Who's Bothering You Now Jeannie?

I went for a walk the other morning down by the radio towers. This is a place all of the locals go to walk their dogs. Emily calls it ""the park. There is a nice big grassy area to run around and then paths through all of the long grass for walking.

It was a cold and frosty morning but it was actually quite refreshing! Only a couple of dogwalkers and a bunch of birds made for a relaxing walk. Just some time to be alone, get my thoughts together and get some exercise. Good times, people!

Milkweed!

Wildlife!


A people free zone!

I decided to take a photo of the water tower too....

Hey!...

Loving SNL again...for now

SNL has been hitting it out of the park this season. Well, not entirely, but there have been at least one or two standouts each week sometimes more, like this week.

This week was by far the best with the opening Sarah Palin sketch. I LOVE Alec Baldwin so they got me there but then Mark Wahlberg showing that he has a sense of humor...some what.
I still think he is Joe Serious but I'm glad someone was able to get him to give in a bit.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/39704/saturday-night-live-governor-palin-cold-open

I tried to embed the video but it wouldn't work so unfortunately you have to click the link.
While you're over there you should check out the Palin Rap too.

I'm probably asking too much but there is more.....

You should also check out Mark Wahlberg talks to Animals and also Mark Wahlberg Backstage.
Good times.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/37753/saturday-night-live-mark-wahlberg-talks-to-animals

http://www.hulu.com/watch/39813/saturday-night-live-mark-wahlberg-backstage

Say hi to your mother for me!

I Am Not a Professional Writer

GET OUT!!

Yes, it's true. And when I am writing for this blog I tend to rush because I'm tired and just want to get it done....so the funny goes out the window. Funny thing is (har har har!) I'm tired ALL THE TIME.

I want a kid-free vacation or perhaps just a really long nap. Because seriously, how can you take a vacation from this face?

Yes, she is adorable but boy is she a trouble maker. So much trouble that after only a month at school I have been called in for a special meeting with her teacher!

What does this have to do with the fact that I'm not a proficient writer? Couldn't tell ya. This is part of my blogging problem!!

Toad in the Hole....Toads optional

I'm intrigued by the old English recipe, Toad in the Hole.

It contains things I love....awesome English bangers (sausages) and Yorkshire pudding.

I've tried twice now to make this and I'm still not able to get everything right. My mother never made this and I can't remember ever having this at any realatives house....so I'm not sure why I am obsessed.

Last time I used a recipe I found in a Delia Smith book that I have and I thought the Yorkshire pudding part (similar to popover batter) ended up too dry and not at all puffy. So I decided to use the Betty Crocker recipe.

The trick is to make sure the oil in the pan is extremely hot before you put the batter in.

I cooked the sausages in the baking pan until not quite done (this was a mistake since they ended up being a tad over done. Not DRY over done just probably a bit more done than they should have been). I added a bit more oil and put it back in the oven to get, you know, REALLY HOT.

After a few minutes I opened the oven and poured the batter in the pan and closed it really fast. I sat staring into the oven window like a child waiting for the awesome puffiness to happen. It puffed a little but not to the puffiness I had in mind. I make Yorkshire pudding with Christmas dinner and the level of puff is always quite impressive.

Anyway, it wasn't a total bust. The sausages are always high on the yum scale and the popover batter tasted awesome. Slop some onion gravy on top and it's a nice little cold weather dinner....for people with questionable taste.

Save the Chipmunk, Pee Your Pants Laughing

Blood thirsty cat from hell follow up:

So last week I could see Millie sitting in the grass taunting a confused Chipmunk. Steven and I walked over and Millie was just toying with the little guy, tapping him with her paw and laughing maniacally as the Chipmunk scurried in a circle. I gather he was not very bright as he didn't actually RUN AWAY but then he was probably in freak out mode.

So Steven tries to distract Millie and ends up between her and the Chip. Well, Chip saw his chance to get away and scurried right up the back of Steven's leg! I started laughing so hard I could barely breathe. It got to his back when I managed to catch a breath and laugh "it's climbing up you!".

Steven did a quick little dance and Chip fell to the ground then proceeded to follow Steven all around the yard trying to climb back up. Being a smart dude he led him towards an actual tree and Chip ran for his life up the trunk.

Well, Millie has been witnessing all of this and got to the bottom of the tree and I thought she had lost track of Chip when .....I swear it happened so fast..... in the blink of an eye she DARTED up the tree! She was up pretty far and she got the chipmunk in her mouth by the tail and then backed herself down the tree all "look at me...I'M AWESOME!".

I was impressed. She is quite the hunter....and a bitch to all woodland creatures.

But then we felt bad for Chip so when Millie dropped him on the ground for more play time I scooped her up and brought her in the house.

Chip headed for the hills and I'm sure she caught up with him later because she's JUST THAT GOOD.

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera handy when all this went down but here is an artist's rendition:

I promise not every post will be cat related!!

The Cat from Hell with a Heart of Gold...sort of

It doesn't really matter what I write about right now because I only have one reader. Hi Steven!

So, our cat Millie was an indoor cat since the day we got her. We lost three cats here previously and felt is was best. Anyhoo....Millie was the meanest cat ever!! She would bite, HARD. She would also attack my feet and things would get really ugly because she was dead serious and out for blood.

I should add that she would sleep between us at night and seemed to purr which was nice. But then she would go crazy at about 4am and start chewing everything up until one of us got up to feed her. She was a real bitch.

Finally she escaped one day. Then it happened again and again. Then it was decided that she would be an outdoor cat. That's fine with me. Less feet biting when I'm trying to cook dinner.

To cut this short (I have a hard time just getting to the point) she took out all of her agressions on the woodland creatures of our neighborhood. The tally so far is:

3 Chipmunks
1 bird
1 squirrel

4 plus mice

and a baby bunny!

The whole point of this story? If there is one?? She is now the MOST AFFECTIONATE CAT IN AMERICA.

Sorry woodland creatures.

Get Over it Already!

I miss my Accord.

I know, how can you miss a car? I'm sure there are people out there who have felt this way. Is there some kind of support group? An online forum?

My lease was up and gasoline was just teetering on $4 a gallon. My V6 engine and leadfoot were costing us big time. My eighty mile round trip commute wasn't helping.

I leased the car when I had a 30 mile round trip commute and I was sitting pretty. Leather heated seats, sunroof, factory installed XM radio. Did I mention the V6? Loved. My. Accord.

But reality (and my husband) were telling me that we needed something more fuel efficient. Perhaps a hybrid?

I ended up with a Civic EX-L. I like it. It definitely doesn't have that great pick up when you put your foot down. But, I did eventually get used to it. It was like driving my Volkswagen Jetta again. Which I loved! I'll live.

But......sometimes.....when I'm sitting at a traffic light and I see the shimmer of the graphite colored paint out of the corner of my eye....THERE IT IS! My Accord! I gaze at it longingly as it zooms past. I try to be very subtle so I don't upset the Civic.

Oh my sweetie....I miss you so.