Kitchen Remodeling Update

Seriously, I question the people who built my house.

Cabinet doors were stained while hanging up.

The stipping goes slowly but surely. By the time I'm done with this kitchen project they'll have a job for me across the river

Flying Beer

Kudos go out to Amber for stopping in STL on her way home and picking up a selection of "beers that you can't find in MS". She had a few of us over to do some flight testing of said beers and enjoy a delishous pot roast. I don't know how she does it - but there is bacon in there - how could it NOT be good?

The beer lineup:

Ste Pete's English Ale

Young's Double Chocolate Stout

Melborne Bros. Apricot
Sam Smith's Tadcaster
Fisher Amber (from France)
St. Pete's IPA

In general the beers met with thumbs up, despite me being a girl. The St. Pete's Ale and IPA were ok (I"m not a big IPA fan). The Young's was good, but an after dinner, single beer kind of beer. The Melborne was waaaaaay sweet. Definitely for sipping in the summer while ice cold. The Fisher and Tadcaster were probably my favorites as far as plain old beers.

Aftwords we played this game caled quiddler that Amber's sister gave her for Christmas. It is sort of like gin with letters - you use the letters on the cards to spell words. We found out just how limited our vocabularies are and how poorly engineers and scientists spell! Fun Times!

Working away

I've got several doors down and cleaned... and the bottom cabinets are emptied. It is slow going. I am at the point of needing a 2nd can of stripping agent. Not a problem - I'm prepared, I have a can on hand. Problem: I can't get it open. Sometimes I hate being a girl.

While I wait I'm taking off the gorgeous wallpaper border. It is comming off surprisingly well! Yay!!

New toy

I played with my new toy today.

Goodbye Kitchen

Say goodbye to my kitchen.

farewell

au wiedersehen

au revoir

sayonara

Gorgreous finish and hardware - how could I give this up?

Expect periodic updates on Phase I of remodeling during the upcomming staycation.

Christmas, the finale!

Happy Boxing day to one and all! I hope Santa brought you lots and lots of goodies.

We celebrated Christmas up right in Vicksburg. Christmas eve mass was followed by falling asleep on the couch watching Love Actually (actually one of the better new Christmas movies).

On Christmas day I was awoken by a puppy wanting to let me know what day it was! About ten minutes later the phone rang, reminding me that I needed to get my butt out of bed - if everyone else had to be up - then so did I! We opened presents and I loaded up the fur family and we joined my friend Amanda and her family for a Christmas day extravaganza of watching the little one play with her princess palace, oogling the infant, and chilling out together. My puppies also enjoyed getting to play with the Young's greyhounds. Unfortunately, we have issues and getting 4 dogs to sit in one area for a group portrait is as likely as an avalanche in MS.

I want to thank everyone who invited me to spend Christmas with them - I treasure your kindness! Big thanks to my family and friends for all of their wonderful gifts.

Happy Christmas Eve

The packages have all arrived.

Presents are wrapped with care.

And I continue to battle with my bouts of domesticy.

Thus, I bring you, Christmas Cookies in the Kitchen.

I think I enjoy baking a little more than is good for me.

Tonight we'll be enjoying midnight mass at 8 PM (lol) and a traditional snack dinner Jersey-style (toasted raviolis) and the official opening of the first present (new pj's for opening gifts on Christmas morn)!

A new puppy friend

Our friend Marie brought her pupy, Morgan, over to play this weekend. This was their first play date. It was a little rough at first - Madison was less than nice. She just wanted to get to playing and skip over the formalities. Eventually they had it out and the never-ending game of chase and jump on the people started. Meanwhile Daisy just followed them around... keeping herself out of things as the older, more mature dog.

Check out the ladies anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new friend.

Christmas Baking Part I

Tried a new type of Christmas Baking - puppy treats. We made peanut butter and cheese treats. Each dog got a sample of each. Approval ratings were high. They want more. They must wait until santa fills their stockigns for more :-)

You know it was hard core baking since I aproned up!

Tree Time

Finally. I know you have been waiting for ages... Friday night we got down with putting the tree up and putting a few things on it. Check it out. I got lazy. No ornaments. Just lights and ribbons. It works better this year since we have issues wtih the dogs enjoying using the tree as a scratching post.

Trans Siberian Orchestra

I'm not sure why they are Trans Siberian.. but they are cool. Wednesday night I wound up getting invited to join my friends Alissa and J.R., Alissa's mom, and their friends Rae, Riley, and Jennifer for the TSO show in Jackson. Mucho Gracias go out to Team Armstrong for hooking me up with a ticket. We were in Row 4! I could feel the heat from the stage! And I could see the icky long haired guitar man mouthing the words 'you are so fine' and 'you are sexy' at the middle aged women all around us. Fabulous. Yes, I know now what former hair band members are doing to make ends meet...

My babies are growing up?

Say it ain't so! This morning I was taking the trash out to the street. I hadn't quite closed the door from the kitchen to the garage all the way. Oops. Two puppies pawed it open and bounded out into the garage. Heart Attack. But instead of running they just circled me. Within 45 seconds disaster was averted and I had shooed them inside. Maybe the really are growing up. Or maybe it is just so gross and wet outside they don't want to be out there any more than I do at that time of day.

It's getting hot in here

It is icky and gross. The rain keeps coming and the sky is grey. I made up for it with the first fire of the year. mmmm.

Turducken, more Christmas fun

Saturday night was Turducken part III. For those who aren't aware it is a southern 'delicacy' in which a turkey is stuffed with a duck is stuffed with a chicken. lots of stuffing and dresing is involved too! It is amazing! This was the third year that Sandy and Jeff did the Turducken thing. All of the food was amazing, not just the main course. Major kudos go out to ALL involved, especially Sandy, Jeff, Rob, and Todd for the amazing main course. Thanks to Rob and Todd for providing us with a great location at the lobby. Check out Sandy's blog for some more details regarding the history of the event and the birds themelves.


I brought Neely mac and cheese. It was amazing. Cheese, Potato chips, and Bacon. How can you go wrong? The pan was empty by the middle of the night. Luckily, I made a second, small pan or myself :-) Here are the directions, although I don't actually measure things :-)

6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk, warm
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dash hot sauce
Dash Worcestershire sauce
3 cups shredded Cheddar
1 pound cavatappi pasta, cooked al dente
1 cup crushed potato chips
5 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, for topping

1. Heat oven to 350 to 375 degrees F.
2. Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a large saucepot over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk in the warmed milk and bring to a boil, continue to whisk constantly. The mixture will thicken as the heat increases. Continue to stir while adding the dry mustard, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, pepper, hot sauce and Worcestershire. Stir in the 3 cups of Cheddar until it melts.
3. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and add to a 3 quart casserole dish.
4. Sprinkle the chips, bacon and Parmesan on top and bake for 35 minutes.

Happy Birthday Tom

Friday night we celebrated Tom's birthday courtesy of Katherine, Lauchline, and Olivia! It was great to get to see Tom. I'm glad that he made it successfully through the first semester at TAMU. I know it isn't exactly easy. Check out his cake. The force was with us.

Work meets Christmas

We had our Christmas luncheon at work. Gotta love APB. We know how to do it up right. All of the food was great, and the fried turkeys were devine. I love the fact that we fry turkeys. I had never had one like that until moving down south. I definitely reccomend it. My contribution to lunch was a simple fall salad - spring mix with pecans, dried cranberries, apples, and apricots. Yum.

The gag gift exchange is one of the best parts of the holiday festivities. We pull names and do a little gift. I pulled my friend Mariely. She is the newest of the engineers, and quite fun. She also works on the 1st floor while the rest of us girls are on the 3rd floor. I gave her a 'girls guide to surviving the 1st floor' - including a rhinestone cup hotline to the 3rd floor, chocolate and tissues, a hunting vest and 'doe in rut' so she can fit in with the boys, and a stick to beat some sense into their heads.

There were lots of other gifts! Griffin pulled my name. He gave me a DVD for me to learn from to help me acclimate to the south a little more - "Girls Gone Grabbing" - it isn't dirty like it sounds. It is girls going hand grabbing for catfish. Some people would be upset - I found it hilarous!!!

It was great to see the latest crop of APB babies as well as our friend Webb. A fun time was had by all - and not a single gift was mean spirited!

Bookin it Baby

I've been trying to keep up with the literary side of things lately. Here is a quick update on the reads over the last few weeks.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Book People read this one for November. Let me tell you, Erin did an AWESOME job when she picked it! It was a departure from our last book. She desribed it as a fantasy book. It was so much more! An adult fairy tale of sorts.

It was the story of Tristan, a half faerie, and his quest to bring back a shooting star for the love of his life. But the shooting star is a real person, a girl who is full of spunk and attitude. I really enjoyed the book. It was adoreable and full of morals if you choose to analyze it. If you choose not to, it is still a book worth reading. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

My good friend Amanda is a huge Terry Pratchett fan, so she has suggested that I give it a try. I am loving it!!!

This story involved the antichrist. He was born at a hospital run by a bunch of satanic nuns. They accidentally mixed up the babies, and he wound up in the wrong family. Instead of a horrible upbringing he wound up in a caring family who raised him right. He had the capabilities.. but when the time comes, can he really do it? He names his Hellhound Dog and wants him to run and play in the yard. By the way, the horsemen are hell's angels. It was great!

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet

My other book club recently read the Uncommon Reader. It is the story of how the good Queen across the pond becomes a reader! Her corgis escape and get into the traveling library parked around the corner. She feels bad and picks up a book. Hilarity ensues around the palace as she becomes more interested in books than matters of state. I didn't really like this book at first, but upon giving it in time I enjoyed it a bit.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers

It is written for tweens. I don't care. I liked it anyways. So did lots of other 20 and 30 somthings. Go ahead and make fun of me, see if I care! Really, I did enjoy reading about Bella and Edward and the posse. Who doesn't want to date an old fashioned vampire who knows how to treat a woman right?

New Moon by Stephenie Meyers

Yup, I read the Twilight sequel. Not AS good, but I still liked it. I still like Edward more than Jacob. I look forward to reading the next two books! It does make me happy to be out of the teen angst phase of my life. I don't think I miss high school very much.

Night of the the Triple Roast Beastie

Last night we had another meeting of the Vicksburg Supper Club! We met up at Andy's house for a meat-filled evening. Andy brought his A game to the table, giving us roast duck, a stuffed pork roast, a beef tenderloin, and a bit of the vino. Absolutely fabulous! The posse brought sides and deserts - not a bad plate in the house! I need to put a shout out for Amber's white bean, rosemary, and bacon soup - I WILL be making that this winter! The bar has been set way too high. I don't want to think about how high it will be by my turn in March. Here are a couple of pics.

Celebrating Christmas, Part II

Warning: Not G Rated: We moved from balls to nuts. Tee hee.

The weekend concluded with a Sunday afternoon to Jackson. Christina and Andy joined me for a matinee showing of the Nutcracker at Thalia Mara Hall. I hadn't been to see the nutcracker since I was in Jr High! It was cute to say the least. I loved watching all the really little kids dressed as mice and lambs. They had about as much trouble dancing as I would have. The leads were amazing - I don't know how they do it. I'm certainly not that coordinated.

We concluded our day on the town with an early dinner at Keifers! Yum! If you haven't been there, I highly suggest stopping by. I never get past the hummus and gyros. One day I'll be adventurous, but they are so good I don't want to skip out on them.

Christmas Celebrating Part I

This weekend was the beginning of the Christmas party season. Saturday night was the Vicksburg Christmas Parade. Our good friend Sandy had a party at her loft! The theme was "Deck the Balls". All of the food was supposed to be ball themed. Drinks for the night included Cosmo-ball-itans and Bocci Balls. Both were quite yummy! The Cosmo-balls were liquor soaked watermelon. Yummy.

Food of the ball form included bourbon balls, apricot balls, lots of meatballs, falafel balls, spinach balls, sweet potato balls, and tons of chocolate, peanut butter, and cheese balls.

The parade was fun of all sorts, the food was delicious, and the crowd was amazing! Here are some pics.

Check out the goodies. Food galore. That wasn't even all the balls!

An Angel drinks her Cosmo-ball-itan on the balcony

One of the larger floats in town

Check out the dance squad! Our parade has pretty much everything!

These people know what a float should include - a bar!!

The Man of the hour

What a crowd!!!

Bithday Pictures

Here are some pictures I promised from the Birthday and Supper Club combo!

Thanks-day aka Birth-giving

After a fun thanksgiving with the Youngs and the Weeks, I enjoyed the rest of the weekend.

On Friday I took the morning off to bond with the puppies. We had some quality snooze time together. Then, Erin called to wish me a happy birthday and to see about a birthday date. We got in touch with our inner 16 year old selves and headed to the new Vicksburg movie theatre for a mid-afternoon showing of Twighlight. Oh Edward, seriously you are hot. And, who wouldn't want a vampire for a boyfriend, except the whole blood sucking thing? Later that night Erin, Jeff, Christina, Al, Heather, and Kristin all joined me at the Sports bar for a couple of drinks! Many thanks guys it was really fun! A sign of aging - you go to the bar nice and early so you can have your fun time out, actually hear one anotehr, and then you can leave when it gets crowded and loud. Seriously, not exactly birthday celebration material - but exactly the way I like it.

Saturday I joined the Youngs on their annual treck to the Curry Christmas Tree farm in Start, LA. Check out the local fire department! We wandered around the farm looking a all sorts of trees. About the time they picked theirs out I decided that I should ge mine while I was there, too. After all, I had never been to a real Christmas Tree farm! The really cool thing was that you went and picked out your tree... then they came and 'fell your tree' for you - no need to bring your chainsaw. Eventually, when we made it back to Delhi we realized that my tree was NOT going to fit into the back of my car. I swear, somehow I got my big tree in there last year. I'm not sure what happened there. I wound up borrowing Stephen's truck for the weekend to drive my tree home. Amanda and I traded car for truck on Monday at work. The tree is awesome looking, although I haven't acutally decorated it yet. Certain puppies seem to be interested in sniffing it. Every so often I see a look in their eyes as they contemplate muching.

Finally, Sunday night was a meeting of the Vicksburg Supper club. Kristin put out a fine spread of cajun/creole food. It was totally yummy! We had red beans and rice, griallards, and bread pudding. There may have been hurricanes involved too. She topped of the night with cake and candles for me!!!! I'll post those pictures sooner or later! A fun time was had by all.

Gobble Gobble Gobble.

Happy Thanksgiving, albeit a day late! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and were able to enjoy a day of relaxation.

I spent the day with my friends Amanda and Stephen Young and their family. I met them at their house early Thursday morning and we headed over to Stephen's family's Thanksgiving. I have to give them major kudos, Their family welcomed me with open arms. I couldn't have felt like a tag a long if I had tried. It was great to finally get to meet the people who I had heard so many great things about and to see the ones I had previously met once again. It was quite the crowd, as you can see below!

After comming home I wound up stopping by my friend Laura's place. She and her husband have a Thanksgiving Wine Down tradition that they started last year. They invite folks over for a drink and dessert to wind down after the big day. It was great to spend an hour with them and meet some new folks. It is amazing how close knit our community is and how there are 2 degrees of seperation here!

I got to end my day with some more relaxation - this time on the couch with my furry children. They were very thankful to get lots of love an attention.

I'm very thankful for all of my family - biological and adoped! Thank you all for being an important part of my life. If you have something you are thankful this year, feel fee to share in the comments.

Birthdays, Birthdays and more Birthdays

I've been a bad blogger lately, so I'm trying to catch up. It is only because I've been so darn busy though :-)

Sunday was my Matthew Baby Bunny Rabit's birthday. Matthew baby buny rabit is my baby brother, who isn't so baby anymore. He has officially hit the quarter century mark. One of these days I'm going to have to stop calling him baby bunny rabit. Actually, the story behind that one is that when he was little Matthew had a stuffed rabbit. He named it Matthew Baby Bunny Rabbit. Thinking of Matthew always makes me think of this story, so that is his pet name. Matthew also cracks me up because he has told me that he doesn't look down on his furry nieces with quiet as much love as they look up to him with. I beleive his words were 'i prefer pets that live in tanks'. Well Matt, the ladies send you a big kiss anyways. Can your imaginary gecko do that? More importantly, would you want the gecko to do that?

Last monday we celebrated my new friend Amber's birthday. As a fellow late NOvember birthday girl, she understands my pain. This year she threw herself a pary since last year she was stuck driving home from Thanksgiving on her birthday. I recently met Amber through our supper club - she hosted the most awesome Oktoberfest! Amber is an amazing cook, not only was the Oktoberfest good, but she made one heck of a posole and salad for her birthday party. The cakes, well, I won't say anything other than Oh Mah Gawd, Amaaaazing. They really were fabulous. Plus, we had a pinata. It was so fun!! The pinata was slightly overdesigned and we cracked a broom handle in half breaking it, but it was darn fun! Kudo to Amber on a fabulous party. I hope she enjoyed her birthday!

Wednesday was my mom's birthday. Unfortuantely she spent way to much of her birthday working way to much. Such are the pitfalls of working in retail. I think mom just took advantage of getting the day after her birthday off courtesty of Turkey Time. Mom has been doing some great work domestically lately too. In the last year and a half she has come to understand my love of the domestic art of cooking as she has started getting into her own culinary exploits! I'm quite proud of some of her endeavors. For thanksgiving she tried Butternut squash souffle. Who would have though?

Happy birthday to one and all. It certainly is a crazy time of year!

Note: The picture of Matthew is at the Lego store with a Lego R2D2 in October. Mom and dad are pictured at the renewal of their vows after their 30th anniversary.