Got this from Dave

ALmost Home made

Is it me or does the hostess for the Semi Homemade cooking show have an annoying voice and mannerisms? Her name is annoying too....Sandra Lee

New friends

Yesterday I made a few new friends. There are a couple of minor problems with continuing the friendship tho.....most of them are in a form of jail and they like to eat alot of fiberish foods.......pee u! And they haven't bathed in awhile....I think that might be due to the jail they are in. But they sure are cute to look at......

Autumn Compote.....eeeeewwwwww

I made it, I tasted it and NEVER will make it again.....eeeewwwwww

Autumn Compote

Today I will be making Autumn compote. Pumpkin, pineapple, apricots, golden raisins, Cinnamon and other spices. I am not sure why the recipe calls for pineapple ( is that an autumn fruit?) but I will follow the recipe and add the tangy yellow fruit. MMMMMMM.....any recipe that has cinnamon in it is worth a try. I love cinnamon!

If I have time my plan is to make triple ginger cookies later this afternoon. Hopefully the neighbors will like them. If the cookies stay in my house I will eat them all.... the other G's in the family do not like ginger cookies. It's the smell of the ginger I really like....ok the taste too! I admit it.

Does anyone know of a way to ship cookies across the country so that the cookies will not end up as crumbs during transit?

What has happened to homemade

I went to the Hilton Apple Festival over the weekend expecting homemade pies, jams, jellies, apple sausage, candied and Carmel apples and fresh from the farm picked apples of all varieties. What was there was pre-made and packaged store bought crap! Hot canned apples from Sysco to put over the Wegmans brand vanilla ice cream, freaking candied apples from Canada, apples dipped in canned Carmel sauce, cold boxed pizza from local pizza shops, apples in pre packaged plastic bags, ridiculous flavored fudge...... like hot pepper and mint....oh that is a delicious flavor. Apple bread that was $10.75 for a loaf, packaged in a PLASTIC bag.

This part of New York is apple country. So it is really disappointing to have non homemade items available to purchase. Where is the pride? And there wasn't even any applesauce!

Needless to say I will not go next year. I want homemade!!!

PS: I do make my own applesauce, hot apple slices, apple pie, apple kugel, etc. all from fresh local apples.

Water for Sudan

2 nights ago Jenny G and I went to a presentation about Salva Dut and his efforts to raise money for drilling water wells in the Sudan. The program, movie, and brief speeches from Salva Dut and 2 other Sudanese men were so inspirational that I have decided to spread the word about this worth while effort.

Salva Dut is one of the surviving Lost Boys of the Sudan, ( see this website http://www.lostboysfilm.com/ ) He and his team have been able to drill 29 wells in the Sudan to provide clean water for about 80,000 people. The availability of clean water has allowed villages to provide schools, markets, and stability to thousands of people. The people of the villages participate in the drilling and maintaining of the well once it is drilled.

I can not do this justice. Seeing the movie, available on DVD, and listening to Slava Dut are the best ways to understand how important the wells are to the Sudanese. How clean water can change the lives of thousands for the better.

Please go to the website http://waterforsudan.org/, the words there can better explain what I am trying to convey here.

some minor stuff...........

I closed my store August 30 and with that,,,,, thought I would have some time to do what has been neglected for 3 years...yard work, house cleaning, closet, cupboards and drawer organizing, all the mundane things that make a messy home not so messy. HA! G man, Double G and Jenny G all have a list of things for me to do for them. All of a sudden no one can do for themselves.....It's nice to be needed!!!!

We got the tail end of IKE....high winds which caused large tree branches to crash down upon the ground missing the hot tub by inches......thankfully that is all. Hopefully our yard guy will remove the debris.

3 of my dogs have diharrea....yuck.....stink ass, poop puddles, and dingleberries abound........the vet gave meds to help with the diarrhea........I caught Sammi eating the remains of a dead bird, which could be the reason the other dogs have been sick....they may have shared in the feast..........ugh, yuck, gross, thinking about it makes me wretch.......

Lucy our yellow lab, the most gentle, happy, kindhearted dogon earth........ was attacked by a German Shepard yesterday........G man was running with Jack and Lucy, the dogs can't keep up with him so he lets go of the leashes and the dogs are usually 10 yards behind. They do not stray and just run behind G man. Which was the routine last night. The damn German Shepard charged out of it's yard and attacked Lucy....she being docile just laid down on her back and didn't fight back.....according to the German Shepard's owner Jack got into the fight and caused a momentary halt to the attack so the owner, whom is 5 months pregnant, could grab her dog.....G man heard the woman scream and raced back to get our dogs..........she blamed everything on G man. The end of the story is the German Shepard owners do no believe in fences, or invisible fences because it makes dogs aggressive.....HAHAHAHAHAHA.... how stupid!!!!!!!..... your dog came out of your yard and bit my dog.......she said well my dog thought your dogs were strays.......what???????????...........Lucy is ok....I took her to the vet...she had a puncture wound that we will watch for infection.........I drove past the German Shepard's house today and threw imaginary eggs at it....I hope the paint peels.

G man sold his Audi convertible and surprised me with a new ( used, 2 year old, we don't buy new cars) car. He is trying to sell my G35x.......I am ok with that.......the new car is not as sporty.....but.......the seats are air conditioned and it has navigation, a back camera, satellite radio, blue tooth phone something or other, and really cool controls for stuff. The controls are hidden in secret panels. I love the color too.....a deep green with gold flecks........the interior is beige...nice.......the only bad thing is the cup holders suck. I guess one has to take the bad with the good. We are trying to down size....... car payments and insurance will be substantially lower because we will only have the new car and G man's car he uses for work.

Vegas was fun. I shopped a little, played slots a little, lost at three card poker, lost at casino war. How do you lose at casino war when you have a king. Well silly,,,, The F'ing casino gets an ACE that's how......three times in a row!!!!!!! I gave up gambling after that. The Beatles LOVE show was beyond fabulously fantastic. Emril's Delmonico restaurant was incredible..........food, service wine, coffee, not one bad thing.......I even saw almost all my boyfriends from across the country. Tony April, Freddie, Mike B, Eddie Tobey, and Eddie Meltzer. 2 of the guys were missing....Texas Tony and Puffy. It was nice to see them and laugh with them. Freddie was really buff too.....he is recently divorced and needs to look good.........he does.......and he feels good when ya hug him........They are all a bunch of sweethearts, hard working, mostly about business, but able to take time to indulge in laughter and fun. I just love those guys and their wives.

I am suppose to be working on our taxes....I have to go....

Big Horn Sheep on the Rocks....Valley of Fire

just in case you were wondering.....

I was at poolside in Las Vegas ALL day.....under an umbrella, on a large round day bed that had multiple positions.....drinking water and 1 $10.00 mojito......reading two books......97 degrees, sunny with a light breeze....the only thing I could ask for was G man next to me...he had to work the show.......poor guy.....


Pictures of big horn sheep to follow in a few days.....