Happy Haunting!

Yoko Ono (?), Christine and The Phantom of the Opera

Tonight, Big T, Robert, Vicky and Tiana went to the Corn Maze for a spooky, after-dark, get lost sort of night! Haven't heard from them, so not sure if they made it through! The girls will have a sleepover and then take coffee to some friends in the morning and help them move some stuff around in their being-remodeled house. I'm sure they'll have TONS of fun!
We didn't end up with too many trick-or-treaters tonight, but there were definitely some cute ones! One really disgusting one, too, who had "blood" dripping all over his face mask! EWWW! Bummer! We have extra candy left over!!!

YOWZAA!!!...

...It's been 10 whole days since I was here last!! Good grief where does the time go?!?! Let's see, Wednesday I got to spend some time with Toriana and Jill. Jill didn't get to get anything done that she wanted to, but we did get a walk in! Thursday I spent a good portion of the day chatting with my friend. (I hope I didn't wear her completely out?!?!) We had gentle conversations about politics (I know! That's not supposed to be discussed in polite company!!), children, just life in general. Friday night, Kent and I celebrated our anniversary in style (Sorry, Mom and Dad! Spendin' the time with you was great, but not much of a fancy celebration!!). We ate at a restaurant called Trellis and then spent a night by ourselves in a hotel. Poor Coda had to spend his 6th birthday night all alone! The next day we just meandered the day away by going to Fry's, IKEA (where we picked up a very fun crown chew toy for the birthday boy!) and Pike Place Market. Sunday I had to work nice and early, but for that I'm done at 10, still make it to Meeting (always a refreshing quietness after the morning rush!) and then the rest of the day is spent with family. It sure seems like I've had lots of work going on, but I have managed to get some cooking done! Monday night was Rinderrouladen (I'll post the recipe after!) with Spätzle (German egg noodles) and Rotkohl (sweet and sour red cabbage), Thursday was Borscht (Russian beat/veggie soup) and Pelmeni (Russian tortellini) day. I made another new recipe, too, but transposed a measurement on two different ingredients and so it turned out, well, not so great. The family didn't like the texture, although, if not for the extreme vermouth-iness, I liked it a lot! I have managed to get a few cards made, but not near enough! Tonight we had Tiana's charge, her BFF Toria and my friend Jenna's daughter for the evening. We ended it very nicely with a sing at Kelvin and Carie's. So, not really just a whole lot to talk about here, but, now you
are up to speed! Have a great weekend!



















Toriana enjoying a nice filet of fish!





Birthday Boy Coda enjoying ripping his crown apart!!









Rinderrouladen (German Beef Rolls)

4 slices of beef, pounded to 1/4" thickness (from a chuck roast works!)dijon or German mustard
salt
pepper4 slices of bacon
2 gherkins (not really dill, not really sweet!!, but err on the side of sweet)
1 small onion cut into strips
flour
Oil
1 small celery root, peeled and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, peeled and chopped

Spread mustard on each beef slice. Salt and pepper. Put one slice of bacon, 1/2 of a pickle, some onion on each slice and roll up; fasten with string or toothpicks. Dip in flour.
Heat oil in large covered skillet. Brown rolls good on each side. Add vegetables and allow them to cook a bit with the meat. Add water to cover; bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer about 1 hour. Turn rolls often and add water if it is evaporating too much. Remove rolls and keep warm. Remove and discard veggies. Make a water and flour slurry and add to liquid. Bring to boil and allow to thicken. Guten Appetit!!

So, I didn't make these, but they look similar to mine!

Having a Bit of Fun!

It's a sunny day and I'm loving the fact that I can use the sunshine in my craft corner! I had to run in to work and finish the tips I started yesterday, but I've been able to be at home since then, doing laundry and creating. I just have to share this card with you. It's one I'm very pleased with. Something I can't say about all of my cards lately, that's for sure!! Thanks to the creative inspiration via challenges over at Cococat's Cardmaking!!

A RIDE!!!

BIG NEWS!!! I got to go for a really long ride! Oh, BOY! Oh, BOY!!! And the coolest part?!?! Pixie was at the other end! We went to Grandpa and Grandma's house this weekend. I always like it when we go there. They have a super cool park that I get to walk around (not many trees, but LOTS of great smells) and Pixie's there and I get to be so close to mom that I can just lick her face in the middle of the night to let her know I'm still there!! Life is grand on road trips! I have to tell you, this time was kinda weird. You shoulda seen Grandma! She had the FUNNIEST legs! She made some weird noises with her extra legs, too! And everyone told me to move when she was walking around! I heard something about some surgery or something like that. You'll have to ask mom. Mom spent most of Saturday cooking stuff up so that the Gr's can eat for awhile. Every once in awhile I'd get called over to pick up the carrot or broccoli that fell to the ground! I LOVE it when mom cooks! Anyway, that was our weekend. Oh, and Grandma wouldn't pose, but sister did. These were Grandma's legs. Grandpa and Dad put together the little wooden thingy so that Grandma could get around better. Man, I'd think with 5 legs life would be great, but apparently the little rolly-thingy's even better!



Yes, mom had surgery on her great toe last week. She's to be off of her foot for one month, followed by 2 months of limited pressure and then another 3 months of getting better. They fused and pinned and plated and rodded and whatnot so that she'll hopefully have no more foot pain. So that dad doesn't have to work so hard after work, we went down and I cooked up quite a bit of food for their freezer in addition to keeping us all fed through the weekend. It was good to have that time there, even without mom and I getting to craft! As you can see, Dad and Kent had the privilege of being the creative ones this time! It's always good to see the great friends that mom and dad have there, too! Such a privilege to get to be in fellowship with them on Sunday morning! On our way there I read the book "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. Maybe you've seen the video of his spoken "Last Lecture"? I highly recommend both the book and the video. Make sure to have the tissues ready, but also maybe a notebook or highlighter. Really a great read and some great lessons that I would like to take to heart! I never had the opportunity to know this man in person, and for that I'm now very sad, but I'm thankful to have "known" him through his works and hope to learn from him through his legacy! Check it out at www.thelastlecture.com .

16 Years

"I promise to be true to you in sunshine and in rain, through good times and bad, in my talking and my silence, in my waking and sleeping, all the days of my life. I love you."

AWESOME news!!

My friend's husband came into the store yesterday and told me that her last PET/CT scans came back with really AWESOME news! (You'll remember SHE visited me a few weeks back and made me so happy!) Her bones are showing cleared of cancer, her liver spots are VERY diminished as are her original sites (breast) and her lymph nodes are also almost clear! She'll continue treatment through December, but things are looking VERY good and VERY promising!! YAY JEN!!!!!

And in honor of all women (and the 1000 men who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year), will you click each day at this site to grant mammogram's for under-privileged women? Thanks!!

Breast Cancer Site

Half Marathon Weekend

What an AWESOME weekend with some AWESOME friends! Friday night Jolyn, Victoria, Tiana (Li'l T), Kent and I drove over to Leavenworth to meet up with John and Linda, Jill, Trevan and Toriana, Donna and Terry, John and Gill, Sue, Jan, Kate, Becky, Mary, Kateen, Big T(Tiana), Robert, Justin, Elaine and Gentry so that those of us in italics could run/walk the Oktoberfest Half-Marathon the next day. We got in fairly late, but still had to "carb-load" at our favorite German restaurant -- Andreas Keller. It was quite rowdy with the beer flowing for most people, but the accordian player was having all sorts of fun getting people moving, laughing, singing, having a general great time! Just after we received our salads, Kateen, Justin, Big T and Robert walked in and we had them join us at our table! What a great way to start our weekend! From there we were off to the KOA campground where we had a total of 4 cabins and a tent site reserved. Poor Justin and Robert had to stay in a tent in the rain! Bummer for our s'mores fest, too! Trevan did manage to put together a roaring fire so that at least a few marshmallows were roasted! Saturday we headed off to the start line where Dave (and some extra support group!) joined us. At 9:05, with great anticipation, we started out running. It doesn't take long for the course to put a few paces between us! Dave, Justin and Kateen ran the whole thing -- as a repeat of the weekend before! --and Jill and Trevan tried to keep pace with them. The rest of us did plenty of walking. Poor Jill's knee didn't allow her to finish. (very sad face here!) For my part -- I'm very happy to say that I PR'd (personal record) this year by shaving a full 43 minutes off of last year's showing!
Due to the rain, I have no pictures to share with you, but maybe Donna wouldn't mind me pointing you to her blog. This is our whole group minus Jill and Trevan (sorry we didn't get any of you!) We should have made sure to get all of the support group, too, but well, NEXT YEAR!