Fast and Furious Meals

Last night we had a small group of the Relief Society Sisters over for a demonstration on how to make meals in 30 minutes. Colette was nice enough to cook us a ham and cheese casserole and give us a lot of good suggestions. My favorite one was to buy orange sauce in the Chinese section of the grocery store and put it on chicken and veggies. She apologized for not having much time to put her demonstration together, but she had put together a website with some recipes for us. It is http://fastandfuriousmeals.blogspot.com/.  I thought 19 recipes posted on a brand new website was quite a bit of work for a few days notice!

P.S. Notice who I picked up at the airport yesterday afternoon--Crystal! Yea! Crystal is home for two weeks!

New Jeans

About 6 months ago I got rid of the last pair of 'skinnier' jeans in  my closet. I said, "Who are you kidding? You'll never fit into those again!" But, after 2 months of dieting I had to go to the store and buy a smaller pair of jeans! I don't want this to be a diet blog, because then it will also be about getting fatter if I stop dieting, but it's been so much fun to notice small changes as I diet. We've been doing a family diet, which has been very motivating. Doing it together has kept us on target.

While Ed and I have both lost 15-18 pounds, I have been more enthusiastic about it. I love looking better and feeling better. Ed doesn't mind being thinner, but he misses the 'old days' where we used to eat everything in sight whenever we felt like it. He's afraid those days are gone forever. I'm afraid they might not be!

Taking Care of Horses

Tuesday was my last day to take care of the horses. Lenny is recovered from his surgery and back on the job. And just in time, I might add! Look at the frost on the ground! Bamby looks like she wants to say, "It's bad enough that there is only an inch of grass out there, now you have to cover it with a layer of ice!"

Mr. Genes waited in the barn while I took our picture together. He had finished his oats and couldn't wait to get out the the hay rack before the other horses ate his share!

Mr. Genes, Coco and Bali were happily munching away as I left. Bamby, the "grande dame" of the farm, enjoys her spot alone on the other side of the rack. That way the hoi polloi (me) is not treated to the privilege of watching her eat.

Doing our Civic Duty

I took Miss Carol over to the polling place this morning, where we both voted. We're proudly wearing our "I Voted" stickers. Early voting in MD is no picnic. There is only one polling place in the county, which made the lines hours long. We were happy that the line at the school today was short. I guess everyone else voting early helped us out!

Now I have to go home and not turn on the TV. I get too nervous about the outcome. Hopefully, it will all be over tomorrow. The worst outcome could be another month of vote counting like we had in 2000! I hope never to have to live through that again!

House Concert

Our friends, Cindy and Glen, hosted a house concert Friday night for singer-songwriter, Dave Nachmanhoff. It was a terrific evening. Dave is a terrific guitarist, who travels with Al Stewart. He also writes and records a lot of his own music. His songs tell stories, and his introductions to them were just as entertaining. My favorite song was about the day his house was broken into and they stole all his instruments except the banjo and the accordion. He promises he was not making this up! Thanks to my friend, Kaylene, for remembering a camera and taking my picture!

Dave's website is: http://www.davenach.com/, just in case you're curious who he is!

Walking After the Storm

Friday Suzanne and I took the dogs out walking on the fire trail. Harper hadn't been out for an entire week. Coda had been lucky to get out to the farm twice a day even during the hurricane, so I didn't feel too sorry for her. There were several trees that had fallen down during the storm, right across the trail. Suzanne laughs when I tell her I'm afraid of getting killed by a falling tree. I thought this was just more proof of that danger. She suggested that as long as I don't go hiking during a hurricane the odds are still in my favor!

Notice my nice, bright new vest. I'm also hedging my bets, as hunting season has started, and I don't want any bow hunters mistaking me for a deer!

Atticus, the Musical Cat

I went to Amanda's vocal lesson with her today and got to share the couch with her teacher's cat. It was a very friendly cat named Atticus. He's a Snow Leopard Bengal. You have to actually pay money to get a cat with that kind of pedigree. But, if you could be guaranteed it would have such a nice personality it might be worth the cost!