This is for my friends in Seattle who are getting hammered with snow right now.

I hate to tell you that it’s 77 degrees here today.

I thought this was cute.

I won the Baby-Pool!! 10-10-10 was THE day! The day I became a grandmother. The day my heart skipped a beat.

Although the DIL wasn’t due until 10-15-10, I had a . . . feeling. My son called me bright and early that morning and said, “Mama, you were right!” I squealed because I KNEW exactly what he was talking about (the much awaited day), but I still kept repeatedly asking “Really? Really?” My head was s.p.i.n.n.i.n.g..

He explained that her water broke and that they were at the hospital already and that there was no need to hurry as it was going to be a long day. I took him some breakfast and a couple of drinks, then back home to take a shower. (The hospital is literally one mile away from my house)

When I got back to the hospital, my ex was there in the waiting room. We had a pretty good time hanging out there (excited about our newfound grandparent status) watching Sunday Football while I kept going back and forth to the delivery room for a progress report. It WAS a long day! About 6:20 pm, sweet baby Kylee entered our world.

She got off to a rough start with some breathing problems and suspected heart problems and had to stay in the hospital for awhile longer that we’d expected. But she is home now and doing well. It was just a rough couple of weeks.

I’d never been so grateful as to have the hospital so close to my house and my work since I was back and forth a gajillion times a day. I tried not to be a complete pest, but I couldn’t help myself. My son and DIL never left the hospital. I delivered food and drinks and anything else they needed. (It made me feel useful in a helpless situation) We were all so worried for so long.

I just prayed and prayed for this little angel. She was so beautiful! It was so hard to believe that she was having so many problems inside. She had the most beautiful skin I’d ever seen on a baby from day one. My boys were born blotchy with misshapen heads and resembled little old men rather than the angelic babies I’d envisioned. Kylee was angelic! Kylee has stolen my heart.

And not that I’m biased or anything, but what a good baby!!! She’s very chill and rarely cries. When she does, it’s more of a squeak. Adam said, “It’s awesome how she cries so quietly.” I told him that she was just reeling him in; that she’d break out the big lungs later. She just had so much to deal with so early in her little life with the poking and proding and wires and tubes that I find it stunning that she’s just so chill.

I can’t wait to get to know this new little member of our family. I HAVE to take more pictures. I just hope that DIL (who is trying to break my heart) will let me. **a whole other story that I’m hoping some Zoloft can cure**

Of all the cooking that I’ve done lately, I’ve ended up tossing most of the recipes in the “It was okay, but not tasty enough to make again” category. Therefore, nothing to boast about here. But I did have one big success in the past few weeks. So much so, that my boss requested it again a week later for his birthday. So I made it twice in two weeks.

Lo and behold! It’s another cheesecake recipe. I seem to have reasonable success with cheesecakes. My boss doesn’t even LIKE cheesecake that much, but he loved this one. And I have to say. . . even “I” liked this one.

Here’s what you need for the crust.

And here’s what you need for the tasty part.

WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE

CRUST:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter

FILLING:
3 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
3 Tbl All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 pkg (10 – 12 oz) vanilla chips
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press into the bottome of a greased 9-in springform pan; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, flour and vanilla. Add eggs and beat on low speed until combined. Fold in the chips. Pour over the crust.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt raspberry jam; stir until smooth. Drop by teaspoonfuls over the batter; cut through batter with a knife to swirl.

Bake at 325 degrees for 80 – 85 minutes or until center is just set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan.

The top of my cheesecakes usually always crack open looking like they were trying to explode. But not this one. See how pretty! I learned this supercool trick. I wrapped the bottom and sides of my springform pan in a couple of layers of heavy-duty foil really tightly. I then placed the springform pan in a larger baking pan and added about an inch of hot water. I heard Paula Deen call this a “water bath”. And it worked! No cracks.

Even though I LOVE to bake, I rarely eat a sweets. I’m more of a salty person. (Sweets don’t go very well with Miller Lite:-) But on the ever-so-rare occasion that I choose to eat dessert at a restaurant, I will most likely select a White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. So when I stumbled on this recipe in a Taste Of Home magazine, I HAD to try it. It did not disappoint. Whereas I usually only take a nibble on my desserts, I actually ate this whole piece of cheesecake. It was SO the bomb delish!!

It’s been a month since I’ve written anything! September was a blur. Since my sad last day at the pool when I thought that life as I knew it would cease to exist, I haven’t really slowed down. While I joke about life without the pool and the sunshine, the reality is that I usually just throw a quick pity party and move on to other stuff. And move on, I quickly did.

September held a lot of new projects for me (I’m not complaining) that kept me busy. There was also a bit of drama. . . and anybody that knows me KNOWS that I don’t DO drama. But there it was. One thing I learned though. . . is that my two boys get me. They understand their mama and know my heart is in the right place. I love my babies!!!

Oh!! I finally made it to the beach last weekend (something I intended to do EVERY weekend after my blessed pool closed) and it was GREAT!! It was 98 degrees with a light breeze and GORGEOUS! It was also pretty busy at the beach. I guess 98 degrees at the end of September brought out ALL the locals. It was very nice. Especially since the high this weekend was 62 degrees. I was wearing a sweatshirt yesterday.

But then that’s the weather here in Virginia Beach. I remember when I first moved here 22 years ago in the dead of the winter from the BEAUTIFUL San Diego where it’s 72 degrees year-round, someone told me that if I didn’t like the weather, stick around 15 minutes and it’ll change. That was no joke. After all these years, I’m never surprised by the yoyoing weather.

The day after I went to the beach to lounge and read and relax, I went to the Neptune Festival at the boardwalk in Viriginia Beach. (The other beach I go to to sit and relax is a different beach) The boardwalk is the busy touristy beach, the beach I usually try to avoid.

There were ALOT of people there. But we were there looking at the art. It was very cool. They also have a sandcastle contest there every year.

These aren’t the best pictures. The fight for position to get a clean shot was crazy. And since I’m not the pushy type, I settled for these. The detail is absurd! MY sandcastles are literally a bucket with a twig stuck in the top and maybe a moat surrounding it if I want to get fancy. I didn’t take a picture of THAT.

“Some of their dreams came true / Some just passed away / And some of them stayed behind / Inside the sad cafe.”
–The Eagles – “The Sad Cafe” (1979)

Even though it’s such a sad song, it came to mind today as I reflected on the end of the weekend. The closing of my pool. Such a sad day for me.

The pool is where I go to just sit. I don’t just sit in my house very often. I feel guilty as if I’m wasting time if I sit in the house and do nothing. But I can sit outside for hours on end in the warmth of the sunshine doing nothing. I take that back. . . I always have a book in my hand of some sort. That’s when I’m not chatting it up with my neighbors who have come to know me as the main staple of the pool. “You always see Donna out here; come rain or shine.” (They make me sound like the mailman)

Anyway, the sun, the water, the outdoors, the fresh air are all like an elixor for me. It gives me energy. It soothes my soul and all that ails me. It lifts me up when I’m feeling down. (That sounds like a song) It makes everything in my life seem brighter.

Now it’s closed. And I feel sad.

Thank goodness the beach is so close. I can’t make daily trips like I did to my pool, but it’ll be there on the weekends as long as the weather is nice.

Have sun. Will travel.

Ever since my neighbors talked me into taking this little lost kitten two or three years ago and giving it a home, I’ve been in a constant, bitter battle with CAT HAIR. I don’t care how cute my kitty is, how smart she is, or how sweet she is. She sheds like nothing I’ve EVER seen before. I didn’t sign up for this much housecleaning. I don’t mind cleaning the litter box. But dangit if I don’t have to vacuum all of my furniture every single week. (And if I didn’t work everyday, I’d probably vacuum it at least every other day) I thought when my children grew up and moved out, those sorry days would be a lot fewer and further between.

I was WRONG! And it’s all Monkey’s fault.

Which leads me to my newest, latest and greatest, most favoritest thing that I’ve found. I bought a Eureka Pet Pal!!! And it is awesome!!!

Not many people get this excited over a vacuum cleaner, but then I never said I was normal. I currently own four vacuums of various sizes and types because I have been in this never-ending search for “THE ONE” that would “sweep me off my feet” – literally. And Eureka, I think I’ve found it!

This past weekend, I was in Walmart. I was after baby stuff for the new grandbaby coming in October, but I HAD to cruise through the vacuum isle to drool over the pretty yellow Dyson. (It’s another sickness of mine, but that’s for another day) There I saw the magic words – Pet Pal. I stopped in my tracks. Could it be true? Would this machine REALLY be my Pet Pal? Hope lifted my heart. I studied the box and all its testimonials that it would do this and do that and solve all my cat hair woes. Then I looked at the price. Only $78!!! I was SOLD! For $78, it was worth a try.

I was putting it together when Chris came to my house asking WHY on earth I needed yet another vacuum cleaner. (Ssshhh son! I’ve been to therapy already.) So I started showing him what all it claimed to do. The cool little jigger on the side is like a giant lint brush that you brush over your furniture to pick up the cat hair, then you stick it in the cool little jigger holder and it sucks it all into the vacuum. Repeat. You never have to touch it with your hands! Which is awesome when you have allergies. Trust me.

Chris (who NEVER helps me clean my house EVER) started playing with the giant lint brush dealybob and he went crazy over it. It was amazing even him by how much it was picking up. Hair we couldn’t even see! He just kept sweeping the lint brush over the furniture till it stopped picking up stuff, then he took the tiny little Power Paw and started going over the furniture some more. The Power Paw was like a little cyclone; it was so fast. I vacuumed the 8 x 12 rug underneath the ottoman with the upright part and it was at that point that Chris noticed that the bagless cannister was FULL already. WTH!

I mean I vacuum my furniture every single week without fail. I have an obsession with vacuum cleaners so I vacuum/sweep the floors every single week as well. [I have to have clean floors] I didn’t understand why it was full already. How could my house be that nasty? Heck, one of my vacuums is a Kirby. That’s supposed to be the McDaddy of vacuums, but it’s a beast and too heavy to lug around, hence my search for “the one”.

Well, we both continued to play with this Pet Pal and vacuumed everything within sight downstairs. Two and a half cannisters of cat hair later, I sat down and had a cold beer. That was a workout! But goodness gracious my house felt clean!

I LOVE MY NEW EUREKA!! That fancy, overpriced Dyson can just sit on the shelf for a while longer. I think I’ve found “the one”. . . and at a much better price. You gotta love that!

NOTE: This is not a paid endorsement. Eureka has no idea who I am, or that I’m obsessed with their new vacuum. But I CAN for sure sing its praises.

Now I realize that I just posted about what all us “old folks” did before the almighty cell phone. And I even laughed at these “youngsters” who don’t have a clue what it’s like to be “unplugged”.

But now I sit here before you with egg ALL OVER MY FACE.

Why? one might wonder.

Last week, my Internet went out! Gasp! But that’s not all. My cable TV went out as well! GASP! Bring me a cold beer and an aspirin! THEN when I went to call the cursed cable company (after making sure I’d paid my bill on time), my phone didn’t work either!!!!! I needed to lie down. It was just too much for me to take.

Grabbing my cell phone that had limited battery power remaining, I began the long and tedious journey through cable company phone prompter HELL to finally reach a human being with a real, live pulse. THEN to boot, I couldn’t understand a word she said. I made her repeat herself so many times that I annoyed even ME. Well, long story and over an hour wait, my cell phone did indeed die. I plugged it in and already had a voicemail from the cable company calling me back. She was quick. Then she called back again. Only this time she was telling me that it had been determined to be an outside problem. She couldn’t fix it from there with her magical powers. She had to send a technician out to fix it. Okie dokie. Not a problem. Until . . . . . “We don’t have any slots available until Friday.” SCREEEECCCHHHHH!

My world starting spinning. I was lightheaded. And I saw stars. I believe I started whimpering at this point too, “Friday? Reeeeaally? What will I DOOOOOOO until Friday? That’s THREE DAAAAAAYS!” **said in childlike whiney voice**

What was a girl to do? Read a book!?! Gads. I don’t have a problem reading a book. I actually enjoy reading. But not when I HAVE to. . . because I have no alternative. Not while I was missing my daily dose of The Young and the Restless. Not while I was missing my Facebook addiction. Not while I couldn’t log into the office (which was what I was trying to do when I discovered I had no Internet). It was TORTURE! Plain and simple torture.

I went out to my pool as soon as I got home from work. There was no reason for me to even eat dinner. I was depressed. And in my sad depression, I realized something about the loss of the Internet, the cable AND the phone. I can actually do without one of those services (in a pinch), but I was a sad, pathetic mess what with all three being gone. I related it to back in the day when the boys would go away with their dad for a week. I’d be completely lost for the first couple of days, whimpering about feeling sorry for myself throwing a big, fat pitty party. Then I’d start getting used to it. I’d begin to adjust. Then they’d come home and I wondered why I had been so depressed.

I also realized that I’ve become just like these “youngsters” with their high-tech addictions. I need Technology Addictions Anonymous NOW!

Imagine if my cellphone had been out too!

Just when you thought you’d seen it all in Facebook statuses, what with the “I’m at Starbucks! Yumm!” and “My dog just pooped on my bed.” Here comes If Historical Events had Facebook Statuses. This is freakin’ hysterical!!

Gasp! Can you IMAGINE?! Some shudder the thought. But it’s true. It really happened to us folks over 30. A dear friend of mine sent this to me because he KNOWS my sense of humor and KNEW that I’d get a kick out of this. I hope you do too. It is tooooo funny.
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If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning…. Uphill… Barefoot…. BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda.

But now that I’m over the ripe old age of thirty (WAY over), I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you young whippersnappers kids today, you don’t know how good you’ve got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves. . . in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter – with a pen and paper! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn’t care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3’s or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We’d play our favorite tape and “eject” it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that’s how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn’t have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that’s it!

There weren’t any freakin’ cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn’t make a damn call or receive one until you got back home. You actually had to be out of touch with your “friends.” OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror… not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there’s TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent… you just didn’t know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn’t have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen… Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on TV! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what’s the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I’m saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat bastards!

And not many of us had microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play.. all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. In fact, they usually KICKED you out, and if you came back inside… you were doing chores!

And car seats and seat belts – oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the “safety arm” across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling “shot gun” in the first place!

See! That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You’re spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

Being from the South (and proud of it) and living amongst a lot of people who are not (this area is a huge mixture of North and South), I am often poked fun at sent jokes or funnies with reference to my “Southerness”. I also get a lot of blonde jokes too, but that’s another story for another day. A friend emailed this to me the other day and I loved it so much, I wanted to share. (Also putting it here makes it easier for me to find it in the future rather than rooting through 9821 emails.

Southern women know their summer weather report:
Humidity
Humidity
Humidity

Southern women know everybody’s first name:
Honey
Darlin’
Shugah

Southern women know their religions:
Baptist
Methodist
Football

Southern girls know the 3 deadly sins:
Having bad hair
Having bad manners
Cooking bad food

Suthen-ism’s:

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don’t “HAVE” them, you “PITCH” them.
_____

Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up “a mess.”
_____

Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of “yonder.”
_____

Only a Southerner knows exactly how long “directly” is, as in:
“Going to town, be back drekly (directly).”
_____

Even Southern babies know that “Gimme some sugar” is not a request for the white, granular, sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.
_____

Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who’s got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad.
If the neighbor’s trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin’!
_____

Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between “right near” and “a right far piece.” They also know that “just down the road” can be 1 mile or 20.
_____

Only a Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck, a good ol’ boy, and po’ white trash.
_____

A Southerner knows that “fixin” can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.
_____

Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they’re related, even if only by marriage.
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In the South, y’all is singular, all y’all is plural.
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Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.
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Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
_____

When you hear someone say, “Well, I caught myself lookin’,” you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!
_____

Only true Southerners say “sweet tea” and “sweet milk.” Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it — we do not like our tea unsweetened.
“Sweet milk” means you don’t want buttermilk.
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And a true Southerner knows you don’t scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway.
You just say, “Bless her heart”… and go your own way.
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To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!
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To those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff…bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin’ to have classes on Southernness as a second language!
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For those that are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y’all need a sign to hang on y’alls front porch that reads “I’m not from the South, but I got here as fast as I could.”

And finally, Southern women know that men may come and go, but friends are fahevah!!