Summer Preview

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone....and I'm a bigger person because of it.

About 5 lbs bigger is my unofficial guess. (And it will stay unofficial since I'm not getting near any scales until I have several days of exercise under my ever-expanding belt.)

My husband outdid himself with the barbecuing this year - ribs, chicken, corn on the cob - plus, pasta salad, baked beans, garlic bread (brought by guest Shelley), brownies and ice cream (brought by guests Cannella family).

I'm trying to remember what my contribution to the party was this year.....Hmmm.... I think I made the lemonade. No..that was Mary-Faith. I know for sure I bought the plates and napkins - and I think I cut up the limes for the water. No...that was Molly.

Oh, I know! I did the hard job of figuring out who to invite. And I even called (most of) them. And I also gave the orders regarding house, yard, and pool preparation. Whew! For a minute there I was feeling a little superfluous, like I wasn't really needed.

I don't think I ever told ya'll I got a new camera. Isn't that just like me? (that's rhetorical...just in case it doesn't go over like that in BlogVille...) I've bellyached in dozens of posts about my inferior camera...then I get a new one and it doesn't warrant even a Blog Sentence. Geesh! What are you going to do with me?! (more rhetorical bantering..)

I love my new camera (Canon D40...with the extra lens that makes the background fuzzy...as soon as I learn how to use it), but it does have one little problem. (And you know how I hate to complain..) My camera doesn't do a good job of reminding me to use it. Because of that one little design flaw I keep missing moments that would have been great photo opps.

But I did take some pictures today. Even though it was after all the guests had left and it was just 'us'. And I have no pictures of the great food we ate.

(And the kids rescued a baby flying squirrel from a ruthless, mean, grey furry cat named Lafayette, who just happens to live with us - And I was going to take a picture of it...But it died before I remembered. Stupid Camera!)

Here are Molly and Daniel doing a little post-party relaxing. Bo and I went to an estate sale Saturday morning and he bought this "antique" float for $2. I had my eye on a gorgeous white, wrought iron kitchen table - but we went with the float.

And this is Winston, working off a little post-party adrenaline. In praise of my new camera - I could've never gotten a shot like this with my old one.

And here's the Cook himself, who looks like he's either plumb tired out from all that rib-grilling.....Or maybe he's been hittin' the sauce. (Plus the "antique" pool chaise looks a little smallish for him. Maybe men weren't quite so big back in the (19)80's.)

And lastly, here's Daniel taking a rest from....er....let's see.....Giggling! That's it! He was the official Memorial Day Giggler and he did a bang up job if I must say so myself. One of the families we invited over has three of the most adorable girls you've ever seen (and could've seen... If the camera would've been a tad more reliable!). Alot of Daniel's time was spent following those girls around saying funny, witty things - and then giggling at himself. The girls pretended it was "annoying", but Daniel and I know there's nothing more attractive to a 4-8 year old girl that a giggly boy in a Hawaiian bathing suit!

This next picture has nothing to do with Memorial Day -but it does have something to do with proving that I'm not totally inept in the kitchen. Friday night I made this amazing meal of chicken cutlets, marinated then cooked with red onion and topped with swiss cheese. I served it with couscous and a side of tropical salsa made of papaya, mango, pineapple, avacado, and green pepper jelly. I had this meal one time at Lea's (it was my payment for rearranging her living room furniture..) and it was to-die-for.

Thing is....My family does not have very discriminating taste buds. I shouldnt have told them about the green pepper jelly in the salsa... they all kind of picked at it. However, they did scarf down the Red Lobster biscuits that Bo made (probably knowing ahead of time the kids would not like the part of the meal that "I" had slaved over, going to three stores to try to find tri-color couscous. And I doubt if it helped my cause when Our Usual Chef mentioned that he thought couscous tasted like sawdust but with less flavor.

Here's visual proof of why I'm not wasting my pepper jelly and tropical salsa on these tastebuds anymore.....

tomorrow is the last day of school for us. the big question for me is: will i have more or less time to blog? I do know I'll have more Blogging Material, aka things my kids do and say.

stay tuned.

Hi, My name is Debbie and I post here sometimes

I felt like it would be good to do a little Bloggy Intro Refresher since I've been on (yet another) sabbatical. But, this time I have a really good excuse.

I'm serious.

I could even provide a Dr's note if you want proof.

Oh, I get it. Those of you with a bent towards skepticism would like to see a picture of what's been keeping me off the Internet Superhighway, huh? Well, looky here:



I had a much gorier, more offensive, closer upper picture but I accidentally deleted it. So you queasy-stomach readers (which includes me) lucked out. In the other one you could even count the staples. Very Gross.

What? You think this is some anonymous knee I downloaded from some surgical website? You don't think it looks like MY knee? (...which would surprise me, since most of you have never seen my knees...)

Shoot. You are just too clever for me. What gave it away? The puffiness or the hairy-ness?

Or maybe it was that masculine looking toe? If you've been reading my blog for very long (or if you're fortunate enough to know me in person), you may be aware that if I had even one brain cell left in my hospitalized body, I would use it to communicate this important message:

NO PICTURES ALLOWED

I don't even like visitors when I'm in the hospital, much less cameras. I get serious Bedhead. Plus my face just kind of fades away without mascara and lipstick.


Anyway, back to my Excused Blog Absence. The knee pictured above belongs to my husband. Well, actually it's not his knee at all. (I don't even want to think about what they did with his real knee!) He is now the owner of a new, improved (bionic) knee.

My athletic, hunky husband (AHH) has had several knee surgeries in the past, due to a college football injury. He's always breezed through the surgeries, astounding the Drs and reminding me of why I married him. (fortitude, guts,... and a great body.)

But this knee replacement surgery has thrown us all for a loop. He made it through the operation and hospital stay fine, but the 10 days in rehab has been hard on me...I mean, him (oops!). He's had mucho swelling and erraticly effective pain meds. And his roommate is a streaker (no joke.)

Plus, I don't really care for the whole Single Mom, Sole Cook, Sleeping Alone thing. And I miss him helping me with the driving. Heck, I just miss him period.

Once he's home I think the recovery will go much smoother. I mean, it's so quiet here (between 8 and 3), and so peaceful (except when the kids are practicing their brass instruments, or playing piano, or screaming on the trampoline.) And the food is better here, too (or at least it will be when he starts cooking again.) And he won't have to push a button and wait forever to get his medicine (he can just hobble on over to the cabinet and get it himself.)

Other than the whole metal detector problem when we travel, I think I'm going to like having a husband who can run, jump, and leap tall buildings again.

I hope to blog a couple times a week from here on out - or whenever I durn well feel like it. And here's a pretty picture of my new teapot (a girl's got to do something to take her mind off her ailing husband!) to make up for the stapled knee pictured earlier.