WAR OF THE ROSES - 300 CASUALTIES

There is a war going on in my backyard. Yes, that's right, at least it feels like a war and so far there have been 300 casualties.

Let me explain.

I consider myself a gardener. I actually consider myself a pretty good gardener. I have turned most of my backyard into flowerbeds full of wonderful blooming gorgeous perennials and annuals and about twenty rose bushes complete with winding trail, soothing fountains and comfortable places to just hang out and be peaceful. I plant mostly with an eye to providing everything I need to "get away" and everything the butterflies need to live all the cycles of their lives right here in my back yard.

So, in that pursuit I have spent the past several years trying to learn what it takes to maintain this type of garden, like how much to water (I usually water too much), how much to feed the little bloomers and how to keep them healthy. Here's the rub. I love the flowers and so do the butterflies, but in order to keep the butterflies I have to also be as organic as possible so they don't croak when they nectar on my flowers. Also, I believe that a person should try as much as possible not to use harsh chemicals if they can help it just because it's not good for our environment. So, after many years of fine tuning and getting everything just right, especially for these very finicky roses, this year was looking like a banner year for them. I had finally figured out the water thing and my bushes were looking great. No black spot and they were absolutely covered in buds. Covered, absolutely covered. I was so excited.

But, then the other day I noticed that the flowers were not looking so good and some weren't opening and if they did they were deformed. I was afraid to look. Finally I did and I found just what I had been afraid of. These bushes were in the midst of a fight for their life with the ugliest of the ugly critters that love to attack them-------thrips!

Dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thrips have to be one of the worst buggers out there on flowers because they get into the bud and do their damage sight unseen. They burrow into the bud and so they are very hard to get rid of because you can't get to them. The worst part is that the best shot you have at getting rid of them is to remove the buds they have invaded and then you really need to spray them to kill the ones that are about to invade.

So, yesterday I spent about an hour in my garden, DEBLOOMING  my rose bushes. I had to remove at least 300 fetal blooms. It was awful and just the saddest thing I have done in a long time. I actually felt like crying. I mean I have been babying these bushes along for at least three years and it just killed me to have to do this to them when I finally had these gorgeous bushes full of baby buds.

I was so sad. It affected the total rest of my day.

Today I am feeling mostly better. I went out just a while ago to spray everything with water just in case I could knock off a few of the remaining rose sucking monsters. It is still sad. My bushes look like they have been robbed. They look like sometime during the night, when they were fast asleep, a rose thief just came along and took away their babies and their beauty. I know they will come back and I know that it had to be done, but I know they must be sad and I am sad for them.

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read. 

EVEN MORE FRIENDS

 

Recently I wrote about one of my new (new being one that began in adulthood) friendships and how important it was to me and it got me to thinking. I don't just have one friend I definitely have several.

Actually, I have developed a number of very important friendships in the past few years. Aside from my husband who is not just my true love but my best friend of the male persuasion and my sister who obviously will always be my closest friend of the female persuasion, I can think of at least three additional people that I have met recently that I count as true friends. All in the past say ten years. Heck of a deal.

This strikes me as a little strange though since I had the same one friend all through my formative years. Really just the one that meant anything. I think maybe I was a little too comfortable in that relationship because I don't remember any room for others. For the most part there really just wasn't a need.

But then a few years ago, well at this point it has been more than a few years, my one friend left me for a man. Shocked? Don't be we were "just friends" and heterosexual to boot. So when the man of her dreams appeared and lived in San Francisco she moved away. At the time I didn't have what I would really call any other true friends.

But I do now.

Happy Days, Good Friends, Life is Good!

Oh, just in case you are wondering or trying to identify yourself: One of my new friends is very spiritual and the best car/house sales person I know, one is actually one and is part of a "couple" of friends that make me hope I will always be as close to my love as they are to each other (to me the perfect example of what a marriage should be) and the other is a very "ethereal" personality and has provided friendship and presents that will always keep me warm, especially on my birthday. Other than those if you don't recognize yourself, well what can I say, maybe you're on that other list 

I'm a lucky lucky girl.................................................................very lucky

By the way, if you're family you're on the list by default.

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read. 

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

There are too many good restaurants in the Dallas area to settle for anything that doesn't measure up. I mean in a city this big with this many excellent places to eat you have to live up to quite a high standard if you intend to survive. Last night I had dinner at one of the area eateries that I can't possible see lasting very long. NOT IN THIS MARKET!

Dinner last night was at Mignon, a restaurant on Preston Road in far north Dallas, in far HIGH RENT district Dallas. By the looks of the place you are led to believe that you are in for an excellent dining experience. The decor is upscale and quite nicely appointed. However, that is the only thing that I can say was nicely done.

I guess we should have gotten a clue when on a Wednesday night this restaurant was very sparsely populated. Normally Wednesday is a big night for locals to go out, but you wouldn't have been able to prove that by the number of customers in this place.

What at first promised (from the name and decor) to be an enjoyable dining experience quickly turned out not to be as immediately the service was sub-standard. We were never told about the specials the chef was offering and so ordered strictly from the offerings on the menu which I felt were pretty limited. The service in general was unimpressive and slow as we later found out.

To start we decided on the appetizer of grilled quail served atop a pretty bland polenta with a sauce of some sort. Most every bite of the quail that I had was so fatty that I quickly gave up and allowed my dinner companion to gnaw on most of it. Next we ordered a Bibb lettuce salad with a vinegarette dressing, blue cheese slivers, granny smith apples and pecans. The salad wasn't that bad, but the lettuce was a bit limp. We mostly ate the apples, pecans and cheese. We also ordered a bowl of the Tomato Basil soup. It was okay, but I am still looking for the basil. Our entree was a $36.00 strip steak with roasted potatoes. I was extrememly disappointed with the steak, it was very tough, not only to try to chew but even cutting it was a chore. I will say that it was cooked to the medium rare we had ordered, but that didn't help. Along with the steak we ordered a side of sauteed mushrooms, very much overcooked.

Dessert was a White Chocolate Bread pudding with a praline ice cream on top. This was absolutely the worst version of bread puddling I have ever had. Not only was it not any type of Bread Pudding I have ever eaten, it was dry and hard and I never found the white chocolate. The ice cream was this dessert's only salvation, we ate it.

The wine list was extensive and very pricey. A glass of Pinot Noir of average label and vintage was seemingly overpriced at $8.50 for a small glass.

The ticket for this meal came to $95.00 without the tip, this for one appetizer, one salad, one bowl of soup and one steak entree with one dessert. Basically $95.00 for one person if not sharing and the servings weren't overly generous.

I give this restaurant two out of five stars and definitely do not recommend it and will not be returning, not with all the other choices I have here in the metroplex.

Oh yeah, I am not a Restaurant Critic by trade, just by nature (I don't even play one on TV). I live in a city with more great restaurants than you can "shake a stick at", and I eat out at least eight to ten times a week so I've been in a lot of them and know what I like. It's just my opinion, OK?

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read. 

"ONE DAY ONLY"

Wow, what a weekend I had.

Rover Dramawerks, a theatre group out of Carrolton was doing a play festival project this weekend of seven short plays (10 to 15 minutes each) done totally from scratch in one twenty four hour period. These plays didn't even exist at 9:00 p.m. on Friday and all seven went on stage Saturday at 8:00 p.m. The idea is to come up with the ideas, write, produce, cast, rehearse, block, and stage the entire festival in just one day. Sounds impossible doesn't it? Well, it's not. I am here to tell you it definitely can be done.

With so little acting experience I probably didn't have any business whatsoever participating in this thing but it sounded intriguing and I am a glutton for punishment so I decided to go for it. Friday night there was a meeting to get information on what would be going on and to have a picture taken, quickly taken, really quickly. The casting was to be done based stricly on the pictures. Not a good thing, I figured I would end up being a tree. The other reason for the meeting was to put ideas in a hat for the writers to chose from and spend the night (literally) writing a play based only from this idea.

The writers began writing around 10:00 p.m. and wrote until they finished or until 5:30 a.m. whichever came first. Then the directors came in at 6:30 (a.m. again) and fought over the scripts and cast their plays from the pictures of the night before. At 8:00 a.m. (yep, still a.m.) the actors showed up to find out what they would be doing and had exactly twelve hours to learn the lines, rehearse, find costuming, props, etc. and be ready to perform in front of an audience at 8:00 p.m. The audience turned out to be around two hundred people.

Remember, I went into this thinking I would be a tree. No, not true. I was cast in a play about a topless donut shop as a waitress. NO I DIDN'T HAVE TO BE TOPLESS! The entire play took place in the break room and so all the waitresses' had all their clothes on.

Talk about baptism by fire. This part had somewhere around fifty lines with two small monologues. That was about fifty lines and two small monologues more than I had ever done on a stage, no----- more than anywhere. Nervous is not the word for my condition, panicky is much more like what I was feeling during this thing, especially so as the day went on and I was having a lot of trouble learning the lines. It seems that I was the only one in my play that was inexperienced at all. The other three cast members were seasoned actors, all the way to the one that actually teaches middle school theatre. The director was also experienced in the theatre and makes his living in the field.

So, as I mentioned, to say I was nervous didn't even come close. The longer the day got, the more I could see the in the director's eyes that he was not having a good time. I was just so nervous that I couldn't even follow the script not to mention learn the lines. I was sure I was going to make a very large fool of myself and ruin the entire thing for all my cast mates. Fortunately not only were my fellow actors experienced but they were all angels. They took it upon themselves to see that I didn't continue to panic and helped me with my part. They were lifesavers.

To make a long story a little shorter I DIDN'T BLOW IT, IN FACT I DID FINE.

I really did ok. I ended up getting through the entire play and even had several people from the audience who saw me later comment on how well I had done. They had no previous knowledge of my inexperience or panic so I have to assume they had really enjoyed it.

The play I think was one of the best ones that night and I know it got close to the most applause if not the most. Turns out I had a great time and plan to do it again, but not for a while. I had a good time, but I was totally exhausted when it was over.

All the plays were great and I am still so amazed that this could be done in ONE DAY ONLY.

By the way, if you are a casting director or are casting a part for your production, please notice I DID WELL!

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read. 

HAVE APRON, WILL TRAVEL

Saturday night we were the recipients of a dinner cooked by a chef friend of a friend. 

 
Among the many offerings of Chef Alan that night were a very hot and so yummy Artichoke Dip, a Fried Calamari appetizer with two sauces, a red seafood cocktail sauce and an excellent roumalade, both freshly made. The salad course was a favorite standby of Caesar Salad and the Caesar Dressing Alan made just before serving, well my husband is still talking about how good it was. The main dish or should I say dishes were two slightly out of the ordinary pizzas. The crusts of both were made with a variety of grains including barley and flax seed, very creative. And the toppings were just as unusual. One of them was made with a marinated chicken, a pesto like base and cheese , one with carmelized onions, bacon and blue cheese, half and half, each different. The other was made with an assortment of grilled vegetables, mushrooms, basil, tomatoes, and cheese, Pizza Marguerita style, half and half, each different. Wow, it was very good.  The crusts were a little strange, but the topping was very good.  Desert was not made by our friend's chef, but it was just as good and strange. This desert was made by our other great dinner companion. Let me tell you about this desert. First of all, I loved it. In fact I was just today thinking that I would liked to have gotten the recipe and I intent to do that. But, you have to get past the name of this thing then you will see it is really good. It is called "Frog Eye Salad". I really liked it. Good job. 

Actually the whole dinner was unusual and good. So humbling to know that people have gone to sooooooooooo... much trouble for little ole me. I can't wait to do it again. 


*At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

SONNETS AND MONOLOGUES

Apparently not all the brain cells are dead. I say this because I have spent the past couple of weeks selecting and memorizing both a Shakespeare Sonnet, which up until this time I didn't even know he had sonnets, and a monologue for my Acting class. 

I must admit I am really really surprised that I was able to do that. I mean I haven't had to even try to memorize anything for so many years I can't even tell you. So, I was pretty impressed with myself for getting this accomplished. 

So far I have only had to do the Sonnet in class once. Today I managed to not get picked before the time for class was over. However I will definitely have to do it Wednesday. I was able to find a book that had the sonnets written out in modern English so I at least have some idea what I am talking about. I wasn't really as nervous as I thought I would be. At least I didn't have to run around the room saying it or lay on the floor like a couple of others did. It's a technique, don't ask. 

The monologue on the other hand is a totally different story. I did it the first time and it was awful. I shook all the way through it and then the instructor didn't even understand what it was about. I wasn't really surprised because when I did it for my husband he didn't get it either. Well, I was sure that if I had to explain it to an auditor in an audition that would probably not be good, so I changed to another one. 

The new one is very self-explanatory and I feel like I won't have to tell everyone what it is about. It is sort of sad and I have it memorized. Now I'm trying to figure out if I want to try to cry at the end or not. Some times I sort of can others I just lose the moment in the middle and tears won't happen. 

This acting thing is getting to be more stressful, but more fun at the same time. I think I'll keep going.......at least for now. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND

As we grow older some things become harder to accomplish. In particular it seems that finding new friends, real friends, not just someone you know or someone you met one time, but real people, people that you feel a connection with and are happy to call "friends" is very unlikely, but not impossible I guess. So, about five years ago when my husband and I were looking for a new house we happened to meet a salesperson who turned out to be one of those people, one of those people that become so rare later in life, one of those people that you begin a call a friend. 

At the time we met this person she was not in a happy place. She was waiting it seems, (even though at the time she didn't know it) for a new life. Although she seemed happy on the outside, she seemed so happy at that time that I remember thinking that she had it all. She seemed to have a great relationship, (wrong), and was very successful in her chosen path of selling homes. I was somewhat envious. 

Turns out that her relationship was not very happy, in fact it was awful. But, happy day, she recently met a new person to share her life with. She is happy now and life is good. Life is good for her, but her new life is proving to be good for me and my husband because her new soul mate appears to be another one of those rare people that we will be able to call a friend. We have spent some time with her and her new significant other and have so far had great times. We hope to have many more. What can I say? 

Here's to new friends and new friendships. Long may they wave....................so to speak. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

THREE TECHNICIANS LATER!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of days ago after getting comfortable with my new "very cool phone" I decided to change my username for the email included with my plan. Wow, what a mistake that was. 

The website provided by the carrier provides a place to make changes so you can personalize your phone experience. Now, you might think that if they go to the trouble to provide this service they wouldn't mind if you used it, but no! I mean don't do it unless there is a reallly good reason for it because if you do, well, you are on your own, nobody at Sprint is going to be able to help you when it doesn't go the way it is supposed to and it won't. 

The next time I tried to use my picture sending service after making what appeared to be a successful change nothing happened. I was introduced to that wonderful world of obscure error messages where no one not even Sprint technicians, especially Sprint technicians know what they mean. C1s and T4s who knows? 

Seems that even though the site told me the change was accepted there was someone out there with that name and so when I tried to use the new name nothing happened. I immediately took the phone in to the Sprint Store and was told, "You changed your username, well, that is the problem. THAT'S THE PROBLEM? Call customer support and they will fix it." Isn't CHANGING YOUR USERNAME what they intend you to do when they provide an option to change it? Apparently not. 

The had no answers, they kept talking about "trouble tickets" Several times I suggested to tech support that we could just change the username back (wouldn't that solve the problem?). No they say, that would really screw things up. Just wait and the other techs, whoever they are, will get it fixed. 

Waiting, waiting, waiting.............. 

Anyway, finally three days later, three technicians later, three hours on the phone with those technicians later and three five to seven day trouble tickets later I got sick of dealing with them and fixed the problem myself. You know what fixed it? I changed the username back. Within thirty minutes it's working great. 

Now I wonder how many days it will take to get them to undo all their useless tech support and cancel those tickets? I just hope I can get back to them before they get to those tickets and screw it up again fixing it. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

RELIEF

First week of school went pretty well. Turns out the fears of old age really doesn't seem to be an issue. Everyone has been very nice and seems not really to notice. 
So, I think it will be okay and it will be fun. 
Very relieved. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

What Are You Doing for The Next Minute

Performed my "one-minute" doing in Acting class today. We were all supposed to pick something we do and perform this thing in front of the class as if we were alone and they were watching through a two way mirror. 

I chose Oreos. You know cookies, everybody has their own individual way to eat an Oreo right? Well, it seemed simple and so I thought "no problem, just sit on the floor and eat the cookie". It was okay, I went and sat on the floor, opened the package and proceeded to take the cookie apart, eat the white filling, etc. 

It was only one minute, sixty seconds. I was a nervous wreck by the time I finished. I was shaking by the end. Now it occurs to me that I'm going to have a pretty hard time with this acting thing if even cookie eating is a problem. So, I think I better spend some time on the internet trying to find suggestions to help with the stage fright problem I have or I could just do more rehearsal with the cookies. Then I would have other things to worry about instead of the stage fright, like being naked because I no longer fit into my clothes. 

COOL PHONES

aybe you'll remember last week when I was searching for a new cell phone and I thought I would stay with Verizon because Sprint was the worst service I had ever had. Well, I finally made a "cast in stone" (according to the contract I signed it is) decision to go with guess who......Sprint. I can't believe it but I am going to go with them again. 

Sprint has some great phones and some really good service plans and after much testing and returning of phones on my part I now have a new cell service. The phone I chose is very cool, it will do absolutely everything. For a gadget freak like me the more bells and whistles the better. This phone will even get a pretty good selection of live television stations if I choose to pay for them. 

This is it.  





When I say it will do everything it will. It will do all the normal phone things. It will take and send pics to email addresses, it will take and send video to them also. It of course has the calendar functions, plays games, very cool ringers, it's a speakerphone, yadda, yadda, yadda. IT IS COOL. 

So back to Sprint. It really seems to work better than it did before, I hope. 

The next step----the dreaded porting of the old cell phone number! Sprint, please don't make me regret this decision. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

So far school has been pretty good. Actually I am enjoying it which is good because I don't think I could have gone the whole time being as nervous as I was before it started. 

The only thing I am having any problem with at this point is that I have a specific time that I have to get up. Now I don't have to get up until 8:30 am, and I know what you are saying. "Wow, that's too bad, 8:30 huh?" Well, that doesn't sound bad until you know that most nights, even with some help from the doctor, I am still awake at 3:00 am. So to get up at 8:30 is early for me. But, even though I don't get much sleep I find that I am okay with that and am having a good time already. 

The first class of the morning is a Voice and Diction class. We have so far spent all of the class sessions laying on our back on the floor, learning how to relax and trying to become a puddle on the floor. This is not my idea of a stressful class to be attending, especially after missing a couple of hours of sleep. I know from the reading I have done that these relaxation exercises are designed to undo old habits that you have that may be keeping you from using your voice to your fullest potential and I believe there is a method to the madness. But as of yet, I am not a puddle, I think this may take me a while. I will keep trying. 

The Acting I class is interesting also. It too starts out with relaxation and exercises designed to loosen both your body and your inhibitions. Today we stretched, sighed; wiggled, stretched and sighed (all at the same time), walked around the room, touched like friends might, talked and hugged. Very interesting. I was surprised how easy it is to let go and make yourself look like a fool so long as everybody in the room is doing it. 

Tomorrow is my first Demostration Lab class. I am unsure but I think I just have a observe there. 

This is proving to be an interesting endeavor. I think I am going to like it. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

TESTING TESTING

Today I went to shop for a new cell phone. The phone I had was perfectly fine and worked great, but I really felt the need for a camera phone. 
I really didn't think I would want one of those. In fact, I distinctly remember tellling my sister that I had a good digital camera and that I didn't need a phone that took pics too. But, as I approach this new endeavor of school I all of a sudden feel the need to have a new gadget that will allow me to document this whole adventure. For what? For posterity I guess. For later when I decide "what was I thinking" or something. 
Anyway, so I went shopping for a phone. Around my place the choices are many, yet the choices are so few. I mean we have a lot of companies to choose from, but only a couple that actually work. I have been through a few of them, GTE, I think it's Cingular or something now, not too bad, but very early in the cell phone game so not many services to compare back then, the next one was AT&T, again not awful, then the infamous SPRINT, the worst by far. Now I am with Verizon and all in all I am pretty happy with them, so I decided to stay with them. Better the devil I know and all. 
The next decision was which phone. They only have two so the choice here was limited to say the least. I guess that guys in the store work by number of sales because although he tried to hide it the salesman was pretty happy when after we had sent pics to all the email addresses I knew (well not all) I made a decision. 
I chose to try the Audiovox 8900. They tell me I have 15 days so we'll see. I plan to give this new phone a good workout, so for the next 14 days I will be sending pics to everyone I know and probably some I don't. So watch out you could be next. 
At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

READY..........SET..........

Ok, so tonight I went to the new student orientation at the College where I am about to start classes. It was not too bad, although it could have been broken up into more applicable sections. They went through a lot of things that had absolutely nothing to do with me or my situation and it would have been good not to have sit through that stuff. 
The tour was good though and it made me realize that the first college I went to some eighteen years ago was not one of the most well equipped or upscale that is out there. This one on the other hand, well pretty snazzy. Seems they offer a service to cover just about any situation, up to and including all manner of free help to get your work corrected and edited before the instructor even sees it. I guess this is a good thing, but it did strike me that maybe they were making it just a bit too easy. Oh well, I guess in this day of "access" and "inclusion" that is what is expected. Just wish I had those advantages when I went so long ago. 
All in all, the orientation was informative and I must say I am a little more comfortable with my abilities to find my way around and such, but I still would like to have asked them one question.............. 
"So how old is the oldest "NON-TRADITIONAL" (that's what they call us old students now) student you have?" Is it me? 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

PHASES AND STAGES

Seems there have been a lot of phases and stages in my life. Many times I have set off on a path that I thought I either had to do or something that I thought I wanted to do, only to find out after trying it that it wasn't what I wanted. I've never been totally convinced that it wasn't what I wanted as much as not something I was good at. I need to be good at it. Most of the time I try things only to find that I suck at whatever it is. 
So, in my ongoing quest to "find myself" I am returning to school next week, to take acting classes. This new phase presents a particular challenge to me this time since I am neither sure that I can do what I have chosen nor am I sure I will even be comfortable in the classes as the "by far oldest" one in the class. I will most probably even be far older than the instructor. This freaks my out. 
I don't know why but I find I am scared of the kids. Now intellectually I know that is the stupidest thing I could be thinking, but emotionally I feel this need to fit in somehow. How do I fit in at this point and why do I feel like I have to? I definately won't be going with my gray roots since I have a hair appointment Friday and what about those new jeans, aren't they cut just a little younger that I was wearing them last year? I guess part of this will be to come to terms with my stage in life now. I'm trying to do that, it just isn't as simple as it sounds. I will go kicking and screaming into this new stage. At least I'm not making surgery appointments, it's crossed my mind though. 
In trying to live our life through all the varying "phases and stages", do we worry too much about the outside and not enough about the only part we can control---------the inside? 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

REALITY SETS IN

Being fifty and all Daisy decided that if she was ever going to stop the effects of the inevitable aging process the time was now. 
She had a definite fear of getting old and fifty had almost gotten to her. No matter how hard she tried to deny it she was still a grandmother and no matter how often she would sneak by the mirror averting her eyes as she went by so that she could pretend not to notice she continued to age. 
So deciding not to go lightly into that dark night known as old age she knew that she must do the unthinkable. She had to diet and exercise. 
The mere thought of it gave her pause. What would life be like trying to force herself to do those things she found so repulsive. Still this evil was not as bad as the evil of old age so gathering all her strength Daisy decided to go for it. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

BACK TO MY LIFE

The Florida grandkids left yesterday. The past week has been pretty unusual in terms of my life. After much anxiety about how it would go I am happy to report that it went good. 
The four, yes four little girls and five with the one here kept us very busy. We ice-skated, twice, rodeod (is that right?), shopped, went to the West End World Aquarium, visited relatives, shopped, and ate constantly. I never cooked the whole time they were here. 
Little girls are very sweet, but they do have lots of energy and I am glad today to get back to my life of quiet and solitude with just me and my hubby and dogs. The dogs are glad too, no more long long hours in the box. 
My back hurts! 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

FEEL GOOD AGAIN

Finally, the headache is finally gone. Had to go to the doctor and get one of those good old antibiotics. He said I probably had a sinus infection. Feeling much better now.. 
I spent the last few days reformatting one of my computers. What a pain in the ass!!!!!!! I know if I wouldn''t screw around with it so much that it wouldn't get so messed up, but I don't know I just have a compulsive need to keep adding stuff and eventually it gets it's little brains scrambled and needs to be reborn. The worst part is the back up. Does everybody but me keep their backups done on a regular basis, if they do they are better than I am. 
Wait, I have to go fix my dog's pillow. She's trying to sit in her spot and look out the window, but the pillows aren't right, so she is pretty much sitting on top of the couch. There that's better. 
Anyway, after a little time of panic over the fact that the backup didn't seem to be going to work, I figured out that it needed to be in the CD writer instead of the CD player and then everything was okay. Thank God, 4 gigabytes of documents. Hooray, it worked and the computer is working great. Great day! 

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MY HEAD HURTS

Got up this morning with a headache. Actually went to bed last night with a headache. I took everything in the house but with this particular pain nothing seems to help. Best I can tell it comes from drinking California wine. Strange most other wine making regions don't seem to give me a headache. But we have found a California wine that is really good, it's the Columbia Crest Cabernet, in fact it's on sale today and I am supposed to go and buy a case for my husband. Does that mean a case of headaches? 
Also started back on my workout yesterday so on top of the headache I have a bodyache, total bodyache. Why is it that this exercise thing that is supposed to be so healthy and good for you always make me feel worse? It makes it difficult to "get with the program" as Oprah says. Still I am convinced that I should do it so I plan to continue, at least for now. Today I will hobble through the routine again and maybe by tomorrow I will have to go shopping for a wheelchair since I am quite sure I won't even be able to get out of bed by then. 

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MAKE A CHEESECAKE

 made the best cheesecake for the Fourth of July gathering I had. It was a New York style cheesecake, very tall, and creamy but still quite substantial, cakey not custardy like so many recipes are. Actually I made two, the first one ended up in the trash. Seems my oven has brain damage and was much hotter than it should have been. But, the second one was excellent (used an oven thermometer this time) and the "Cherry Confit" sauce I made from fresh cherries was excellent also. If I do say so myself. I do. 

I also learned that you can not push cherry pits out of the cherry with a straw. That is just a vicious rumor. Try it sometime, you will see what I mean. There is no way that has ever worked for anyone. 

Anyway, I thought the cheesecake was so good I decided to post the recipe, so here it is: 

New York–Style Cheesecake 
makes one 9-inch cheesecake, serving 12 to 16 
For the crust, chocolate wafers Nabisco Famous can be substituted for graham crackers; you will need about 14 wafers. The flavor and texture of the cheesecake is best if the cake is allowed to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. When cutting the cake, have a pitcher of hot tap water nearby; dipping the blade of the knife into the water and wiping it clean with a kitchen towel after each cut helps make neat slices. 

graham cracker crust 
1 cup (4 ounces) graham cracker crumbs 
(8 whole crackers, broken into rough pieces 
and processed in food processor until 
uniformly fine) 
1 tablespoon sugar 
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus additional 1 tablespoon melted butter for greasing pan 

cheesecake filling 
21/2 pounds cream cheese, cut into rough 1-inch chunks and left to stand at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes 
1/8 teaspoon salt 
11/2 cups (101/2 ounces) sugar 
1/3 cup (21/2 ounces) sour cream 
2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
2 large egg yolks plus 6 large whole eggs 

1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar in medium bowl; add 5 tablespoons melted butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened. Brush bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan with most of remaining melted butter, making sure to leave enough butter to brush pan in step 3. Empty crumbs into springform pan and press evenly into pan bottom . Bake until fragrant and beginning to brown around edges, about 13 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling. 

2. For the cheesecake filling: Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese at medium-low speed to break up and soften slightly, about 1 minute. Scrape beater and bottom and sides of bowl well with rubber spatula; add salt and about half of sugar and beat at medium-low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; beat in remaining sugar until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla, and beat at low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add yolks and beat at medium-low speed until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add whole eggs two at a time, beating until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute, and scraping bowl between additions. 

3. Brush sides of springform pan with remaining melted butter. Set springform pan on rimmed baking sheet (to catch any spills if springform pan leaks). Pour filling into cooled crust and bake 10 minutes; without opening oven door, reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and continue to bake until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of cheesecake registers about 150 degrees, about 11/2 hours. Transfer cake to wire rack and run paring knife between cake and side of springform pan. Cool until barely warm, 21/2 to 3 hours. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours. (Cake can be refrigerated up to 4 days.) 

4. To unmold cheesecake, remove sides of pan. Slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide cake onto serving plate. Let cheesecake stand at room temperature about 30 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve. 

Happy Cheesecake! 

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FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS

I knew this would happen when I started this blogging. I was afraid that I wouldn't have anything to say, nothing to write about, my life is not all that interesting. 
I have been thinking a lot lately about "following your dreams", or my dreams as it were. Seems that isn't exactly what I did. Seems like I got by on my looks for a long time. Then I married (quite well I might add) and then got by on that. Now, as I get older I think I kind of have that regret thing. The thing is when I mention it to anyone the very first thing I hear is "It's never too late, you can still do anything you want to." Well, it is definately too late for some things. Guess I couldn't be a stripper at this point. No one would pay to see me stripping, not at this age. But that's ok because THAT'S NOT MY DREAM. By the way, I'm not "that" old and I actually look pretty good still, just you know I'm a little past the point of getting paid to take stuff off. 
When is it time to give up your dreams, and how do you know if it's time or if you are just procrastinating.............still? 

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NEDLEY'S SPORTS GRILL

Nedley's-I like Nedley's. It's a really casual Sports Bar and Restaurant. We go there at least once a week. The food is good. They have pretty much the typical "SportsBar" fare, but it is really good. 
One of my favorite items is the Fried Artichoke Hearts, can't tell you how many hearts I have eaten over the years. Their pizza is also one of my favorites. Heck, I didn't even eat pizza for years, but really have gotten to where we order it a lot. Our usual is the Super Deluxe, we split it. The best part is the crust. It is so so so thin that it is probably the crunchiest around. Always hot and lots of toppings with a crunchy crust. What more could you ask? 
So far as the entrees. Well, they have a very good selection of the usual like steaks, fish (some cooked on planks), gives it a smokey taste, etc. Lots of different sandwiches, soups, salads, Mexican food, and all. Never had anything I didn't like and would order all of them again. 
Ok, so you get the idea. It's a good restaurant, the atmosphere is casual and you need to hurry on over. 
Oh by the way, don't sit in the round booth on the right, that's my spot. 
Oh yeah, I am not a Restaurant Critic by trade, just by nature (I don't even play one on TV). I live in a city with more great restaurants than you can "shake a stick at", and I eat out at least eight to ten times a week so I've been in a lot of them and know what I like. It's just my opinion, OK? 
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SLEEPY

Sleepy, just been up for about half an hour. Don't have an awful lot to do today, just have to go meet the Termite man or person, I don't know it could be a woman, at the rent house. It's weird, when I go back over there I realize how lucky I am to have moved. It really feels like a run down area and sometimes even a little scary. I probably am not really as lucky as I am a snob. My husband says sometimes I can be a little bit of a snob. Could he be right? Nah, I'm just lucky. 
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BLUE MESA GRILL

Blue Mesa Grill 

Blue Mesa Grill - ate there last night. Somehow it just wasn't what I had expected. The decor is one of those that screams minimalism or maybe it just scream we didn't really want to spend very much on decorating so we went with the very least we could and called it North Dallas chic. The impression I got was like they pay more attention to trendiness than the quality of the food they serve. I mean what's up with those weird chips they bring to start with? More like-okay we have these left over potatoes and veggies so lets just "overfry-up" everything that we should be getting rid of, put it on the table and they'll eat it. Give it to Mikie, he'll eat anything!
We had the Sampler Platter on the Appetizer menu. Actually, it was very good. Included was Chicken Nachos, Carmelized Onion Quesadillas, and Chicken Taquitos, all three surrounded by an assortment of the usual condiments, ie. guacamole, sour cream, and an average and pretty bland pico.
By the way, they do have a pretty impressive menu of weird Margueritas. Most of which appear to be things concocted simply to appear again "trendy". The "House Special" Blue Marquerita that my husband had was blue but not particularly impressive. Drinkable, but not memorable.
But, the entree which we decided to split was the Bacon Wrapped Grilled Shrimp. It was served with refried black beans, rice and a pretty good mango salsa. The Shrimp was hot and cold. By that I mean some were very nicely hot, and some were almost stone cold. The rice was average and just warm. The steamed or grilled or whatever that was vegetables were limp and barely warm and the beans the same, just warm.
Service was good though and the prices were very reasonable. All in all Blue Mesa is to my mind a just average Southwestern Restaurant serving just average food, well maybe not quite average considering it sits in the middle of a city that is absolutely over-run with restaurants that are not average but outstanding.
We both agreed upon leaving that we would not go to the trouble of driving across town to eat there again, but if someone suggested it as a place to eat, we would not refuse to eat there.
My impression on this restaurant is three out of five Moonbeams.
Oh yeah, I am not a Restaurant Critic by trade, just by nature (I don't even play one on TV). I live in a city with more great restaurants than you can "shake a stick at", and I eat out at least eight to ten times a week so I've been in a lot of them and know what I like. It's just my opinion, OK?

*At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.