It is certainly no secret how much I love Summer.

I love the bright blue sky on a sunny summer day.

I love the beach during the summer! I could sit out there forever in the warm sunshine just staring at the water and listening to the waves crashing. It’s when I’m at my most peaceful state.

I love the pool during the summer! I DO sit out there forever some days. There’s just something about the sun and the water that soothes whatever stresses my soul.

But there’s one more thing you may not know that I love about Summer. . . and that’s fresh corn! Aaaahhh! Lovely sweet ears of fresh corn. I all but melt when I think of my mama’s fresh creamed corn. It’s blissful, to put it simply!!! And even though I make it myself now, I still refer to it as “my mama’s” fresh creamed corn. It’s one of my most favorite things about Summer.

It’s not really a recipe persay. It’s just one of those things that you get a feel for. That’s pretty much the way my mama cooks everything. Don’t let that intimidate you though. It’s really super easy to make. Here’s all you need.

CREAMED CORN

Corn
2 Tbl Butter (or bacon grease if you have it)
1 Tbl flour
Salt and Pepper
Water

Shuck the corn and pull out all the silkies. In a large deep bowl, cut the corn off the cob. But don’t cut all the way down to the cob. Only cut off about half of the kernels. The rest is scraped off the cob with the back of your knife. THAT’S the creamy, milky, delicious part. When all the cobs are scraped clean, sprinkle about a tablespoon of flour over the corn and stir together. This thickens up the creamy goodness.

Now if you have bacon grease, it doesn’t get any better. But if you don’t, butter will do just fine. Melt a couple of tablespoons of your grease/butter in a skillet. Add your corn. Stir in about a half cup of water. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook over medium/low heat for about 20 minutes stirring frequently. If it starts getting TOO thick, just add a little more water. You can always add water, but it’s tougher to take it out if you put too much in in the beginning. Just keep it at a creamy consistency.

It’s a long 20 minutes while it cooks. I’m not above sneaking a teaspoon full here and there while it’s cooking. That’s just how anxious I get when I’m anywhere near this stuff. Trust me. This creamed corn is better than just about anything I’ve ever eaten in my life. Such a simple pleasure in life.

And I’ve been known to make it and eat just creamed corn for dinner all by itself. Just me and the corn.

Gosh I love Summer!!!

After our non-lighthouse turned butterfly-hiking photo trip, we were hot, tired and hungry. So we decided to save the Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia Beach for another day and opted to find food. I’d seen on Facebook where a friend of mine had posted a picture of this monster sandwich from a place on Virginia Beach Blvd. We had to go right past it, so I thought it was the perfect place to take my oldest man-child to eat. HE CAN EAT!

Everyone that I spoke to about this place said that there’s NO WAY anyone can finish a sandwich there and I touted, “Well, they haven’t met my boy!” Everyone scoffed.

We easily found the place and went in. It seemed harmless enough. It was between lunch and dinner so there were only a handful of people in there. And then we noticed the shirts that the people that worked there were wearing. They all said on the back of the shirt, “If you finish, then we’ve made a mistake”. My hungry man-child took that as a direct personal challenge. (He’s incredibly competitive – a trait he inherited from his father’s side of the family)

The menu was expansive – SO much to choose from. It was tough for me to decide. But Chris, being a very visual person, saw the big picture of the Route 58 Deli signature sandwich, The Monster Rueben Burger, and he was sold. I finally opted for the Triple D which was promoted with a picture of Guy Fieri from TV show, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, on The Food Network. (We LOVE that show!)

She brought mine out first. Only I was thinking that it was odd that they put BOTH our sandwiches on one plate. Okay. I figured I’d roll with it. But it turns out that it was ALL my sandwich. Holy Cow!!!

The Triple D! It’s pastrami, smoked turkey, coleslaw, roast beef and Russian dressing. (The pastrami was to die for!) But each layer was an inch thick. This sandwich had to weigh five pounds.

Then they brought out an order of fries. They were part of Chris’ order. He started on the fries while I tried to figure out HOW to eat my sandwich. It was definitely a challenge. So I opted to go at it one layer at a time with a knife and fork. I realize that I looked like a pansy, but hey, who was I trying to impress?

Now for the Big Daddy Sandwich, The Monster Rueben Burger! OMG! This picture doesn’t seem to portray exactly how MONSTER this sandwich truly is.

And neither does this one really. It looks smaller in the picture. . . if you can believe that.

So now the question is: Did Route 58 Deli “make a mistake” when they made Chris’ sandwich? Did he really eat the whole thing?

YES! Yes, they did make a mistake. Because yes, he did finish it. AND his fries.

The waitress came by and was SHOCKED. She said that as long as she’s worked there, she could count on one hand how many people have been able to eat the whole thing.

Then she looked at me and my sandwich and said, “Awh! That’s cute.” speaking of the tiny little dent that I put in one half of my sandwich. I brought mine home and Chris came by the next day and ate two very large sandwiches. I ate one medium size sandwich. And there is still enough meat in there for two more large sandwiches.

The sandwiches are pricey, but if you factor in that the average person can eat for three days, it’s really a pretty good deal. . . and a lot of fun!

And to think my friends scoffed.

Chris and I set out again this past weekend to photograph more lighthouses, only these were slightly closer to home. We first headed up to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. It’s not that far, just across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

It’s a 24 mile long monstrosity; a bridge, then a tunnel, then a bridge, then a tunnel, then a bridge. . . you get my drift. And just on the other side is the Cape Charles Lighthouse.

We could see it from the bridge as we approached. This was taken from the car as we were nearing the end of the bridge, so close already. Following directions from online, we headed down these narrow little roads that got even narrower as we went. Then they turned to dirt roads. The dirt road had a road sign, so it was technically still a road to me. Plus, it’s the road the online directions told us to take. . . although it DID look like someone’s driveway. As such it turned out to be. A man came out hollering at us asking us what we thought we were doing. We told him that we were trying to get to the lighthouse and he bellowed that we were on private property. Nice. The website needs to be updated a bit, I think.

So we turned around and stopped at a place down the road that looked sort of official, like maybe they’d know how we could get to this elusive lighthouse. It was the Virginia Wildlife Refuge; a small building with an observatory room and a few displays. And there we saw a display of this lighthouse. It said that if you hike out to the Marsh Overlook, you’ll be able to see the lighthouse. Well, I didn’t really bring my hiking shoes, but I was game. We took a map and started out. The path we started on was called Butterfly Trail. It sounded so pretty, so we were hopeful for some pretty photo opportunities along the way. And we weren’t disappointed.

Butterflies were flittering and fluttering around everywhere, but trying to find one that would light somewhere was another story.

Then trying to get my camera to focus quickly enough before they fluttered away was another trick in and of itself. They sure didn’t stay still very long. . . well, not long enough for me to fumble around anyway.

Dragonflies were everywhere as well. They were slightly more cooperative for the feeble photographer.

Mostly, I just took pictures of a lot of totally random stuff. And I LIKE this picture. Don’t know why really. It’s so simple, yet I love it for some reason.

We hiked through the Butterfly Trail and followed our little map.

Then we came across this ancient cemetary.

These headstones are seriously old.

Not too far past the cemetary, we finally came to the Marsh Overlook where we’d get to see the lighthouse.

And THIS is as close as we could get. WTH! This is even with a telephoto lens.

On the way back, we went down a different path that took us to this. Using YJB logic, I thought that MAYBE, just maybe, we could get a better view of the lighthouse from higher up. I didn’t know how much closer we were at this point, but I was thinking that higher meant better. Wouldn’t you think so?

Nope. This is all we could see from up there. Not a bad view, but not a lighthouse in sight. I told Chris that I should have sent him up those 100+ stairs first to let me know if it was worth my effort. It was hot and that was a lot of stairs. But I made it just fine. Chris has very little faith in his old mom. I’m not dead yet.

But I DO have to say, it was a lot more enjoyable going DOWN the stairs.

Oh well, it was still a good little day trip. But the hike had taken us a lot longer than planned, so we opted to go to the next two lighthouses another day. We were hungry!

I’ll write about our stop for dinner tomorrow. I’ve got to get Chris to send me the pictures he took of our plates. You WON’T believe it. Good stuff!

For Mother’s Day, my two boys planted flowers for me in my front yard. And despite the blazing 100+ degree weather, I’ve managed to keep them alive so far. Which is a feat in and of itself where MY thumb is involved. It’s not so green. I can kill plastic flowers. Seriously.

But so far, I was doing well. . . considering. See how pretty they started out.

Anyway, lately I’ve been out trying my heart out to water and nourish my poor, thirsty flowers. This one was waving at me, saying, “Hey Lady!!! Can you spare a drink?”

Then I started noticing a bit of a problem.

What is this? I wondered. Each day I would go out and more and more leaves were just disappearing. A LOT of leaves! Not like an insect had invaded them. No. It was much more than that.

Leave to my trusty cat who sits in this window and goes all shades of apeshit when she sees another cat outside to find the culprit. She was in the window LOSING HER MIND when I saw what she was after.

It wasn’t another cat. It was a BUNNY. A BABY bunny. The waskally wabbit! Busted!!! I caught it red-handed (so to speak). Chowing down! On MY flowers!

I wanted to be mad, but he was just so tiny and SO cute. And not very afraid. He let me get pretty close. But I didn’t know what to do with him if I actually caught him. So I let him hop away. Since then, I’ve seen him hopping down the sidewalk passing my house as if to say, “I’ve gotten everything I can at that house. Yep, stripped her clean. Now on to greener pastures.”

I think I’d rather just leave out a head of lettuce for the little tike. It would certainly be a lot cheaper than my flowers.

Who would have thought that 80 degrees would feel so good! The weatherman said that a cold front would be coming through our area overnight and today would be in the low 80s, and that that should really cool things down. And I thought, “That’s cool? He thinks 80 degree temps are cool?” Wow!

Well, as it turns out. . . after suffering through blistering, suffocating, mind-boggling heat. . . 80 degrees feels like Fall.

This has been the HOTTEST summer that I can remember! Did we even HAVE a Spring? I don’t remember it. It was frigid cold, then it was HOT. There was no in between this year.

Every weekend since my pool opened, it has been like this. . . AT or near 100 degrees. The water in the pool is almost to the boiling point. It’s more like an oversize jacuzzi. This is coming from the girl who always tiptoes into the water like a pansy.

But finally, some relief!

After traveling all day long, locating and photographing three lighthouses, and coming face to face with Mother Nature on the beach thus diverting our plan to continue to the next lighthouse, we headed back over the bridge toward home.

As we went further north over the bridge, the sun started coming back out.

What a welcomed site that was after the ugly and relentless rain we’d just gone through. And although it had been a rather enjoyable day despite a couple of minor hiccups, we were getting tired ten hours into our vacation. Hungry and thirsty, we debated whether to continue another couple of hours on home or try to grab a hotel room, some dinner and some beverages. The odds of finding an available room anywhere in Nags Head on a Friday night during tourist season was probably not going to lean in our favor. So we decided to let fate make that decision for us. I said, “Let’s stop at this hotel and see if they have anything available. If they do, we stay. If they don’t, we head on home.” Cool.

I pranced into the hotel and with pleading eyes asked if there was anything available. He said, “Yes.” Wheeee! “We have ONE room, 5th floor, ocean view.” Were the Gods smiling down on me or WHAT! I said, “We’ll take it!!” No way did I expect such a sweet room. But 5th floor ocean view? Seriously? This was shaping up to be a fantastic day!

Chris had never stayed in a hotel with an ocean view before. This was our view. We couldn’t believe our luck. After grabbing a pizza from across the street and a few beers and taking them back to our room, we sat out on the balcony. . . . and relaxed.

I have to note this for our family history books. . . Chris (my high-strung man-child) said, “This is really relaxing.” MY boy said “relaxing”. I’d finally found the key to my child’s need for perpetual motion. It just comes at $250 a night. Sorry child, you can only relax one day a year on my dime.

We watched the sun set (although a bit hazy) and just chilled. We talked about the day and how much fun we had. And we marveled at some of the shots we’d gotten. Chris even relented and said that even though we were too late getting to the Hatteras Lighthouse to tour it, he was happy that I was able to get my lightning shot. I mean, it WAS a cool picture.

The clouds started disipating a bit and out came a full moon. This day just kept getting better and better.

So we spent another hour or so trying to get the perfect picture of the moon and the glow it casted out over the ocean water. It was so beautiful! But I’m not a skilled enough photographer to even know how to capture something like that. But I tried.

Chris set his alarm clock to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to photograph the sunrise. (He’s more enthusiastic than me) But his luck wasn’t with him. It was overcast and drizzling rain. But another couple of hours later I decided to drag my fanny out of bed, this was our view! Bright and sunshiny! It was going to be another great day!

This is Chris and I from our hotel balcony just before leaving our fabulous hotel and heading home. It seemed that the trip home went incredibly quick. Why did it seem to take so much longer getting down there than it did to go home? Whatever the answer, it was a great little impromtu vacation! We’re very lucky to have such fun things to do within such a short distance. Anything can be done in a day trip, or if you’d rather kick back and really relax, you can just as easily turn it into a weekend thing. Good times!

This is my second vacation this year! Albeit, both of them have been very short, a vacation is a vacation and I’ll take what I can get. I typically don’t take a lot of vacations. I don’t really need to.

That’s what I love about living in this area. . . you can take an impromtu vacation whenever the mood strikes you, whenever the weather is ideal, or whenever your oldest child finally gets a three day weekend. He wanted to use the time to take some pictures since he’s quite the photography buff. So off we went, my oldest son and I, heading south to photograph lighthouses in North Carolina. (I’m always game if the beach is involved in any shape, form or fashion)

It struck us at HOW MUCH vacation/tourist type stuff we have to do in our area that we take for granted. How we don’t really have to GO anywhere except in our own backyard to find something fun to do. We’re quite spoiled that way.

I, personally, don’t particularly LIKE our main strip of beaches in Virginia Beach very much because it’s rather commercial, always SO SO crowded making traffic unbearable, plus the water is kind of a merky color. There IS a beach that is less inhabited by tourists that’s mostly used by locals and that one is nice and relaxing to go to. But honestly, if you go an hour south to the Nags Head area of North Carolina, the water is much clearer and sand much nicer. Sure, there are tourists, but they tend to be a more laid back type of tourist. The whole area is a more laid back type of place and spread out. Their beaches go for miles and miles and miles, so it’s not wall to wall (umbrella to umbrella) people on the beach.

I have to preface our vacation story with the fact that my oldest child is a little high strung, wound tight, is in constant motion at all times. He rarely sits still and he’s been that way since birth. I suppose the nut didn’t fall far from the tree, but I CAN say that after all these years on the planet, I’ve learned to chill a little bit from time to time (That’s what my pool is for. Oh yeah, and my Miller Lite.). So to take an impromtu vacation (to RELAX) without a particular agenda or a specific time schedule to follow, just go with the flow, is a little out of our typical realm of normal, but we were game.

Which way to go?

We donned our cameras and put on our tourist hats.

And found Currituck Lighthouse first. Pretty cool, huh? But don’t for one minute think that “I” was one of those people at the top. No siree! It was 100 degrees outside. I was pretty certain that they didn’t install air conditioning in 1873 when they built it. And it was FULL of tourists. So my brain did a little mental calculation adding together the heat, the number of people, the number of stairs (OMG!), and toss in my little clostrophobia issue, and I decided to let Chris go it alone. Good luck, buddy!

He was to the top in a flash! I couldn’t believe how fast. But then he IS young and strong. He got a lot of really great pictures from the top and also inside the lighthouse. Really very interesting, but not interesting enough for me to give it a shot. He, in fact, said, “Mom, you’d have died.” What can I say? My boy knows me.

He also knows me well enough to know that since we were SO close to the beach that you can drive on that we just HAD to go. . . despite his apprehension in actually driving on the beach. I assured him that this beach was nothing like the beach that I typically go to. This one is more packed because it’s actually the only access road to a whole bunch of houses and is much less likely of getting stuck. So I talked him into it.

We parked just so we could take a picture.

Then we got distracted by these birds. They were just perched up there taking in the ocean breeze enjoying life. And we were enjoying capturing them on film (well, digital) until . . .

Johnny Law decided to come along. “Move along, buddy. Move along.”

We didn’t get into trouble because he could just LOOK at us and tell we were dumb tourists. (Doesn’t Chris just scream TOURIST?) Turns out that you’re not allowed to park along this particular span of beach. . . since it’s an access road and all and it’s not for tailgating. . . which explains why I usually go down to the other beach. That’s okay though. . . we got what we came after. Chris could scratch another thing off his To-Do List (a 25 year old’s version of a Bucket List).

Then we were off to the next lighthouse, but we were getting hungry. We wanted to go to our favorite place, but it wasn’t open for lunch (WTH!). So we mosied down the road trying to figure out someplace new to eat.

We’d seen a jillion billboards along the way for different restaurants. This one was funny enough to grab our attention.

So we stopped there to see what all the hype was about. $50 lunch later (and we both ordered the cheapest thing on the menu), we decided that Dirty Dicks was never going to replace our favorite Mako Mikes. The price alone was hard enough to swallow for lunch, but would’ve gone down better had the food been delicious. We both got the Fried Shrimp and Scallops basket with Dirty Dicks fries. And I swear to you. . . Dirty Dicks fries are Ore Ida Crinkle Cut fries that you can get at the grocery store for $2.99. A little disappointing.

With our bellies full, we headed off to our next lighthouse on down the road. We drive and drive.

And THIS is what we came to. Bodie Island Lighthouse looked like this. WTH! Why would they do something like this during tourist season? Chris didn’t even bother with a picture because he was so disappointed.

The day had started off with such a bang having a great time. But things were beginning to take downward turn. A not-so-delicious expensive lunch, a lighthouse that one couldn’t even tour or photograph, then on our way on down toward Hatteras Lighthouse, we missed it. I know what you’re thinking. . . how can you miss a lighthouse? We saw it coming up. We saw it. We saw it. Then we couldn’t see it anymore. Where did it go? We couldn’t see it anymore in front of us OR behind us. WTH! So we kept on going. There was another lighthouse down the road a bit in Ocracoke.

To get our bearings, we stopped at this little rest area on the side of the road where they have a map as well. The weather was even taking a horrible turn.

We began rethinking our visit to the Ocracoke Lighthouse. Did we REALLY want to continue on?

NOPE! It was looking ugly! But I managed to snap this just in the nick of time. Chris went CrAzY! He wanted to snap a picture of lightning. He put his camera on continous mode and snapped about 300 pictures of nothing before he gave up. Well, until it started raining harder. And I swear to you as we pulled away, two giant claps of lightning came out of the sky to our right like comas coming out of the clouds. Gorgeous!! Chris’ disappointment was rising again.

On our way back toward Hatteras, we found this gigantic sign for the lighthouse. Don’t know how we missed that one. But one good thing was that the weather had cleared up a little bit.

Even though we were too late for the climb, we WERE still able to get some photos. So the late afternoon wasn’t a total loss.

Since this post has turned out to be much much longer than anticipated, I will finish up our day tomorrow. I’ve got many more photos to edit.

See ya.

This is the last of the pies this week and I’m sharing yet another Peanut Butter Pie recipe. On the Deliciousness Scale, it runs a close second behind the Peanut Butter Fudge Pie. It’s just a little different. If you’re not into delicous creaminess of the Peanut Butter Fudge Pie and rather lean toward a brownie type peanut buttery goodness, then this is your pie.

I didn’t have leftovers of either pie, so I’m just sayin’. Here’s what you need.

MILE-HIGH PEANUT BUTTER-BROWNIE PIE

1 refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on the box
1 box (15.5 oz) Chocolate Chunk Brownie Mix
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbl water
1 egg
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) container whipped topping
2 Tbl peanuts, chopped (optional)
2 Tbl mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll pie crust; place in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate as directed on box. Flute edge.
In medium bowl, stir brownie mix, peanut butter chips, oil, water and egg 50 strokes with spoon. Pour batter into crust-lined plate. Bake 30 – 40 minutes, covering edge of crust with strips of foil after 15-20 minutes, until crust is golden brown and center of brownie is set. Cool slightly, about 20 minutes. Refrigerate 1 hour or until completely cooled.
In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread mixture over brownie. Sprinkle with peanuts and chocolate chips. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving. Store covered in refrigerator.

It’s easy and it’s pretty. Not to mention yummy delicous!

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I’m on a roll with Lulu’s cookbook this week. Because the very next recipe I tried from the book was this Key Lime Pie. I carried to our pool’s opening day BBQ and they all thought it was a perfect way to start off the summer.

I’d actually never eaten a Key Lime Pie before. It always looked a lot like my Lemon Meringue Pie and I just never figured that it could be any better than that. Now that I’ve made it, I wouldn’t say that it’s better than my Lemon Meringue Pie, but I would say that it’s quite tasty for a Key Lime Pie. (I found out that they are indeed different in flavor AND texture) Still a hit! Here’s what you need.

KEY LIME PIE WITH GRAND MARNIER WHIPPED CREAM

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 Tbl sugar
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 Tbl cold water
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup Key lime juice
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar in a small mixing bowl. Press evenly into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a small mixing bowl, dissolve gelatin in cold water, stir and set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine egg yolks and lime juice and stir over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until slightly thick and very hot. Be careful not to bring to full boil.
Add softened gelatin to lime juice mixture. Whisk well for 1 minute or until gelatin is dissolved.
Quickly cool mixture by placing saucepan in a large bowl filled with ice.
When completely cool, gradually whisk in sweetened condensed milk, stirring until blended well and mixture becomes thick.
Spoon into graham cracker crust and spread evenly.
Cover filling with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
When ready to serve, top pie with fresh Grand Marnier Whipped Cream and lime slices.

GRAND MARNIER WHIPPED CREAM

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream, chilled
2 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl Grand Marnier liqueur (optional)

In a stainless steel mixing bowl, combine whipping cream, sugar and liqueur. Whip with an electric mixer on high until cream holds peaks. Be careful not to over whip the cream or it will separate. Cream is properly whipped when you can drag a finger through it and a trough remains.

Stumbling around BlogHer, I found this at Cinderella After Midnight and LOVED it. What a heart this dog has. I love happy endings.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Saturday Night Live had this skit with The Rock this weekend. I was expecting Gerard Butler and then out came the Rock. I found myself laughing outloud. Gerard Butler did come out to host. He wasn’t hard on the eyes. I love SNL!

Oh! And if you haven’t seen Law Abiding Citizen. . . it’s a really good movie starring Gerard Butler. My oldest baby took me to the movie this weekend. We couldn’t remember the last movie that I’d seen in a theater. I don’t go often, but I’m glad I went to see this.

I’m trying to focus on something positive, and since I’m still pretty upset after the nasty Monday I had, I think I need to start with something small and work my way up. SO, I decided to try to focus on something positive about Fall. You know. . . since I AM SUCH a Summer person. Remember my “moment of silence” at the end of the pool season? Yes, I LOVE Summer!

Fall? . . . well, I’m working on that one.

Let’s see. The benefits of Fall are:

1. Better hair days
2. The tree out front should stop dropping those nasty berries on my car
3. Football Sundays/dinner with my boys
4. Flannel pajamas (so comfy)
5. Great photo ops of colorful trees (I have a thing about trees)
6. Thanksgiving (My favorite meal of the year)
7. Get to leave the windows open (love love fresh air)
8. I DO like Orange.
9. This list is a work in progress (tougher than I thought it’d be)

I need to think positively. I need to think positively. I need to think positively.

I don’t know which one. What I DO know is that exploding heads and toothaches don’t go very well together.

Yep, things at work still suck. My nasty Monday has turned into nasty Wednesday and will turn into Thank God It’s Nasty Friday. I see no light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve managed to piss off all but a handful of people, but you know what? I’m standing my ground. People just need to do their jobs and stop bellyaching about being “busy”. Hello! We are ALL busy! If people spent less time “talking” about how busy they were and just did their jobs, they might get something accomplished at the end of the day.

The sad part is that I’ve learned who does and who does not have my back at the office. Who has respect for the work I do and who doesn’t. The list has surprised me. And saddened me. Now I need to get a grip and just deal with it. If the last ten years of proving my work ethic doesn’t do the trick, then I don’t know what will. It is what it is. At least I know where I stand now. My head is officially OUT of the sandbox.

I DID manage to find just what I was looking for though – a place to rant. It’s called “Work Sucks“. It’s perfect! These folks did a fantastic job with this site. It was just what I had in mind, only now I don’t have to create it myself. So if you ever find yourself having a bad day, go check this site out. It’s great!

Oh! and I have a toothache. **I’m on a downhill roll, huh?** I had been thinking it was an earache (and would pass) because my cheekbone and ear have been hurting for a couple of days. But today it’s worse. I’d been craddling the side of my head in my hand and that’s when I realized the origin is not my ear, but my tooth. Yikes.

I guess I’d better go on to the dentist before I lose my job AND my insurance. Whee!

Oh! And now that I’ve found a great place to rant, I won’t be torturing you all with my whining. I’ll be back to posting recipes and happy thoughts in no time.

Although TODAY is actually her birthday, we all celebrated it yesterday. It was just me, my boys and my new daughter-in-law, but it was still all good with presents, birthday cupcakes, and a really good dinner (if I say so myself).

Frosting these cupcakes was my first attempt at using a piping bag; a homemade piping bag. They turned out o.k.a.y. for a first attempt, but you probably shouldn’t use your mother’s birthday cupcakes as the guinea pigs. Bless her heart! She knows I put love into making them, no matter how much they look like a little orange dog dropped a poo on each cupcake.

I truly am my own worst critic when it comes to cooking. I will tell anyone the honest to God truth about whether I did a good job or not. And as a matter of fact, aside from the orange poo cupcakes, yesterday’s dinner was excellent. The most outstanding thing was the mashed potatoes.

I know. Everybody on the planet knows how to make mashed potatoes. There’s no secret there. You boil a potato and you mash it. Season to taste and BAM! Mashed potatoes. But that’s not necessarily true. I learned something totally by accident.

Little back story: My boys LOVE my mashed potatoes! Particularly, they like them lumpy and with the skins on. They ALWAYS request them with dinner no matter what I’m making. If I’m making lasagne, they still want mashed potatoes on the side. It doesn’t matter. But I’VE never been crazy about them. I mean. . . they’re good. They’ve just never been knock-my-socks-off good.

I’ve always used red potatoes and I’ve always chopped them up and boiled them, then mashed them. Yesterday, I wanted to make potato skins as an appetizer, so I bought regular white potatoes (for no reason other than they were bigger). I washed and dried them, drizzled them with some olive oil and sprinkled them with kosher salt. I baked them for a little more than an hour.

I let them cool for awhile because I’ve never been fond of playing “hot potato”. Besides, I had plenty of other dishes to prepare that kept me busy. After they were cooled enough for me to handle, I scooped out the insides. At this point, I had my skins and I had my potatoes for mashing. The hard part is over. The rest is a breeze.

Potato Skins

5 lbs baked potato skins
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Bacon, crumbled

At this point, just sprinkle the insides of the potato skins with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon. Broil for 5 minutes, or until lightly brown and crispy. Serve with a side of sour cream. Yummm!

Awesome Mashed Potatoes

5 lbs baked potato insides
1 stick butter, softened
1 – 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup milk
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, butter, cream cheese, salt and pepper. Mix with hand mixer (or a Kitchen Aid if you have one), adding milk to reach desired consistency, whether you like them lumpy or whipped. Pour into a baking dish and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

My mother and my boys LOVED these potatoes so much that I was instructed to write it down before I forgot what I did. They think the BAKED potato makes the difference in the flavor of the potato rather than the boiled. I have no idea, but I do love the two-fer I get out of baking this one little bag of potatoes; a great appetizer (I mean, who doesn’t like potato skins?) and the best mashed potatoes EVER.

I think Mama had a good day! Good dinner, good company, cool presents, and orange poo birthday cupcakes. You can’t beat that! Happy Birthday Mama!

Anyone who knows my friend, Mo, knows how much she obsesses loves Mike Rowe. It’s a well known fact amongst her friends. So anytime her friends feel she needs a pick-me-up, a giggle, a blush, and/or a smile, they send her something Mike Rowe related (a link, a picture, a video, whatever has Mike’s face (or jeans) on it). Yesterday, Jen sent her a link to this.

I love it! In fact, I like the whole site – www.roflrazz.com. It’s got a whole bunch of celebrity look-alikes, funny pictures, cute pictures, clever pictures, etc. But THESE really caught my eye as funny.

NOT because I’m a big Star Trek fan, because I’m NOT. But my boss is. As is evidence of these guys standing around our office.

Seriously. These guys are part of our office staff. Their main job is to scare the crap out of the cleaning crew. DeWitte and I even move them around the office from time to time to scare the crap out of each other. (He screams like a little girl when I catch him by surprise)

I just realized that I posted these guy’s picture before – one year ago this month – for National Boss’s Day. . . back when I LOVED my job. Truly, there WAS a day when I did.

**singing “Memories!”

Just dig this up and read it again. You’ll begin feeling like a genius in no time.

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: “I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.”
–Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest

“Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.”
–Mariah Carey

“I’ve never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.”
–Winston Bennet, University of Kentucky basketball forward

“Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.”
–Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC

“That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I’m just the one to do it.”
–A congressional candidate in Texas

“Half this game is ninety percent mental.”
–Danny Ozark, Philadelphia Phillies manager

“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”
–Al Gore, Vice President

“I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.”
–Dan Quayle

“We’ve got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?”
–Lee Iacocca

“The word ‘genius’ isn’t applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.”
–Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback and sports analyst

“We don’t necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people.”
–Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor

“Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”
–Department of Social Services, Greenville, SC

“If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there’ll be a record.”
–Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

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Feeling smarter yet?

My scary little skeletons almost 20 years ago. Aren’t they precious?

My oldest STILL dresses up. He loves Halloween and loves the “shock factor” even more!
Tonight, he’s going to a Halloween party at his friends’ house dressed as a baby; more specifically, Baby Herman in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”.

I can’t wait to see this! My boy is a hoot! Completely unafraid and funny as Hell. And I’m pretty sure that his baby bottle won’t be filled with milk. I will post the frightening results tomorrow if I can get my hands on some blackmail pictures.

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Here are some repeat Halloween jokes just to get you started in the Halloween spirit. Most of these jokes are real groaners (get it, Halloween…. GROANERS hahahaha hehehe uhhh yeah). Sorry, anyway…

Q. Why was the student vampire tired in the morning?
A. Because he was up all night studying for his blood test!!!

Q. Why should a skeleton drink 10 glasses of milk a day?
A. It’s good for the bones.

Q. Why don’t witches like to ride their brooms when they’re angry?
A. They’re afraid of flying off the handle!

Q. Why don’t skeletons like parties?
A. They have no body to dance with.

Q. Why do mummies make excellent spies?
A. They’re good at keeping things under wraps.

Q. Why do vampires drink blood?
A. Because coffee keeps them awake all day!

Q. Why doesn’t Dracula have any friends?
A. Because he’s a pain in the neck!

Q. Why are there fences around cemeteries?
A. Because people are dying to get in.

Q. Who did Frankenstein take to the prom?
A. His ghoul friend.

Q. Where does Count Dracula make his withdrawals?
A. At the blood bank.

Q. When does a ghost need a license?
A. During “haunting” season.

Q. What was the witches’ favorite subject in school?
A. Spelling

Q. What would you call the ghost of a door-to-door salesman?
A. A dead ringer.

Q. What kind of mistakes do spooks make?
A. Boo boos

Q. What do ghosts serve for dessert?
A. Ice Scream

Q. What did the Mommy ghost say to the baby ghost?
A. Don’t spook until your spooken to.

Q. What did the Mommy Vampire say to the Baby Vampire?
A. “You are driving me batty.”

Q. What did the monster eat after the dentist pulled his tooth?
A. The dentist!

Q. What do you get when you drop a pumpkin?
A. Squash

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Not exactly like Hank Williams Jr. wrote it (we don’t “get stoned and sing all night long”), but we DO have our family traditions.

With my youngest child getting married and adding a new wife/daughter-in-law to the family, this quiet young girl has had to adjust to our dingdong family traditions pretty quickly. And along with all the different personality traits she’s had to become accustomed to, there’s also the holiday traditions and. . . . birthday traditions!

I LOVE doing birthdays! Not MY birthday. Other people’s birthdays. And sweet DIL just celebrated her 21st birthday. I couldn’t let it slide under the radar. That’s just not my style. No sir.

And apparently I taught my male child well in the art of birthday tradition because he did a VERY good job surprising her with a cake with 21 candles, a dozen roses and a birthday card with a heartfelt letter inside. (We women love those!)

I took them to dinner

along with my oldest boy and their dad. (It was only awkward for their dad. I don’t know why. I don’t get awkward around HIM.)

And then I made dinner on Saturday for her, Adam, Chris and my mom complete with birthday cake.

See how adorable she is! The cake is sad though. She had asked for a strawberry cake, so I used a cake mix, canned frosting and squirty stuff to write with. I’m not used to either of those. I don’t often make cakes using a cake mix, or frosting out of a can. And apparently I’m inept in the art of picking out the squirty stuff to write with. I picked up what was called “Cookie Frosting” and me using my Donna Logic thought, “How different is cake frosting and cookie frosting?” I just wanted something with a little squirty tip so I could write Happy Birthday. Frosting is frosting, right?

Well. . . . not so much. It’s VERY different. Nothing like practicing on the real deal too. It didn’t turn out very pretty. Everyone seemed to like it though, I didn’t so much. Maybe I’m just a cake mix snob. Who knows.

Either way, I think Shelley had a great birthday WEEK! At least she knows what she’s in for next year.

After the kids grow up?

I’ve always had all this energy that I directed toward my boys while they were growning up. You know the drill – driving them all over God’s green earth, helping them with incessant homework and their ongoing activities, and feeding them constantly. It’s stunning how much two teenage boys can eat! And they wanted to eat more than once a day; the nerve.

Well, with them on their own, I’ve been left with a lot of extra time and energy. The first thing I did was throw myself into my job. I didn’t do it conciously; it just sort of happened. In fact, I had one boss that bought me a book on Co-Dependency and ordered me to read it. He said I was co-dependent on my job for my self worth and happiness, and he was doing his part to help save me from myself.

Now my current boss, while he has always appreciated my “above and beyond” approach to my job, encouraged me to blog instead, use my computer skills to start a website, fill my free time doing something creative. I started with a little blog on Spaces a few years ago, where I actually met (literally and figuratively) a really great group of friends (lifelong friends). Then I expanded to a Vox blog and did both for awhile. Vox had a different kind of community. Then I ventured out on my own building my own site here at Yellow Jeep Blonde. (I’m totally lame and can’t think of a better name for myself. If YOU can, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send me some suggestions)

I started just telling ordinary stories; just day to day life stuff, sharing pictures and jokes and such. But something was missing. I wasn’t passionate about it (translation: not nearly interesting enough). And apparently, I need to feel that passion. I was, afterall, passionate in raising my children. I’m passionate about my job (which sometimes gets me into trouble – I care TOO much) So I, again, asked myself what I wanted to do with myself.

That’s when I got a camera and started taking pictures. I LOVE photography and thought “How hard can it be?” As it turns out. . . it’s a lot more tedious than I thought it was. And I don’t have a natural eye. My oldest boy has a natural eye for composition and color; a real talent. His pictures put mine to shame.

My pictures being just so-so, I thought MORE about what my passion is. Excluding my family and my job, I’m still left wide-eyed wearing a big question mark as a top hat. Looking around my house and seeing the 14,503,649,218 cookbooks and cooking magazines and questioning my freakish obsession love in finding really good new recipes, a lightbulb went off. Ding! I’d share my recipes. Some tried and true old Southern classics, and my new recipes that I’d find delicious.

It sounds good in theory since I love to cook. I’ve dabbled in that for awhile posting delicious recipes on this site, but the site, Yellow Jeep Blonde, has NO relevance to cooking. SO, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into branching off into a different website that is totally devoted to cooking. I realize that there are a bazillion cooking sites out there already, BUT it’s what I love to do – my passion, so to speak. I love all things food related!

My problems lies wherein WHAT to call my little branch of a website. Yellow Jeep Blonde Cooks is kinda dumb. Jeeps and cooking don’t have a lot in common. In fact, being blonde has no relation to cooking either. (I’ve HEARD that brunettes can cook too) So I’m two for two on the ix-nay YellowJeepBlondeCooks-nay. This is where I need creative help. Does ANYONE have any genius ideas on what to call my little cooking site? “Self-professed cookbook hoarder” is too long. “Cookbook Slut” is too abrasive. I need something that is JUST RIGHT.

Help me, please!! Pretty please!

**Think “Annie” when you read that title**  The sun actually came out today though!  But I’ve had that song in my head all day. 

After four days of RELENTESS rain and WIND, the sun was quite the welcome change of pace.  This area absolutely got HAMMERED this past few days.  I’ve lived here in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area for 21 years ago this month.  I’ve seen several hurricanes and quite a few nor’easters (I admit I had no clue what that was when I first moved here, but it’s another name for a really nasty storm when you have an ocean to your east, a bay to your north, and rivers and tributaries running throughout every nook and cranny of your area).  I’ve seen wind damage, been through power outages for days, and have seen, been IN, and driven through some serious flooding. (Ex killed my Price Is Right car that way once) 

I’ve SEEN bad weather. BUT, I honestly have never seen wind and flooding like we had with this nor’easter (remnants of Ida).  It was worse than any hurricane that’s come before it in the last 21 years.  Don’t get me wrong.  We get the storms.  They come and go pretty quickly.  A flash in the pants most times.  But this dang weather system just sat on top of us and hovered like nothing I’ve ever seen before.  High tide after high tide.  Constant, relentless.  And the flooding was amazing.  The flood water was chest deep at the intersection of Boush and Olney streets in downtown Norfolk, a corner that I used to work. (Wow! That sounds like I was a street walker)  I’d seen that area flood before, but never CHEST DEEP.

Our weathermen were all so excited that they were dang near having orgasms on the air.  “Oooh Oooh!  It’s R.E.A.L.L.Y. windy and rainy outside!  **insert gutteral sounds**”  They get SO excited over the tiniest little weather phenomenom that you can just imagine how they were squirming in their shorts over ACTUAL WEATHER.  Bless their hearts (a Southern term that can summarize a variety of statements with its own little tone – too bad there’s no audio here).

But we survived it all!  Me and my trusty Jeep made it to work everyday.  The crew at work was VERY slim, but I was there!  Braving the elements, trudging through flood water.  And the General Manager made a comment about me wearing sneakers.  **insert gutteral sounds here too, only MUCH different**  He couldn’t say, “Hey, thanks for making it in.”  NO.  I get snide comments about wearing sneakers (like I was going to ruin my good heels in flood waters).  **more gutteral mumbling**

Tomorrow I will be wearing my proper footwear.

I, in fact, have NOT fallen off the planet.  From my recent blog absence (thirty lashes), I can only gather that my tens of readers who know me well understand that I’ve been emotionally, creatively, and inspirationally drained completely DRY as of the last several months.  But there’s hope.  Wee bits of inspiration happen in the oddest of places.  And the oddest place that I could have possibly thought of was at my job.

I love my job.  I really do.  But this economy is squeezing our company to death . . . and taking my spirit with it.  BUT!  And there IS a BUT!  BUT, MY department still has spirit.  I love my department.  They are a great group of people who work very hard and never complain about too much work.  (This is the group that survived the huge layoff just several weeks ago)  In fact, they only complain when we don’t have enough work.  These are people who are trying to feed their families and not opposed to working for it.  I adore them all.

Today only proves how extra special they are!  For the last several days, this group of people had planned and plotted right under my very nose (shows how much I pay attention) and they managed to throw me a “surprise” birthday party.  It was a surprise because my birthday is three weeks from now.  But with scheduling holidays and cramming unused vacation days in before the end of the year and getting my part-timers here all at the same time, this was the only day when MOST of us would be there together.  So when G, the lady that’s worked for me for six years, buzzes me and asks me ever so exhaustedly to “Come in here, please! I need to see you!”, I stood up muttering as I passed DeWitte’s office, “A clue would be nice.  What am I walking into?”  I seriously thought that I was about to be hit by a bus.  (You never know.  I’m just sayin’.)

And there it was!  SURPRISE!! A surprise party for ME!  And behind me came MY boss (DeWitte), who knew about it all the whole time, along with my daughter-in-law (who works there too).  They knew about it all along!  Even my son knew about it, and nobody said a word!  Sneaky sneakies.

It was a very nice (embarrassing) surprise!  Tons of delicious food!  And a birthday cake (G makes an awesome lemon pound cake!  She knows how much I love it!)  And a birthday card with an Overstock.com gift card.  It was a great intermission to an IMPOSSIBLE Monday, a much welcomed break.  Thank you ALL!!!

. . . but I have to say. . . if I had known, I would’ve worn some more. . . “flexible” clothing, because my pants cut me in half the rest of the day.  I ate waaaaayyy to much!  Awesome surprise!

It feels like I’ve been in a timewarp with the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas disappearing before my very eyes. Now Christmas Eve is HERE! Aaaahhhhh! **runs screaming from the room with a laundry list of unchecked items on her To-Do List**

This past year has certainly had its challenges. Giant layoffs and shake-ups at work have left for some sleepless nights. The pisspoor economy, the recession, the constant fear of which shoe is going to drop next has left finding my usual Christmas inspiration increasingly more difficult.

However, Thanksgiving DID give me a little kickstart. We ALL went up to my ex’s traditional Thanksgiving family reunion at the cabin in West Virginia (me, both boys and the new DIL) and had a fantastic time. The whole big family was there (all but one neice and one nephew). I LOVE this family! And they love me. We were only there for a short time and had to get back home the next day so my oldest could go to work, but it enough time for their love and support to kickstart my holiday inspiration.

Then the Saturday following Thanksgiving, I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for my mom (so my boys get TWO Thanksgiving dinners) and invited my nephew over who didn’t get to make it to the cabin. I love Jeremy!! Such a sweetheart! It turns out that HE, inadvertently, was cause for even more holiday inspiration with a quick impromtu trip to Michaels (our local craft store) the next day. He was working on a project for his mom for Christmas and I was just along for the ride. He was wanting my creative opinion.

I wasn’t feeling particularly festive or creative. But apparently, the magic combination to cure my lack of inspiration was a craft store (I LOVE craft stores) and my nephew’s enthusiasm. (Hey Jeremy!!) And I even stepped outside of my usual box. Usually, my creative talents gear more toward painting of some sort. But this time, I was motivated in the floral department. There were SO MANY beautiful Christmas wreaths on display that I was impressed with. That and Jeremy’s encouragement made me think, “Hey, I think I CAN do that!” And I was off and running.

This is my very first attempt at a holiday wreath. (See Jeremy! You were right! I COULD do it!) Then I got excited and went back to the store and got enough stuff to make another one. I made one for my new daughter-in-law. She picked out her color scheme and gave me some idea of what style she was looking for. Again, I was off and running. Then I made another one for our holiday party at work.

This was not your typical holiday party at work. There was no holiday party provided by the company this year, so we went out on our own. My department all agreed to go to a local restuarant, have dinner, and do an Elephant Gift Exchange. My brilliant idea, since I was obsessed with making wreaths all of a sudden, was to make one as a door prize. Anyone who was interested in winning the wreath put their name in a hat and a name was drawn. The lady that works for me as the Data Entry Supervisor won and she was thrilled! The whole party was an overwhelming success. We all agreed that this is what we would do from now on (instead of the snooze-fests that we used to have). It was a good time!

Here’s part of my crew. I was lame and didn’t even REMEMBER my camera till half the people had left. (Maybe it had something to do with the two glasses of wine. . . just keepin’ it real) So these remaining folks had to endure my other obsession, my camera. Thanks ladies!!!

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!

I’ve written about perception on several occasions. I find it exponentially interesting. Today, I received this from a friend and it really made an impression.

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx.. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children.. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly..

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*Do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.

How many other things are we missing?

PRACTICE RANDOM KINDNESS