Here comes the bride….

Don’t you just love wedding pictures?  This is Mandi and Nisha at Mandi’s wedding in October.  Nisha and I have been friends forever, I’ve known Mandi since she was a toddler.  The first time I ever met her she was 18 months old, and Ryan was 24 months.  Ry was a happy little guy whose vocabulary mostly consisted of “John do it.”  Meaning John, his three year older brother. 

Nisha brought Mandi to our house at Christmas time, I’ll never forget that little elf of a girl, running toward me in a pink coat with that sweet little face peeking out of a fur hoodie.  She was absolutely adorable.  Nish said to her, “Mandi, recite the Night Before Christmas for Jan.”  And that little baby opened her mouth and out came the entire story.  “Twas the night before Christmas and all thru the house…”

Well, you can imagine, I was totally blown away.  Ryan was sitting in the floor just looking at her, and I thought, OMG, this is a child prodigy.  We love that story, it was just unreal how precocious she was.  And just look at her now…

These are proofs, so quality is a bit fuzzy, but don’t they look amazing?  Beautiful bride, beautiful mother, wonderful friends, I’m blessed to have them in my life…. 

I was SO glad to come home and get my bra off....

Bet you're all smiling, you know exactly what I mean....  I've had the day from hell!!!

Sinus headache out the wazoo, meds not helping but I had to go to the grocery store.  Hooterville has had me on the hunt for Sierra Mist Diet Cranberry Splash.  She told me about it last week, and since I'm a cranberry freak, I can't wait to try it, but  I can't find it anywhere. She said Wally World had it, so I was off to the land of the rednecks in search of it.

O-M-G,  Wally World on a Friday afternoon in December.  What a nightmare!  But then it's a nightmare any time you go there. Oh, how I hate the place, but the prices are good, so I go...

Anyhoo, after circling for fifteen minutes, for real I did, there wasn't  parking spot to be had, so I finally said "screw it" and parked in a striped spot.  And did they have Diet Cranberry Blast.  Of course not...  All they had was the fully leaded, which I'm sure was lots better, but who wants to give up 160 calories for a can of soda?

So I'm back in the car, on my Blackberry, calling the other grocery stores on the west side of Heavensville, nobody has it, grrrrrrr, so I end up at Schnucks desperate for something different than Diet Coke. 

I spot Diet 7-up Pomegranate, and Diet Cherry 7-up, throw them in my cart, along with some Diet Sunkist for LC, come home, pulling that damned bra off as I walk thru the kitchen.  I unload all the stuff, fix myself a glass of the Pomegranate, with an Advil Cold and Sinus chaser, and ya know what, it's good, it's really good. After the day I've had, it would be even better with a healthy splash of vodka!

It's probably not as good as the elusive Cranberry Splash, but hey, tomorrow is another day.  I'll put my bra back on and go on the hunt again.  I'm a woman on a mission...

WOW!!!

Carlene sent me a link this morning to an awesome Christmas cooking site.  It's a must see!

Here's the CLICK!!

Thanks for the giggle, Carlene

Dear Santa,

Please send me a baby brother.

  Santa wrote back:
"Send me your mother..."

We've come a long way, baby...

What's not to love about this....

Miss Hilda's Popcorn Cake

2 teaspoons plus ¼ cup vegetable oil
12 cups popped popcorn (plain, unsalted and unbuttered)
2 cups M & M candies
1 cup lightly salted cocktail peanuts
1 stick unsalted butter
1 pound marshmallows

Grease a large tube or bundt cake pan with 2 teaspoons of the oil. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix the popped corn with the M & Ms and the peanuts.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, oil, and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When melted, pour over the popcorn mixture, and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared cake pan, pressing down to fit. Cover with aluminum foil to keep moist.

Let sit for 3 to 4 hours, or until firm and set.

To serve, invert the cake pan onto a large plate or platter. Shake gently to release.

Serve at room temperature.
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, originally appearing in Emeril's "There's a Chef in My Family," HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2004, courtesy Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

A couple of online shopping tips....

If you're like me, nothing beats sitting in your jammies, sipping a cup of coffee and ordering Christmas presents online.  It's so easy, and it's always a kick when the UPS man comes...

When you place an order, you're checking out, and there is usually a little box that says promotion code, or coupon - well, they didn't put that there for fun, girlfriends.  You can usually go to Google, put in the name of the website you're ordering from, with the word coupon after it or if that doesn't work try code, or promotion code and numbers to put in those little boxes and save you $$$$ will show up in your Google search.

Just yesterday I ordered a Peticure Petite for the M&M's.  And, I found this site, it's called, asseenontvguys.com,  they sell all those hokey infomercial items for less money than other websites.  I've read on the Yorkie forums that the Peticure doggie nail dremel is a good product, and since it's so hard for me to clip Yorkie nails, I'm always afraid I will clip too close, I ordered one.  And  I saved $10 by ordering it from the assseenontavguys, versus buying it elsewhere online, and I Googled for a coupon and got another 10% off...  I just Googled asseenontvguys coupon, and wahlaa, discount coupons appeared...

I know, you're all rolling your eyes at the thought of this informercial "junque," but hey, some of it works.  As a spoof last year, I bought my guys Ove Gloves, after Nisha clued me on to them, and guess what, huge hit, the things work great for grabbing hot things from the oven.

Just a little tip for you.  I'm doing some on-line ordering this morning,don't worry, no more infomercial items, I'm not usually into the cheesy stuff,  but just thought I would get the rest of you a heads-upon saving a few $$$$...

Sandwich Spread

Barb just emailed me the following recipe, it was a big hit at her house at Thanksgiving.  Everybody was loving it on their turkey and ham sandwiches.  Sounds great, doesn't it?

8 oz.mustard
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbs horseradish
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

Knit and purl.....

My buddy V is a great knitter.  I've wanted to knit forever, tried it a couple of years ago, but the timing was off, decided to try it again, bought some soft, fuzzy yarn, fired up my computer, went to you tube, found a left handed knitting tutorial.  Well, it looks so easy, NOT!  Decided I had the wrong kind of yarn, so I was off to Wally World for some plain, generic non fuzzy yarn and bigger needles, by the time I got back I was too tired to knit.

I used to be a great crafter, and I crocheted afghans in my twenties, but duh, that was years and years ago...  Surely I can do this, surely I can..

Stella is trying to get her groove back here, after being gone, I have to get those Christmas recipes published - V gave me a new one today for an amazing sounding Snowy Trail Mix to add to the collection.  And Lindsay found a recipe for an Orange Cranberry Cheesecake, she wants me to try for Christmas.

Those Cranberry Bliss Bars were so good, it makes us want to try other orange-cranberry things as well.  Orange-cranberry scones and muffins sound good, too. 

If you want something special this Christmas make those cranberry bliss bars, ladies, I'm telling you they are amazing.  John (eldest son) loved them, he couldn't get enough of them.  I think he's going to make them and take to the office this month to share.

And speaking of food, do you know that I ate my entire birthday cake over the course of the week?  I did, except for one last piece!  And I wish I had ate that!  Dilly is a great little baker, and I hadn't had homemade German Chocolate Cake for years.  And what did the scales say when I got home?  Oh yeah, Miss Piggy here gained 3 lbs.  And let me tell you, it was worth every friggin' pound.  So now I'm back on that horrid Atkins program, which I detest with a purple passion.  Oh well, it was good while it lasted...

Rattlesnake Pasta

I posted it for you on Jan Can Cook.  Here's the click - This is so good, you have no idea how good!

Honey, I'm home.......

I'm back in Heavensville, playing catch-up right now, but posting a great recipe for Rattlesnake Pasta later today - it's great for dinner guests this holiday season.  In the meantime, here's a *giggle* for you...

We’ve had some yummy food….

I’m still visiting Ryan and Lindsay in Versailles.  John left today, hubby left yesterday, Ry and Linds are taking me back to Heavensville tomorrow.  It’s been a week of great food, ladies, Atkins bit the dust with a big kerthud!

Since we had Thanksgiving Dinner on Wednesday, Thursday Ry decided to roast a Turducken (turkey, stuffed with chicken, stuffed with duck).  He’s wanted to do it for years, we were all skeptical, but it was great.  Definitely worth repeating…  Click on the picture to see a close-up view of it, and yep, it tasted as good as it looked! In the background you see scalloped potatoes, laced with cream and cheddar cheese and seasoned with fresh bay leaves and thyme, and decadent corn muffins from a Williams-Sonoma cooking class, recipes for both of these soon….

I’ll be back to my regular routine, shortly…  Hope you all have had a great holiday!!!

Hugs from the cow pasture…

~ jan

What a true computer geek gets for her birthday….

Not one, but two terabyte external harddrives.  I opened one, and it was like yessssss, I opened the next one, and it was like, huh?

Well, it does make perfect sense.  If I’m backed up on one and it bites the dust, I’m toast…. But if I have two with the same data on them, I’m covered.

Yep, works for me…  Who woulda thunk it, me, a net head, in my soon to be golden years…..

Happy Turkey Day from the Dish….

Happy Birthday to me….

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too--yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

 

Today’s the day, nono, I’m not having the big “6O”, that’s not til’ next year, let’s not rush it, okay… 

We’re in Versailles for Thanksgiving, John is on his way, Linds made me a German Chocolate cake and these sublime  Cranberry Bliss Bars, the ones from Starbucks that are sooooo good.  I found a recipe for them last year, and it’s a dead ring for Starbucks.  Want the recipe???  Sure thing, I posted it on Milly Scraps, you can access it HERE.

Here’s the cake, looks yummy, huh?  No recipe for it, but it’s the one on the back of the Baker’s German Chocolate.  Mother made me German Chocolate cakes for years, it was a hard decision,  Lemon Meringue Pie or German Chocolate Cake…. As you can see, the cake won.  Wish you could all eat a piece with me…

And dinner tonight?  Ribs and kraut, mashed potatoes and creamed corn.  Ry’s cooking!!! 

Interesting article from New York Magazine

All the latest in Plastic Surgery, aka Jan is busy and doesn’t have time to blog… Still it’s a good read….  Here’s the click

 

Old Fashioned Thanksgiving…

Did any of you watch this last night on the Hallmark Channel???

It was awesome, if you missed it, you missed a good one.  It was a period piece, based on a story by Louisa May Alcott.  It wasn’t sappy, or heaven forbid, “cute”,  it was really, really good!  So many times I get excited about a movie, and it’s just totally lame, not this one, it will be a classic…

Jacqueline Bisset is such a great actress.  You can read her interview with Liz Smith about the movie here.

4 Stars on this one….

And, if you link to the article, it’s located on a great site, the name is WOWOWOW, The Women on the Web.  It’s a site for women with substance!  This one is definitely worth a bookmark girlfriends!

Jan being catty… who, me??? nah, just tellin’ it the way it is…

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.

We’ve all done it,  a woman makes an “entrance” and of course we stop, dead still, check her out from head to toe.  Gotta see what all the “look” is all about…  It happened to me yesterday at T. J. Maxx.

I was headed toward the front and all of a sudden there she was.  Scarf tied around her head doo rag style, but it was long and flowy like a gypsy scarf, huge hoop earrings, great body, tight, tight, jeans tucked into knee-high white leather stiletto boots, cute bomber jacket, great cashmere sweater, amazing jewelry, prerequisite oversized saddlebag designer bag, lots of eye makeup.

Sooooooo,  did she make the cut?  After all, you know how much I like the trashy look.

Ummmmm, she was pushing 60…  Did she look hot???  No, she looked silly.  Twenty years ago she would have looked awesome, though…

Just an observation…

A tug at the heartstrings, for both me and Maggie…

It’s cold now, I put sweaters on the M&M’s when they go outside, Maggie has a whole wardrobe, but Mollie is too thick thru the middle for Mag’s clothes, she looks like a little stuffed snausage in them.

I had hubby go into the attic this morning for the box of Munchie’s clothes, I couldn’t bear to part with them, and I knew  some of them would work for Mollie.

I was sitting on the couch, he handed me the box, I started to open it and Maggie went crazy.  She was barking, and barking and running circles, and when I opened the box, she was sniffing those clothes frantically, she smelled Munchie on them…

Oh my, talk about bittersweet, I picked Maggie up, tears streaming down my face, gave her a long snuggle, took a deep breath and tried them on Mollie.

She looked adorable, of course.  And it’s okay, now.  The moment passed…I like to think that Munchie would like for me to share her things with Mollie…

For the guys….

Jean sent me a great oldie car site  today.  If you have a guy in your life that grew up in the 50’s or the 60’s, have him link to this.  He’ll love it!  It takes a while to watch it, but it’s a goodie… Great music, too!!!

Here’s the CLICK…