March 12 - Barefoot Contestant

I love Barefoot Contessa. (Chuck calls it Barefoot Contestant.)
He can't stand Ina Garten, but he usually doesn't complain when I make one of her recipes!

Tonight I made Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic served with Basmati rice with cashews and golden raisins and a side of spinach sauteed with bacon and shallots.

This seems like a lot of bacon because I got
the stuff at the bottom of the pan.
The rest of the spinach wasn't overrun with bacon.

For dessert, we had orange cake with cream cheese frosting.
(Not from scratch. I cheated.)

March 11 - Rain, Rain, Go Away

So, Northeast Indiana's been inundated with rain the last few days, with lots of flooding and road closures. We got 3 inches of rain on Tuesday in addition to the 2 we got Sunday. Then the temps dropped and it froze! Where the heck is Spring??!!

March 10 - More Deer!

Okay, there were 11 (11!) deer in the yard today and I was able to get 10 in one picture! You know I had to put it on here.

March 9 - Pluggin' Away

I've got to do a plug for Hillshire Farm Deli Select Ultra Thin sliced pastrami and salami. I'm super picky about the lunchmeat I'll eat. That chopped, formed and pressed stuff makes me want to hurl. I recently discovered these two particular varieties of the Hillshire Farm and let me just tell you... they are fabulous! Closest thing to deli-sliced meat outside the deli case. YUMMY! I mean... GO MEAT! (Their commercials leave something to be desired.)

March 8 - A River Runs Through It

We have a wee little tiny creek-like thing on one part of our property and it only has water in it if it rains. This is after about a good 20 minute downpour. (We got 2 inches of rain this day.)

March 7 - Goin' Back to Cali, Cali....

Today, Justin went back to California. Kyle went along for the drive to Detroit and the three of us enjoyed a nice breakfast at Ruby Tuesday in the airport.

Remember when you were a kid and being served juice
in a wine glass was the most special thing ever?

Mmmm, pancakes and breakfast burritos!

Here's Justin's plane waiting to take off...
I only a cried a little. A few times. :(

March 6 - Buggies and Silly Cats

Today was Justin's last full day visiting us on his little vacation out here. We went to Shipshewana for breakfast (at Dutchmaid Diner - our favorite) then stopped at Yoder's Meat & Cheese Shop (I call it the Amish Trader Joe's) and Yoder Popcorn.

Here's Justin outside Yoder's...
I think I caught him mid-sentence. Lol!

Horse & buggy parking...


And here's my dinner clean-up help...
turn around for half a second and she climbs in the dishwasher!

March 5 - Gotcha!

This little guy (or girl) is one of two raccoons that have been TERRIFYING us the last few days. Okay, not terrifying us. They've just been wandering around the back yard.

This is the smaller of the two. One night, it did climb up a tree and stalk us, though, and that was pretty damn terrifying.

March 4 - Wanna Buy Some Cookies?

Here's Justin, Coobie and Mayah, enjoying some delicious Girl Scout cookies.

March 3 - French Fried 'Taters, Mmmhmmmm

Okay, so these weren't taters a la Billy Bob Thornton and they weren't taters at all. This is my first attempt at making Irish Potatoes, a delectable combination of cream cheese, coconut, powdered sugar and vanilla, rolled in cinnamon.... YUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!!

March 2 - Happy Birthday, Jon!

Chuck and I saw Bon Jovi in Chicago last February (front row!) right before Jon Bon Jovi's Birthday. During a break in the music, this tool behind us yells, "Happy Birthday, Jon!" in a lovingly and feminine sort of way. What guy in their right mind yells that to another man?

Ever since then, any time we hear a Bon Jovi song, one of us will say, "Happy Birthday, Jon" in the most annoying way possible. Lol!

So, to honor Jon Bon Jovi's Birthday, I went and got him a cake. Not because I'm a total lunatic, but mostly just to mock that guy from the concert.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JON!!"

March 1 - Chuck's Balls O' Meat

Today, Chuck made homemade meatballs. MMMMMMMM!!!

February 28 - How to Wash a Cat

First, get a cat. Next, convince the cat to jump in the sink and wait...

Seriously, this dorky cat jumped in the sink and took a nap.

February 27 - ????????

I didn't take a picture this day???? I don't even remember what happened! Blast! Okay, well, just so I can say I posted a picture every day, here's one of my many, many, MANY deer photos:

February 26 - The Bird is the Word

Anyone ever pay really close attention to this Ensure commercial???

No wonder the corn dogs are frowning.

February 25 - Welcome Home!

So, this evening, we took the kids to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.

Chuck was sad to see that Tiffany wasn't there.

(You'll remember her from January 8th's post - Tiffany, the Mid-Life Crisis Girl .)

No worries, now there's "Carissa". Ooooohhh...(Rolling eyes.)

Just need Garrett in this picture to have all the kids in one shot. Guess we'll have to wait for Summer for that to happen. :(

February 24 - Going Home

While I was sad to leave everyone back in California, I was glad to have gotten time to spend with them. And at least I had Justin to keep me company on the way back home! It worked out just so that he was able to come back with me for his Spring Break.

Here we are in Dallas. I was so excited to get a picture of Justin in front of our plane... until I figured out that our plane was at the next gate over. DOY!

February 23 - Lunch & Dinner

Today, I stopped by my old place of work to visit with my former co-workers and then went to lunch at Millie's with Mom.

This is the same Millie's where Chuck and I had our 3rd date. That was an interesting date! :D

Tonight, I picked Justin and Garrett up for dinner and a little fun at Target. Don't they just look so thrilled to see their Mom?

February 22 - Girls' Day Out

Today, I spent the afternoon with Rhonda doing a little shopping at Victoria Gardens, then having sushi at our favorite Japanese place.

I finally grew a pair and tried the real stuff, not just the California rolls!

Here's me trying a tuna roll, which is essentially a little hunk of tuna disguised by a bunch of rice and wrapped in seaweed. Beginner's sushi, I'd say.

Here I am, totally going for the big hunk of raw stuff!

And here's Rhonda, impressing us with her impeccable table manners.

February 21 - Family Time!

Had a blast today hanging out with my family. Hadn't seen some of them in years!

My Uncle David made some spectacular homemade salami. Mmmmmm!! Makes me proud to be Italian!

February 20 - Sad Day

Today was my Aunt Kay's funeral in Palm Springs. Although it was really sad, I was glad to sprend time with family I hadn't seen in a long time.

The drive to PS was pretty nice.

Here's a shot of those famous wind-powered thingamajigs...

...and Bob Hope's curvy house on the hill. Kay used to work for
Bob Hope and many other Rat Pack celebs back in the day,
catering and hosting parties for them. How very cool.

February 19 - Travel Day

I spent today driving to Detroit, flying from Detroit to Dallas, then from Dallas to Ontario.

Here's how the trip to Detroit looked...

As soon as I crossed into Michigan, it was snowing pretty badly.

But then the sun came out. Yay!

February 18 - Getting Ready to Leave

Although I didn't take any pictures on the 18th itself, I was preparing for a flight to California for my Aunt Kay's funeral.
She passed away peacefully on the 16th. :(

Here's the flight I was preparing for, out of beautiful... Detroit. Ack!

February 17 - Granolicious!

Today I made granola from scratch. Yay.

February 16 - Paper Tiger Cub

So, I tamed the Paper Tiger the other day, but now it seems to have run off and produced offspring. I've got this Paper Tiger Cub sitting here on my desk that needs to be attended to or we'll have another full-grown Paper Tiger on the loose.

February 15 - Anatomy Lesson

Today, I found this Cheeto on my plate at lunch. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it.

After a brief Google search, I found that these are pretty common. Me thinks Chester Cheetah has had too much time on his hands over at the Cheeto factory.

February 14 - Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! (And Justin's birthday. He's 14!)

Here's the Valentine's Festivus Tree. It really needs more ornaments, but there's always next year. I got behind in ordering them and thought I had enough, but not so. Oh, well. It's almost time to do St. Patrick's Day, anyhow.

The pictures aren't so great because I just haven't figured out how to take pictures of semi-lit stuff.

February 13 - I Stalked a Deer and I Liked It....

Someday, I won't be such a loser and will be able to take pictures of things other than deer. In the meantime, enjoy. :)

This time, I got ballsy enough to go outside with them.

This one looks like it's stalking me.

And if you're bored of seeing deer, here's a picture I took the night before last when we drove over by the lake to have dinner. Our 5-year plan is to get a house on the lake. I don't know what the economy's 5-year plan is, though.