The Family News

For Real

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:09:41 GMT

Pete shaved his hair. Unfortunately there are no pictures of the aftermath. Super unfortunately there are no pictures of the duringmath when he begged me to finish shaving the parts he couldn't reach. Fortunately he looks cute bald.

In completely unrelated news, most Christmas presents are ready for CHRISTmas.

Good Day!

Thanksgiving Day War Booty

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:14:57 GMT

Thanksgiving isn't so much about the food, the family, or the giving of thanks so much as it is the stealing of delicious war booty:

4 gravy, stuffing, turkey sandwiches

1 jar of grape jam

1 pack of pork chops

1 pack of venison tenderloin

1 pack of venison steaks

2 packs of tomato sauce

so far...

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:06:31 GMT

...the menu for national eating day is:

two succulent turkeys
stuffing
smashed taters
gravy
creamed miniature cabbages (aka brussel sprouts)
cugliari corn
garlic bread
cranberry relish ala nuwanda

appetizers:

olives
jarlsberg cheese spread
shrimp and cocktail sauce
crackers
salsa and chips

dessert:

two pumpkin pies
whipped cream

i feel like i am forgetting something...if you can think of it let me know. as always, you are welcome to make any additions.

(i have a ton of cream cheese for a cream cheese cake, and a graham cracker shell if i can talk somebody into it *coughstefcough^)

guess

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:03:02 GMT

so, when confronted with the promise of 27 hours of no responsibilities, guess which activity DM chose:
(choose only one)

cutting wood
kayaking
kayaking and camping
bowhunting
driving 5 hours with his spouse to leamington canada, eating a fantastic fish dinner, sleeping in a hotel with a spectacular pool, waking up the next morning and walking on a beautiful vacant beach, shopping at canadian tire, spending a pile of money at a roadside fruit stand/international market, eating purse sausage, and driving 5 hours back home

(if you have never had purse sausage, you should try it)

advice

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:44:31 GMT

so, if you have a cold and you find yourself sitting on the potty, please remember this as you reach for the white cloud, blow first, wipe second.

ponderings...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:07:23 GMT

...so, here's what i am wondering:
why do we pass the peas (plural), the carrots (plural), and the potatoes (plural), at the dinner table, but if we pass the corn it is singular? even if i have fifteen ears of corn, it is still corn, if i have a giant bowl of buttered corn, it is still "pass the corn, please"... but, but, but, i see people who have corns on their feet? why is that plural? it just doesn't make any sense to me is what i am saying.

(i am taking sudafed for my cold, if you were wondering)

damage control

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:35:30 GMT

so, who would have thought that cooking a turkey, and making grape jam, at the same time, would make such a mess of the kitchen? or that accidentally spilling five cups of sugar on the floor would would spread all over the place, or that said sugar would get all sticky/icky from water getting on it. many, many, many pans and bowls are required when making jam, btw.

(fresh warm grape jam is very yummy my friends, i was forced to eat a third of a jar that wasn't full)

luckily, DM has gone on a road trip to pick-up another new kayak.

yikes! DM is in columbus already.

don't tell daddy!

32

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:16:52 GMT

so, a blast was had in toronto...

fun things:

massage at the elmwood spa- best massage ever
yonge street- have i mentioned how much i love yonge street?
eaton centre mall- DM out-shopped me, can you believe it?
yummy napoleons- strawberries, whipped cream, phyllo dough, heaven.
queens court pagent in the hotel (as in drag queens, darlings)
countdown to liquor day- whoop!
we all love michael moore
hotel whirlpool all to myself
the best hotel shampoo ever- bath and bodyworks energize
giving money to bums
purchase of grapes to make jelly with
award winning chilli- super yummy
DM liked toronto

canadian thanksgiving was a bit of a let down, i am sad to say, everything was closed for the holiday...

... i am thawing out a turkey, right now, to make up for the missed holiday meal.

i returned with $260 canadian. i do not know how that happened. this means a return trip is being planned... maybe somewhere in canada that is not toronto, for a change.

(we passed 32 tim hortons on the way)

at DM's request...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:38:44 GMT

... DM wanted you kids to see his spiffy new yaks, but lacks the skill set to post them himself, (or he is just to damn lazy to do it) , (take your pick),



                                           introducing the new pescador- above
                                          and the new pungo- below
                                           (except the new pungo will be sand colored)



                      yipee! who wants to yak?

we all love this boat

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:41:15 GMT

so, somebody, (coughDMcough), bought two, count 'em, two, new kayaks this week.... a pungo and a sit-on... (and he has another new one coming to replace the heritage one that cracked)...

...this maybe some new kind of mid-life crisis coping thing going on, just saying...

labor day 2009

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:44:54 GMT

so, started out the morning by cleaning up my bedroom and bathroom.... the floor got vacuumed, and the floor got mopped, and the bed was made...

DM and i made plans to cleaning for two, count 'em, two more hours and then take out the yaks, and then work with the horses...

so, next stop was the living room, picking up toys, vacuuming, it was a real mess ....

then i went upstairs to clean up, vacuum, and generally tidied the place up.... i also got DM to fix the screen, and hang a shelf...

the laundry was folded, there was a huge pile of that, DM mopped the bathroom...

i got DM to hang up some stuff in the living room...

then DM was tuckered out and needed a short nap while an excellent pot of collard greens were cooked...

and eaten...

then we needed a trip to k-mart for a canning pot so i could brandy those pears, but first we stopped at the garage to see if my canning pot was out there- it wasn't...

we purchased the $50 pot.... we took it home, then noticed the label said, "not for use on glass cooktops".... so, it had to go back, and the $80 one had to be purchased, fuck....

then it was time to sterilize the jars, peel the pears, pack the jars and all that jazz...

we ran out of brandy, the last five jars have rum instead, i also did two jars of peaches, the last batch just went in the canner...

the kitchen is still a mess and it is 9pm....

i am pretty sure that i hate labor day.

gastronomic fun

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:56:45 GMT

so, i made paula dean's recipe for pinto beans.( i used ham hocks and spices, i tried real hard....) actually, it was a very easy recipe, also, it was yummy. (also cheap, a pound of beans are only .69)

the fun part about it came this morning, following the conclusion of gastric motility, i uttered that line from the dead man movie, using the same inflection and accent ,of course: "these beans is shit."

i guarantee, if you try this, it will make you smile .

why, why, why?

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:21:03 GMT

so, having been inspired by the movie julie and julia, a trip out to the garden where a plethora of peppers and tomatoes were picked, and armed with alton brown's salsa recipe, i finally attempted making homemade salsa.... yummy.

while newman's does make excellent salsa, i have to say for the record that fresh real salsa hits it right out of the park.

so, why did it take so long for me to try making it?

i am making paula dean's pinto bean recipe right now.

there is a slight chance that i might be a "foodie".

bobbers anonymous

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:29:32 GMT

so, i have been told by a somewhat reliable source (DM), that collecting bobbers is compulsive and an addiction. i am out of control, and my life has become unmanageable. fishing, however, is okay, and not compulsive or addicting.

i remain in denial.

get it right

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:14:22 GMT

so, DM and i did some yakking this morning- the clear fork reservoir and we went up the clear fork river.... until i couldn't get any farther because of the silt.

i just want to state for the record that i have seen clearer lakes.... ohio power lakes, for instance, are a hell of a lot clearer than the falsely named clear fork.

i think rivers and lakes should be required to be named for what they really are. the clear fork, if it was properly named would be called "the somewhat clear full of giant carp fork lake". (they could leave the fork part because while i was hunting bobbers, i did find a silver plated fork)

so far...

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:38:05 GMT

so, the plans so far are:

cincinatti zoo on that friday
staying over night with babies friday night-( we'll get a hotel, so, no house straightening is required) (this is vacation time, remember?)
saturday, trader's world and indian food
saturday evening fireworks (where? to be decided) (could end up down there another night?)
sunday, lake kayaking and SUSHIFEST
monday- head down a river with nuwanda as pick-up driver
camping and yakking

that's the story so far kids, and nothing is written in ink, so, jump in with ideas, please.

about that

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:00:33 GMT

rivers up for consideration so far are: st marys' river, mad river, and the black fork of the mohican...

to be considered, a river must be rapid free, and have camping access.

feel free to add a river to the list.

ha!

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:35:30 GMT

so, i been doing some research for our up coming yak trip, looking into various ohio rivers that would make a nice trip with camping. just out of curiosity i was reading about the cuyahoga river, 'cause i grew up across the street from it.... guess what i came across? go ahead, guess....

...many references to "grassman", ohio's version of bigfoot.... you can check it out here or this spot , or even this. anyway it seems there have been many sightings around the cuyahoga river of a bigfootlike creature for those of you too lazy to click on the links.

it seems some of you kids would like to know just what is planned for the up coming vacation days.... let me tell you, we are in the serious planning stages, with much in the way of serious planning taking place.

here are some of the things being planned, input and additional plans are very welcome:

cincinatti zoo- nuwanda wants to go
traders world- i want to go
fireworks, fireworks, fireworks!!!
river trip with overnight camping, w/o babies
more camping and yakking (babies included)
BIG SUSHIFEST at mtv's yummy new sushi place
indian food, possibly down oxford way
more will be revealed... (but that is all i have so far)

please, please, please, let me know if you have any great ideas!

Proof!

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:59:26 GMT

So, I was reviewing past posts on this blog and started playing the furry cheetah video I posted. Remember the one? She just wants to live in a home and drink wine. I clicked play and had a grand time giggling with Pete at the silly furry. At the end of the video I noticed that the chair she was sitting in looked surprisingly familiar.

So, my this is just further proof that Steph is a furry and posting silly videos of her furry self on youtube.

Lily Ann and Mr. Pete

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:43:37 GMT

are currently watching Video Catnip.