Another Hot Weather "Recipe"

Mr. Sweetie was gone a few weeks ago and it was too hot to cook for Lil Sweetie and I, so we made muffin tin meals.  Have you heard of these?  You put a bunch of finger foods in a muffin tin and call it dinner.  There are whole websites devoted to this idea--can you believe it?  The attraction for me was that it was quick, easy, and we could make it relatively healthy.  Here's a glimpse:

We put cheese, salami, carrots, celery, cucumbers, ranch dressing, tiny baby grapes, blueberries, crackers, and ok, I'll admit, a couple of cookies in ours.  And if you choose the right glass, your drink will fit in one of the holes as well.  Lil Sweetie loved helping make it, and gobbled up everything except for a couple of the crackers.  It was quite satisfying and also portable...next time we are late to something and I have to feed Lil Sweetie in the car, I just might try this in lieu of a drive-thru window somewhere.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

For starters, I didn't have a summer vacation.  Wah!  I did go to Denver on a business trip, where I saw this bewildering sign:

Since I couldn't figure out how to obey this sign, I rebelled and did a double pirourette in the street. 

One of the Leaders of the Free World, my dear friend Tina Babe, drove down (up? over?) from Colorado Springs just to see little ol' me.  Wasn't that nice?  We had a nice visit, even if I did dribble mocha frappucino down my kiwi green sweater set.  (I am just SO classy!)

Speaking of classy, this is the only way to travel:

My work is taking cost-cutting measures to the extreme:

I started art journaling (poorly, I might add):

An hour, a paper punch, and a Company Store catalog can be mildly therapeutic:

We explored new breakfast ideas:

The hubs sent me flowers:

I had another surgery on my monster eyeball:

And I avoided being eaten by a vampire:

How was your summer?

Slack Ass Pie

It is hotter than lava-coated hell out there, y'all.  I am not a warm weather kind of gal.  Give me the dreary gray chill of November any day.  So I have not been a happy little camper lately.

It is against my religion to turn the oven on when the outside temperature is over 90 degrees, so Mama doesn't do much any baking in the summer.  Aw, who am I kidding?  I barely do any cooking at all.  The only way I find summer the least bit bearable is to become completely sloth-like and move as little as possible until late September.

So I thought I would share my recipe for Slack Ass Pie.  This recipe is one of those things where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  Really.  I wouldn't lie about ice cream sandwiches--I'm not a heathen!

Here's the recipe...

Take a pan (9x13, 8x8, loaf pan, whatever, it really doesn't matter) and cover the bottom with ice cream sandwiches.  You may have to cut some up to completely cover the bottom.  Then cover them with a layer of Cool Whip.  Squirt some chocolate syrup and caramel ice cream topping on top...just squiggle it on.  If you wanted to, it would probably be yummy to sprinkle some nuts or crumbled up Oreos or chopped up candy bars in there, but I'm a purist so I can't personally recommend it.  Then do the whole thing again--another layer of ice cream sandwiches, Cool Whip, and chocolate and caramel sauce.  Cover it and stick it in the freezer until you are ready to eat. 

Honestly, some kind of magic happens in the freezer and it all kinda melds together into a yummy mess of goodness.  I'm told this will last quite a while in the freezer if you cover it good, but we've always gobbled it up too soon to find out.

This recipe will take you less than 20 minutes, start to finish, and you will barely even break a sweat, even if it is 105 outside.  You're welcome.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

The times, they are a'changin', that's for sure.  The past three months have been just chock full of changes, and it has taught me a valuable lesson.  I used to think of myself as someone who could roll with the punches, who welcomed change, but now I know that is complete and utter BS.  Change stinks.  It's difficult and messy.  I do not like it, Sam-I-Am, I do not like to change, by damn!

I guess it all started when my much-admired Boss Lady announced her resignation.  I loved my job as the number two lawyer, and I loved working for Boss Lady.  I was quite happy with things the way they were.  Boss Lady's leaving put me into a tail spin--I wasn't sure I wanted her job but I didn't want to work for a doofus.  I finally decided to apply and after much trials and tribulation, was promoted into the job.  Now I'm the supervisor of three employees and the head lawyer for my employer.  Holy crap!

Still, other than losing my beloved sainted sister-in-law to cancer, most of the changes in my life have been positive ones.  I shouldn't complain about getting a promotion at work or having to buy a new car to replace my hail-damaged one.  These are first-world problems for sure.  But I liked my old job and my old car, and I feel like I shed a perfectly good, comfortable coat for one that I'm not sure fits or is my style.  I hope that one day I will look back on this period of my life as a time of great growth and opportunity, and see that all this stress was merely growing pains.

I Had a Beautiful Memory

Memory Ann Bledsoe

1959-2010

 My much beloved sister-in-law and friend, auntie extraordinaire, you took care of the world but it could no longer take care of you.  Rest well, dear friend, and save us a good seat on the whale boat.  We'll always have Alaska and our memory of you.

Where the Hell Have I Been?

I have been inside my head, mostly, working through a few things. Letting some dreams go, dreaming some new dreams, and working through how to make some dreams come true. Feeling some things that have needed expression for a long time. Grieving some things. Creating some things that are just for me. Exploring my inner landscape. Taking a good, hard look at myself. Deciding to love some things that need loving, and let go of some things that need to be gone. Reclaiming my sovereignty and my power to banish things from my life that aren’t working. Finding the energy and strength to overcome the inertia that has overtaken my life. Sweeping cobwebs from my mind.

Confronting Prejudice

The family and I were at a local restaurant, chatting away while waiting for our food to arrive.  In the booth facing ours was an older gentleman who, I began to notice, was making faces at Lil Sweetie.  He would wave, smile, wink--anything to get Lil Sweetie to respond.  I kept a discreet but watchful eye, trying to determine if he was a perv or just a friendly old fart.  At one point, Lil Sweetie said, "Do I even KNOW that guy?" 

Eventually our food came and we dug in.  While we were waiting for our tab, the elderly gentleman got up from his booth and headed directly toward ours.  I tried really hard not to make eye contact, hoping he would pass us by.  It was not to be--he was making a beeline straight for us.  I smiled but inside I was cringing, thinking, "Oh no, this old geezer is not going to understand my family.  He is going to assume that Lil Sweetie is a foster child or ask what country she is from or something equally stupid."  But to my surprise, he complimented Lil Sweetie on her manners, stating that he could tell that her parents (gesturing to me and Mr. Sweetie) were raising her right.  He then went on his merry way, while I sat there shamefaced, realizing that the prejudice I was forced to confront that day was my own.