My Opinion Counts

There isn't anything that I am not enjoying about America Idol this season.  Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler have ended up, much to my amazement, being a huge asset to the show.  I am even tolerating Randy Jackson just a bit more than I have in past seasons.  Plus, I have a fondness for the watches that he wears.

The judges picked some mighty fine kids to compete.  So, in order of my desire for winning ...

Happy Easter

I used to say 'Hoppy Easter'.  That's like saying 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'.  I get the greeting across, but in the process I hopefully I don't offend anybody on either side of the Christian fence.

I am a 'Merry Christmas' kind of gal, so ...

Public Service Advice

The pollen level was all the way down to medium low yesterday.

However, it is going to go right back up to the medium high levels for today and Sunday.

I don't care, I was ready to take any relief God will toss my way.  Everything, I mean everything is covered with greenish yellow pollen.  Even Roxy.  The bad thing about that is that I don't think about it  until I roll around with her.  I realize what I have done when I see a puff of a green cloud come up from her.

Less Than Ten Days

My iPad mysteriously disappeared last month right about the time that Debbie left to go home.

One evening while she was here, we were talking about how to put Tetris, Bejewelled and Bookworm onto her iPod touch.  Randy and I tend to talk over each other and I could tell from the dazed look on Deb's face that she was quickly calculating how long she had before her plane left for Washington.  In order to convince her to stay, I showed her my iPad and gave her a bag of Cadbury eggs.  The next thing I know, she has an iron grip my both of them and I haven't seen the candy or the iPad since.  I should have frisked her before she left.

Not Your Momma's Banana Bread

I have good news and I have bad news.  The good news is that I have just re-learned a valuable lesson.  That lesson is to always double check the cards for my camera before I format them.  And it probably wouldn't hurt to refrain from downloading pictures on a wine night.

The bad news is that I had plenty of pictures for this blog that somehow never got themselves downloaded and have vanished into a digital picture abyss never to be seen again.  The only ones I have are the test pictures that I took in the beginning to check the lighting in the kitchen.  This is where I  work on downgrading my type 'A' personality to at least an 'A-' and fight the urge right now to run to the grocery store to get a couple of avocados to reenact this entire process.

The "but I'm tired and I don't wanna go to WalMart" side of me has just won the fight in my head.  In light of the fact that these pictures are not up to my usual high standards, there are a couple of things to remember.  1) I do not use quick-set epoxy in any of my recipes and B) my mise en place has not improved.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog.

I bought a couple of avocados last Saturday.  I took some pictures of them and then left them in the fruit bowl on the kitchen table.

The Lost Day

If it is possible, Roxy has become even more stubborn in the last couple of days.  Tuesday, she decided that she would go exploring up to the neighbor's house.  I tried every thing I could think of to get her to come to me.  I finally had to go to the Cynthia's house where Abby, our housekeeper, was working.  Roxy loves Abby and I knew that if Abby came out, Roxy would come running and Abby could grab her for me.  

Then I could take Roxy back to Russellville and trade her in on a less stubborn dog.

Maiden Voyage

Randy and I bought a pontoon boat towards the end of February.  It has taken us almost six weeks to get some water under it.  It just took time to make the time to get all the toys attached to it.  It took time to find the time to go to the lake.  Then when the time was right, the weather didn't cooperate.

The main thing that held us back was the wind.  Launching or de-launching a boat in the wind is not fun.  I remember years ago, camping at the Potholes with Randy's folks.  Of course, the wind always blows in Eastern Washington, but the day we left it was really windy.  So windy, that in order to get our boat on the trailer, Randy and I had to wade chest high in the water.  Since we were already wet, we helped a few other people who were in the same predicament.

What's Cookin' Wednesday

The pollen count is way high today.  This whole week, in fact.  The scale goes up to twelve and we are over eleven.  It is windy out, and that doesn't help at all.  Poor Randy is suffering more than I am.  That is because he uses pharmaceuticals.  I, on the other hand, use my sinus rinse and have ingested local honey to build up my resistance.

Either my allergies are getting a whole lot better, or my natural methods are working better than Randy's over-the-counter medicines.

Baxter Regional Medical Center

Why can't hospitals just be called hospitals?  Did someone do a study and find out that 'medical center' was much more pleasing to our ears than 'hospital'?  Here is an example of how old I am:  I still refer to Valley Medical Center as Valley General Hospital.

Look around town and see if you have a bowling alley.  Most of them are called 'Family Fun Centers' now.

Springness

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.  ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke