3 others that that needed to be cut last week! I'm just glad that I'm not the one that needs to fix them all.

Gifts

(why the gift post now when Hanukkah is looooong over? We are just exchanging gifts this weekend as this is the first we've been able to get together)



These are the items I made for my kids...the true gift is mine....the reason....

Last year I made these apples. They were the September gift of the month. I didn't think much of it but Chris2 said "Oh. can you make pears?" I never gave it another thought. Obviously he did. When Ms. Aviva took the apples out this fall he told her, "You know, I really do want your mom to make me pears." Chris2's gift.






A month or so ago, during a family dinner, Chris1 said, "Hey, I need you to make me one of those bowls like Serena's. I later asked my daughter if he serously wanted a bowl! Yup! Seems he wants one for his toiletries. I did something a bit different with this one. No fabric wrapping! Thread only. I like the way it turned out. I was testing different threads so that is why the bottom is different. It looked to "girly" for a guy. Chris1's gift.









Earlier this year our guild had an owl swap. Serena came over one day as I was furiously making owls. She ooohed and aaahhed and said she wanted a pillow. My friend made me a shirt with the owl on it and I wore it one day when Serena and I went out. She ooohed and aaahed and said she wanted a pillow. In October she spotted one of the owl blocks and reminded me that she "wanted one of them." I forgot that she wanted a pillow but made her this shirt. (naturally I remembered the pillow after I'd finished the shirt!) Serena's gift.




I had a gift for everyone else so I needed to come up with something for Aviva.....I decided to make her one of these loopy scarves. (I just used this link for a pic. I bought it from Joanns). It is stlylishly being modeled by my iron! Aviva's gift.




What is my gift in this? Well, all this sewing, crafting and patchkeying around is NOT in vain! They not only like but want the things I make. It make my heart sing that the boys asked for homemade items. Chris#1 is always asking when I'm going to feel like making pj pants again! Chris2 is excited that his kippot (Jewish, traditionally male. head covering) will be made from candy fabric.



I think my girls picked winners when they chose their mates!!

Citizen's Police Academy

DH and I participated in our city's Citizen Police Academy. It is simply an outreach of the police department. This class is held once a year and we sort of fell into it. There were 24 that started and 18 that finished. It was utterly fascinating! We learned about every facet of the police department. We had informal lectures with the bomb squad, swat, dive team, homicide, drug enforcement, dog team and on and on. The lectures were very informal, informative and filled with visuals. Example, the bomb squad brought their gazzillion dollar vehicle to show us how it works, we went to the crime lab and were shown how various fingerprints are developed and we had a demo by the drug dogs. We were also briefly trained on the guns that the officers in our city use. We then each shot 20 rounds to test our skills. I stink! The culmination of the class was our "graduation." The chief of police was our speaker and we each received a t-shirt and a pin. The pin is the same one the officers receive when they are finished at the academy. It was a great experience. These pics are from our graduation.


DH and I are showing off our new shirts. It seems we are the first class in years to get shirts. We were the 37th class of the Citizens' Police Academy.


Mrs. S joined us for the "graduation."

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.

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.

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.

Auntie Camp. Tuesday

Oy! I've been keeping this a big secret. I know this will be a surprise/shock but, I'm not 25 anymore. Nope. Ahemmm.....not even 30! We went to the beach and used our boogie boards (sorta like a small surfboard that you lay on to catch a wave). The water wasn't very rough but it still beats ya' around. Today....today I wish I hadn't stopped exercising 8 months ago. My biceps are sore, my legs, my shoulders....UH! The best part is that our 50 sunscreen worked just fine and we are not burned. The worst part is that we are doing it again today. Oh my aching muscles!

Here she is, the first moment on the beach.This is the jetty we walked out on. We are lookingback at how far we walked. To the right is the ship channel, to the left the bay.

We went across the ferry. It's pretty cool because between the island and the mainland is a small strip of water. For whatever reason, they cannot build a bridge. We drove all the way there just so we could ride on the ferry. We had a wait to go across the first time and CheerGirl was very hot! She is fanning herself with her hand.

I have a dear, dear friend who thinks of everything. She had a present waiting here when CG arrived. It was a waterproof, whoopdee doopdie watch. Here they are showing it off.

Auntie Camp. Monday

This week is Auntie Camp and my dear niece, CheerGirl, is visiting . I have been waiting for this week for the past 6 years! Can you imagine the thrill for an 11 year old girl to leave mom & dad, drive to the airport with one MARRIED cousin.and her other cousin and BOYFRIEND, fly to Texas, spend the night in Austin, and finally drive to Aunties house?! Can you imagine the apprehension of letting your 11 year old go with your nieces, who in your mind, are still 11 themselves? Add to this that I'm not so sure about my girls parenting abilities.....It seems that all of the Ohio relatives (read great-grandma) were certain that they were going to starve, so they were loaded down with various goodies to "hold them over during the loooonnng trip.!" They ate those. One the WAY TO THE airport, the boys insisted on visiting White Castle. Next, they fed CheerGirl Cinnabon at the airport and then pizza for dinner. Yesterday morning they ate the leftovers from Cinnabon and pizza for breakfast. Then Mrs. S called to say that they would get a late start because they were taking CheerGirl to Amy's Ice Cream. They had mini burgers and ice cream. All this and the trip was only 24 hours old. The poor child will need Pepto and a dentist before she goes home!! LOL!! After finally arriving here, we played Guitar Hero....oh yeah and ate dinner! She fairly collapsed at 10 pm.! Our agenda today? The beach of course!

We took this picture by holding the camera ourselves....not the greatest, but what we have!

(because I use this blog as a journal, I will be posting about our adventures all week!)

Sushi Night

Edit!!! For some reason I wrote this but never posted it! It was worth remembering so I'm posting it now.

This past weekend we celebrated Mom & Dad's day, and my birthday. All celebrations are either past or in the future! This was when Ms. A and C2 were available to come here, so we celebrate! For some reason, I got it in my head that we were going to make sushi. We had so much fun! We were all in the kitchen tripping over one another, getting in each others way and hollering and whining and laughing the entire time. Here is the fun in photos....




Some of the prepped stuff!

My first attempt at sushi rice...not toooo bad.

I made the most wonderful green beans. I love the hot beans at chinese buffets. I microwaved them first and then stir fried in a combo of oil and hot oil with pepper flakes! MMMMMM!!!



C2 loves to cook and brought the stuff to make tempura asparagus. After checkin' out my fridge he found jalapanos, cream cheese and cheddar cheese. He had me stuff them and then he tempura battered and fried. Delicious chinese food with a south texas flair!

DH didn't want to be left out of the picture fun so he POSED for this shot. Exactly WHAT is he cutting on the board?????

C2, his tempura mess and final product! It tasted great but was a messy little cooking project!

Mr. Fancypants sushi roll. He put hot pepper flakes inside his.

C2 showing us how to make a roll....or is he really just compensating for the peanut gallery? Here they are while (read C2 and I) did the prep work!! LOL!!! They were like the Chicken Little story..... they waited until the prep work was done and then swooped in to make and eat the sushi!!!! Ok, let's make it politically correct....they were the rooting section!