And We Didn't Even Get the Worst of the Hudson Valley 2010 Snowmaggedon!

I live in the Hudson Valley area of NY and this is the "morning after" our own "snowmaggedon" of 2010.  Friends and family only a short drive to the west of me got hit MUCH harder than this - after spending the morning on the phone checking in with everyone, I have by far the lowest snow total - only about 6-7 inches - everyone I spoke to had gotten at least 12-18".  It was a very wet and heavy snow, and as you can see from the pictures taken in my own yard, it is weighting the branches down terribly - that's probably the main cause of widespread power outages - tree limbs and power lines breaking under the weight of the snow.  I have thanked God innumerable times in the last 12 hours that we were spared the worst of the storm and that we still have power!

The end.

Here We Go Again!

Photo taken about 8:15am

Yep, snow again.  We put the plow on the truck last night, thinking based on the weather forecast that we'd get some snow overnight, then maybe rain during the day.  When we woke up, there was only a little snow, so we took the plow off because I can't drive my truck on the road (which I need to do to get DD to school).  Much to my complete surprise, my husband informed me that we're supposed to get a bunch of snow this afternoon all of a sudden, in fact there's a winter storm watch starting at 1pm.  I'm just waiting to hear that the schools are going to let out early. 

And looking at the weather I see we're supposed to have like, A BLIZZARD in a couple more days??!?

Will we really get a ton of snow this afternoon, or will it end up being rain?  Will the school send the kids home early? Will we really get a blizzard later this week?  Oh, the suspense!

 

I think I'll go dye my hair and wait for the early school closing announcement.  Nobody likes the smell of the hair dye, so I try to do it when no one is around.  I usually like to do it on an evening that my husband is out, after DD goes to bed, but occasionally I do it during the day.  I always have this fear though, that I'm going to just get my hair all gooped up, and the school is going to call because my daughter is sick or something and I'll need to go pick her up. 

Sometimes I look back at blog posts and wonder what was I thinking - as in this case of where I actually posted a picture of my hair all gooped up with hair dye here.  Have you ever posted something embarrassing that you regretted, or had photos taken of you that you regretted (keep it clean, folks)?  The other day my husband took pictures of me and our daughter dancing to Cotton Eyed Joe on "Just Dance" for the Wii - I told him I was naming that photo shoot, "Pictures That Will Never Be on My Blog".

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I Love eBooks

One night we were having olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip bread in and my husband thought they looked like frog eyes.  This has nothing to do with my post though.

So recently I got an iPod Touch, which is the best invention right after sliced bread.  I could go on and on about the amazing cool stuff it can do (like everything from finding Toronto hotels to TV Guide listings, to the show LOST theories, free internet radio and weather - the list goes on and on), but for today all I'm going to talk about it how AWESOME it is for reading eBooks!  People, this thing has changed. my. life.  The only drawback to the iPod Touch is it's smaller than a Kindle or Nook, but I don't find it a problem AT ALL.  The other big difference is that the other ereaders are not backlit - meaning, you need to use a BOOKLIGHT if you want to read in the dark!  The iPod Touch is backlit (and you CAN adjust the brightness) - which means I can read books practically under the covers while my husband snores peacefully beside me - it's GREAT!  I have suddenly rediscovered my love of reading, and there are apps to download Kindle OR Nook books - I'm not limited to one or the other!

Besides purchasing books online from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the like - there are also plenty of free books to be had - even from Amazon and Barnes and Noble and a few other places.  One of my favorite places to be alerted to free ebooks is a great site called Books on the Knob.  Even if you don't have an ereader device, you can download programs (even the Kindle one) to your computer that will enable you to read ebooks on your computer.

So, the book I'm reading now is Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck.  (I really am finding that I like Young Adult Fiction - I can do without the violence, language and porn in adult fiction.)  I almost gave up on it - it started off sooooooooooo slow, but it's finally picking up, and I'm glad I stuck it out - looks like I'm going to enjoy this one.

If anyone has any book suggestions for me, I'd LOVE them, and if you have any other good places to find free eBooks, please share!  I already know about all the classics available through the Gutenberg Project, but if you know of newer, popular books that are free, please share!

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The Online Degree Possibilities are Endless

 Western Governors University

I've posted before about my consideration of an online degree to give me a means to enter the workforce when my daughter is older - hopefully in a job more lucrative than a grocery store clerk, or McDonalds cashier (which is probably all I'm qualified for at the moment).  Yet another option I've come across to get an online degree is through Western Governors University.  What sets apart Western Governors University is that they are a non-profit university and therefore much more affordable than other comparable schools.  But just because they are a more inexpensive alternative, doesn't mean they are any less credible - WGU is a fully accredited online education institution.  In fact NBC Nightly News and Time magazine actually have featured WGU.  As far as degrees they offer, they have an online Teachers College, Online College of Business, Online College of Information Technology, and an Online College of Healthcare Professionals.  Of all the online universities I've looked at so far, this is by far one of the most practical and attractive choices.

More Thoughts Too Short for a Whole Blog Post

We were watching the women's downhill skiing and one of the women fell before she even went like 50 yards.  I think if you fall in the first 100 yards you should get a do-over.  I am also a big proponent of do-overs in mini-golf as well. 

If you are ever in charge of a group of volunteers, keep in mind they are volunteers - if you make them too unhappy, they can just leave.  And since finding people to do work for free is not always easy, it might be worthwhile to give consideration to keeping your volunteers reasonably happy.  DUH!

On Valentine's Day my daughter and I were heathen sinners and slept in instead of going to church.  My husband went though.  And even though he told the truth to everyone who asked why we weren't there, they still loved us.  :-D  AND, since it was Valentine's Day, our church gave out pink carnations to all the ladies (and my husband brought home one for me and one for our daughter) PLUS they gave out t-shirts with the name of our church on them (which he also brought home for us).  How awesome is my church??  :-D  (And my husband!)

I have been using the Wii for exercise quite a bit since we got it.  We do have the Wii Fit Plus, but also Just Dance which is a great workout and super fun, AND another game called Walk it Out which is definitely a good aerobic workout.  Walk it Out is so addictive, I start it planning on doing like a half and hour and before I know it it's an hour later and I end up having to run out of the house and drive down to meet the school bus at 100mph to get our daughter on time!

If you use Twitter or other location based social media applications, in case you haven't already realized this, by telling the world you are not at home, you are making yourself a target for burglars.  I've already read articles about people who posted on Facebook about leaving for vacation only to come home and find their house ransacked.  There's also a new website called PleaseRobMe.com that searches out tweets of people who are announcing their locations to illustrate how potentially unwise this can be!  So be careful before you put it out on the internet that you're not home or that you're going on vacation!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I read the Twilight series and I fell totally in love with it.  Except the last book - oy vey!!  That last book needs a "do over"!

I was very stoked that Dale Earnhardt Jr. came in 2nd at the Daytona 500 - I hope this means he's gotten his mojo back!  I wish he'd shave the beard off, though.  Maybe he grew it to cover HIS breakouts from stress (like mine I mentioned yesterday), LOL!  Maybe he needs to check out some acnepril reviews - maybe they could be a new sponsor? LOL.

We have a bagel shop in a town nearby that makes the BEST bagels.  But it's weird - you'd think a bagel is a bagel.  Yet, there is such a difference in bagels depending on where you get them from.   The same with pizza - it's like, geez, there's only a few ingredients really, how can pizzas and bagels vary so much from place to place??

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Progress on Our Adirondack Abode!

It's hard to see, but the frost wall is in.  The next step is to set up the forms to pour the concrete.  It was definitely one of those weird moments where you see something, but it doesn't seem to sink in that it's really happening.  I don't even feel like it's real even now.  The footprint looks so small, it's hard to believe there's going to be a house there with room for bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and livingroom, LOL.  But I can see on the plans, yes indeed, it will all fit in there. :-P

I'm the type of person that is somewhat dubious about how things in our subconscious can cause us stress, or affect us emotionally, however, in my day to day life, I don't feel OVERLY stressed about this building project, on the other hand I have three big "breakouts" on my face right now.  Normally I have good skin, and I know that I will often have breakouts when I'm stressed.  So though I don't feel overly stressed, I guess I must be.  Subconsciously maybe.

Well, and actually there's another situation I haven't mentioned, that has to do with a volunteer organization that I'm a part of that I have actually lost sleep over.  Maybe the breakouts are from THAT.  Or that TOO.

At the rate I'm going maybe I'd better start investing in proactiv solution and cover up!

Do you think what's going on in your subconscious really affects you??

The end.

More Pictures From Lake George Winter Carnival

Lake George's "Ice Palace"

Lake George only has a tiny "ice palace", more like an "ice cottage" I think, LOL.  It isn't even fully surrounded by walls and the only thing just inside the doorway is a little "throne".  It's cute, though.  Saranac Lake has a really awesome Ice Palace.  I've never seen it in person, but there's a pretty cool video here at one of my favorite blogs, Small Pines, of the lighting of their ice palace this year if you want to see a REAL ice palace.

The frozen lake was busy the day we were there.  A few times we got to see parachuters come gliding down from the sky.  We also saw two small planes land on the ice, and there was a helicopter giving rides as well.  Apparently there were dog sled races, which we would have loved to have seen, but we didn't come across those. 

There were tons of snowmobiles and ATVs on the lake.  With all the activity, it seemed like an accident waiting to happen, but everyone seemed to be being careful.  Near the beach there were snowmobiles skipping across an open patch of water - that was pretty cool.

We also just enjoyed walking out on the lake and watching all the activity.

My peeps.

The last thing we saw before we left was the Polar Plunge.  Wow, that was painful to watch.  The temperature was below freezing and just watching everyone standing there in swimsuits before the countdown made me shudder.

(I think as a courtesy to the men, they should have given out free maxoderm 'cause a polar plunge is gonna cause "shrinkage" of epic proportions, LOL!)

After spending a little bit of time at the Lake George Winter Carnival, we traveled to our property.  More about that tomorrow....

The end.

Unexpectedly Visited Lake George Winter Carnival

Yeah, that's me.

We unexpectedly had "cabin" business to attend to (see this link if you haven't read our "story") and had to travel to the Adirondacks on Saturday.  Luckily, my husband noticed that Winter Carnival was going on in Lake George, so we went up a little early to check it out.  There was much more going on than we expected - I'm aware that Saranac Lake has a huge winter carnival - so our expectations were somewhat low for Lake George, but we ended up having a lot of fun.  Truthfully, it was just a kick in itself to stand in the middle of frozen Lake George.

I wasn't scared at all to be on the ice, although there were a few spots that I thought could use some wrinkle fillers, LOL.  But with all the snowmobiles and ATVs and people on the ice, not to mention a couple of small planes and a helicopter - well, I wasn't too worried about me personally breaking through the ice. :-)  I'll post more pictures very soon!

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Spiediefest at Carole's!

I've been approached by companies to review their products before, but never have I been so excited as I was the day I got an email from Salamida's!  Salamida's makes in my opinion, THE best spiedie sauce!  What is a spiedie, you ask?  Well, spiedies are a central NY specialty.  When my husband and I were first married, we lived in Binghamton, NY for two years while DH went to college at Binghamton University and that was when we first tried spiedies.

From Spiedie.com:  Spiedies (SPEE-dees) are made of a single kind of meat, traditionally lamb, but now quite often pork or chicken, that has been cut into one inch cubes, marinated for 24 hours or more, roasted on skewers over a grill, and then served on a slice of Italian bread or on a sub roll. There is no need to add anything else to the sandwich, no condiments, no vegetables, no seasonings, because the marinade does the flavoring beforehand. As the marinated meat is cooking, the juices drip lightly onto the fire, creating a delicious smoking effect, and whetting the appetites of all nearby as the aroma spreads through the air.

I was lucky enough to be sent a few of Salamida's fine products to try out for free and give my honest review, and so here in the dead of winter, we had our own mini "Spiediefest"!  

First we tried the Lemon Garlicious: "This Salamida Classic Recipe comes from the Italian Isle of Capri, where lemons grow as big as grapefruit and roasted garlic is a common delicacy. We get hundreds of compliments for the taste this sauce has. Use as a marinade for chicken, pork, veal, seafood and tofu."  $2.95 for 16 oz. bottle

I used it on haddock.  It was very good, however, I overdid it on the sauce.  The sauce is very flavorful, and I should have used much less - a little goes a long way.  Luckily I still have a half a bottle left, and I'll use it more sparingly next time!

Next we couldn't resist having good 'ol chicken spiedies!  I almost feel a little blasphemous showing you a spiedie made like this, but hey - it's February!  I did the best I could to make spiedies inside, in the dead of winter!  There are other companies that make spiedie sauce, but we have tried them, and I will tell you that Salamida's *IS* the best one.  Hands down.  We thoroughly enjoyed these!!!

Original State Fair Spiedie Sauce: "An all purpose marinade, rich in flavor yet not over-powering in taste, for meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, and game. Each bottle is made individually to assure exact ingredient proportions. With only 15 calories per serving and no sugars or preservatives, this marinade has a health kick of its own."  $2.95 for 16 oz. bottle

Next we tried the My Old Flame Steak Sauce on some small steaks I had grilled up.  (Gotta love the George Foreman grill!)  "Tired of the rest? Now try the best, this sauce is better than the #1 rated steak sauce! You'll agree after just one drop. Want a different twist? Mix it in when making meatloaf or hamburgers for a little kick."  $2.89 for 12 oz. bottle

 

Now, I must admit, my husband is a solid A1 man, and he just didn't care for the My Old Flame Steak Sauce as much as A1.  *I* however, LOVED the Salamida's steak sauce - in fact, it was so good, I ended up pouring another puddle on my plate and pushed the brown rice into in after I finished my steak!  My daughter is also an A1 fan, but she liked the My Old Flame Steak Sauce just as much as A1.  So, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. :-)

Lastly, we tried the Italian Gourmet Original Pinch seasoning on some hamburgers.  "Our original blend of salt, pepper, garlic and other spices that goes good on everything from meats to salads. Use as little or as much as you desire for your tastes".  $2.75 for 4 oz. bottle

We loved the added flavor this gave our burgers - just a few shakes onto the burgers, what could be easier?  I think I could find a lot of other uses for this spice blend as well.  

And that concludes the Spiediefest at Carole's Thoughtful Spot.  If you'd like to have your own Spiediefest and try some of the great Salamida's products, you can go to Spiedie.com to order (you can use the code SAUCE3 through April 1, 2010 to get 15% off your order).  They have quite a few other products besides those mentioned here.  One of our other favorites is the Big Hawaii Teryaki marinade, and I noticed there's a Tuscan Grill Rosemary & Balsamic marinade that sounds really good, PLUS they even have more spices and rubs, wing sauces, and even marinades for wild game!  And they're all gluten free, by the way. For more recipes using Salamida products, you can check out their blog, plus my good blog friend Rebecca from Freaky Frugalite posted a yummy looking recipe for Lentil Soup using Salamida's Pinch Hickory Smoke Blend.  Thank you, Salamida's for this taste of summer in the dead of winter!

The end.

Weather Forecast Wrong Again

Hi Bloggy Friends!

Well, we were supposed to get 6-12" of snow with this last storm and we got maybe, 3-4"?  I'm not complaining.  Although it didn't stop snowing until sometime late last night/early this morning, so would you believe DH got up at like 4am to plow the driveway??

I got to sleep in until it was time to take the plow off so I could have the use of my truck today.  I don't even know what time it was he woke me up to help him remove it.  Just now I went out and shoveled the walkway.  It's a beautiful day - even the temp. isn't bad (34F).  Too bad the wind is blowing at like 100 MILES AN HOUR!!  The driveway IS melting off fairly nicely, although right now it looks like a bad print job with a plugged Anilox roll, but I think by the end of today, most of it will be gone.

I wish it wasn't so windy.  Normally a sunny winter day with the temps in the 30s would really actually be a nice day.  I love to breathe in the clear, cold fresh air on days like today.  The sun reflecting off the snow makes it so bright and cheerful, and a deep blue sky contrasting against the white snow is gorgeous.  I know a lot of you out there are "winter haters", but I'd much rather open my door to a blast of icy, fresh, cool winter air any day than open my door to a hot blast of heavy, thick, humid summer air.

 

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10 Honest Things About Me

 

I was tagged by Barry over at Frost Bottom Farm for the "Honest Scrap Award" and a meme.  I don't usually do the award/meme thing much these days, but this one looked like a fun one to do for a change, AND I was very honored that Barry thought of me to tag.

Speaking of Barry, if you like Cape Cod, farming, the outdoors, running, New England travel and the like, you should go check out his blog at Frost Bottom Farm!  I've been reading his blog for quite awhile - always something interesting, and always lots of good pics!

10 Honest Things About Me

1. I think I am sometimes more influenced by the label on the bottle of the wine than the taste of the wine itself.  I often buy Toasted Head because I just love the label.  Is it good wine?  I have no idea!

2. I am going to be 40 this April.  I'd like to do something special, but I have no idea what.  I have been seriously trying to think of something since LAST April, and still am undecided.  When my husband asked me the other day what I wanted to do for the big 4-0 I said I think at this point I'm ready to call it quits on thinking of an idea and I'm ready to just go through the drive thru at McDonald's and call it a day.

3. I'm totally fine about turning 40.  In fact, BRING IT ON BABY!

4. I read super fast.  Sometimes I have to consciously make an effort to read slower, so I actually read every word and absorb the little details.  Otherwise I just race over the words and pick up the important points and miss the nuances.  It's actually very hard to try to read slower.  I was looking back at old report cards and from the comments that are written, apparently I was like a reading prodigy in elementary school. 

5. I've toyed with the idea of writing a book, but then I think that probably everybody thinks they can write a book.  I probably can't write a book!

6. I love romance novels.  I know - is there anything lower on the literary totem pole?  Well, you wanted honesty, there it is.  (I do read other things btw (yeah, literary greats like "Twilight" HA HA), and the romance novels I read AREN'T the ones with the red covers and flames, LOL!  I prefer the ones that leave something to the imagination!)

7. Even though it's the dead of winter, I still hate summer.

8. I have very light green/gray eyes, but if I'd had my choice I would have chosen brown eyes.  I like brown eyes best.

9. I'm going to be spending my Valentine's Day at a Daytona 500 Party, and that is cool with me.

10. I've typed then deleted a bunch of things as I composed this list - honesty is a great thing, but I think some things are better kept to oneself...

If you decide to do this meme on your own blog, please let me know in the comments so I can read yours!

The end.

Lunch at the Culinary Institute's Apple Pie Bakery in Hyde Park, NY - Part 2

(If you missed it, Part 1 is here.)

So, to relieve your suspense from the cliffhanger in my last post, here is what I chose for my lunch:

And the winner was the Sourdough Reuben Panini!

Corned beef, Gruyere cheese, sauerkraut, whole grain mustard, and Russian dressing on grilled sourdough. Served with a side of fries. 

$10.95

 

The sandwich was good, however the bread was toasted in such a way that it was quite hard and crispy.  This made the sandwich somewhat difficult to eat - I didn't feel very dainty trying to bite through two pieces of hard and crispy bread, and in two instances I had pieces of the crust fly off - one went in my lap fortunately, the other shot across the table.  I don't know if my companion, Dr. Mom, saw that, LOL!  The filling of the sandwich was very good - the flavor of the whole grain mustard was particularly tasty I thought.  The fries were good, but very ordinary.  I was a bit disappointed in the fries.  In nearby Rhinebeck, NY there's a restaurant that makes fries in a basil-infused oil (I think that's what it is) that are really outstanding (I forget which one, I tried to look it up but couldn't find it on a menu online).  I guess I expected something more "special" from the Culinary's fries.  I liked how they came in the metal measuring cup thing, though.

 

Now if you thought choosing a meal was difficult, well that was nothing compared to trying to pick a dessert.  (Especially since I didn't understand what half the things were in the dessert descriptions!  Feuilletine?  "Cremeur"?  Genoise??)  As I mentioned in my previous post, at the front of the bakery were cases displaying countless astonishingly beautiful and mouth watering desserts.  I wasn't really sure what I was in the mood for, so as I walked up to the counter to get dessert for myself and my cousin, Dr. Mom, I had narrowed it down to two choices:

 

"Marjolaine" Cake
With hazelnut daquoise, crisp hazelnut feuilletine, dark chocolate ganache, and milk chocolate glaze.  Topped with golden chocolate plaque and candied hazelnut.
$4.95

or

Tiramisu
Classic Italian tiramisu with coffee soaked lady fingers.
$4.95

However, when I got to the front of the line, something else entirely caught my attention, and I came back with this, which is called, "Not An Oreo":

 

Actually, it was like a super fancy oreo but the super rich thin and crispy cookie was practically melt-in-your-mouth, if that's even possible for something crispy, and the filling was soft and rich with a wonderful vanilla flavor - not at all like the pasty, sickeningly sweet filling of a real oreo.

And no meal would be complete without coffee (well, for me, anyway!).  They had many choices of coffees like Cafe au Lait, Caffee Americano, Caffe Macchiato, Chai Latte and more, and of course "regular" coffee.  Both myself and Dr. Mom opted for cappucinos.  I don't normally get cappucino because I can never remember what it tastes like, and I think I don't like it.  But it seems like something I would like.  Since I hadn't tried one in a long time, I figured I'd try again.  It looked beautiful, and I drank it, but as usual, I didn't really care for it.  I'm sure if you like cappucino, it's really good! LOL!  I don't know why I keep trying to like cappucino.

The little biscotti was a super yummy touch!

 

Now be sure to go check out Dr. Mom's post and see what SHE got --> Lunch With Carole at the CIA Part 2.  Her dessert was really fabulous looking!  There's also a bit of a funny story about the Coke she ordered.  (The waitstaff are Culinary students in training, so you have to be a little forgiving of the service.)

 

Overall, it was a very enjoyable lunch.  The atmosphere of the cafe is very casual and pleasant, and the lunch and dessert menus are full of many wonderful choices at very reasonable prices.  I would say between the opportunity for a very special lunch, the chance to browse the Culinary's bookstore, and the beautiful grounds, I would say this is well worth traveling an hour or two for.  Here is the website with menus, hours and directions:  Apple Pie Bakery.

 

Dr. Mom and I have agreed that we should "do lunch" somewhere else soon, so if it's anywhere worth noting, I'll be sure to have a full report. :-)

The end.

Lunch at the Culinary Institute's Apple Pie Bakery in Hyde Park, NY - Part 1

It was a beautiful day to be there - the blue sky was brilliant contrasting with the snow and white pillars of the building and the gazebo in the shot below.

I live in an area of NY called the "Hudson Valley" which is just chock full of all kinds of wonderful things to see and do.  One of the area's "gems" is the famed Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park.  The campus is beautiful - right on the Hudson.

The Culinary has six restaurants where they train their students that are open to the public.  They are: The American Bounty Restaurant, The Escoffier Restaurant, Ristorante Caterina de' Medici, St. Andrew's Cafe, Apple Pie Bakery, and Al Forno.  Dinner at the Culinary's fine restaurants (American Bounty, Escoffier, Caterina de' Medici)  is a very special treat - generally reservations must be made well in advance, and you'll drop a pretty penny at dinner for sure, but the food and the service are the ultimate.  I have eaten at the American Bounty Restaurant a few times in my life on very special occasions - I think the first time was on my 13th birthday.  (You can click here to take a look at the different restaurants and their menus, if you're curious.)

However, St. Andrew's Cafe, Al Forno and the Apple Pie Bakery are more casual and much less expensive and my cousin - Dr. Mom - suggested we meet for lunch at one of them, which I was excited about because I've never had lunch at any of those places.  My cousin has a small daughter, so we thought the Apple Pie Bakery, which is the most casual, would be a good choice.  The Apple Pie Bakery is in Roth Hall (there is also a cool campus store that is open to the public that carries every cooking gadget you've ever seen on the Food Network or the French Chef).

It's very casual - you go inside and get on line, place your order and pay.  They give you a number, then you find a seat and put your number on the table and they bring your food to you when it's ready.

We got there at a great time when it wasn't very crowded and we had our choice of tables - by the time we left the place was jam packed. 

It was very hard to choose what to order for lunch - as you can imagine, most everything sounded fantastic.  To make matters worse, once you get up to the counter you can look into the glass cases which contain the most beautiful pastries and desserts - very distracting, LOL!

Three things caught my eye on the menu:

Macaroni & Cheese 

Tubetti pasta with Gruyere cheese and Parmesan cheese. Topped with crsip bread crumbs and baked to order

$7.95

Crisp Fried Goat Cheese Salad

With spinach, red onions, bacon, button mushrooms, and warm bacon vinaigrette

$8.95

and 

Sourdough "Reuben" Panini 

Corned beef, Gruyere cheese, sauerkraut, whole grain mustard, and Russian dressing on grilled sourdough. Served with a side of fries. 

$10.95

In my next post, I'll tell you which I ultimately decided on and also what I chose for dessert (with pictures)!

To be continued...

Edited to add: Check out Dr. Mom's post about our lunch together here!

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The Curse of Water in Our Basement

(This is NOT a paid post for water alarms, btw.  It's my own, original, aggravating story written because I'm annoyed.)

For some strange reason, my husband and I seem to be cursed with getting water in our basement.  I can't even count now, how many times we've mopped water off the floor here in this house, and at our old house.  It's not even like it's some reoccurring problem, like we live on a floodplain or anything.  We have ended up with water in our basement for such an amazing variety of reason - everything from a bad pump installation, to our latest problem, the water softener overflowing.  This is such a ridiculously chronic problem for us, nearly everything in our basement is on 2x4s, raised up to prevent water damage, or in plastic bins because we've been through this so many times!  I think the last time we had a flood in our basement was when our dehumidifier for some strange reason, didn't detect that the reservoir was full and stayed on and made a big mess.  WHAT IS IT WITH US??  I feel like I have cleaned up water off the basement floor PLENTY for my lifetime already!  I need to check and see if term life insurance policies cover "death in basement flood", just in case, ha ha. 

Anyway, after our latest episode right after dinner last night of cleaning up the water that came out of our water softener, we decided next time DH goes to Home Depot he's getting some water alarms.  They are a lot less expensive than we thought.  Apparently they sound a 110 decibel alarm when water is detected.  I think that normally these are purchased by people who have sump pumps or people who live on a floodplain.  These alarms won't prevent our next water "surprise" but at least maybe there will be less water to clean up.  I don't know what is going to be the cause of the next basement flood we have, but it seems inevitable.  WHAT IS UP WITH THAT??!?

The end.

So I Gave In

The same thing happened to me with the Harry Potter series.  For who knows how long I had to hear all about Harry Potter.  Blah, blah, Harry Potter, blah, blah.  I'm not really into science fiction at all, so I really had no interest in reading those books.  But I guess over time all the buzz just wore me down, especially every time a new movie would come out, and I figured I'd try the first book.  Well, you can imagine what happened after that, if you've read the Harry Potter series.  Couldn't put them down, loved each and every book, and was so very sad when I got to the end of the last book, because it was over.  I even one by one checked all the audio books out of the library and got my husband hooked on listening to them on his way to work every day.  Anyway....

Blah, blah, Twilight, blah, blah, Robert Pattinson, blah, blah, Bella, BLAH BLAH BLAH.  I'm not into vampires, and why everyone was going ga-ga over a white faced actor who looked like he styled his hair with an egg beater was beyond me.  But, somehow I guess all the talk got to me.  I guess I just got curious about what the hype was all about.  So I gave in and read Twilight.

Oh. My. GAH!!!!

Ok, I totally get it now!

In fact, I've polished off Twilight and New Moon and I'm part way through Eclipse now....  (If I knew how to put an "embarrassed" smiley here, I would.)

The end.

P.S.  I've seen the Harry Potter movies (not on the big screen unfortunately, on our "old fashioned" tvs - makes me wish for a Samsung HDTV or something like that!) and I really didn't like them very much.  Which usually happens anyway - the book is always way better than the movie.  However, I wonder how the Twilight movie compares to the book?  Have you read the book and seen the movie?  What did you think?