Fried Fruitcake

I was feeling left out because Kimberly shows her cooking in her blog; I decided to attempt a very tricky recipe of my own invention I might note for FRIED FRUITCAKE. Be sure to follow my directions exactly to be sure you get nice toasty fruitcake not charred fruitcake.

First you go to Dollar General and get the Gourmet 1 pound fruitcake bar for $2.50.

Then you spray olive oil in the teflon coated frying pan.

Put in the fuitcake.

Watch carefully till it turns nice and brown.

Do not watch carefully and it will look like this.

Enjoy with a hot up of tea, coffee or bourbon :)

Who says I can't cook ?

Over The River and Through the Woods to Nana's House They Come

While singing this song to myself, I just realized after 60 plus years of singing it, it is sexist....to GrandMOTHER'S house we go. Oh, well maybe Grandpa was dead. That would be a tragedy at my house...NO ONE would come if Curtis weren't here to cook and pamper them.

We are on a countdown now. Thirty hours until daughter, Gabby and husband ungabby, son Gabbiest and daughter Gabbier arrive for the whole Thanksgiving holiday. Our list looks something like this:

Blow leaves off roof
Vacuum up lawn
Change all three beds even though they are clean
Mop upstairs bathrooms
Check expiration dates of all canned and dairy items
Get PopTarts for Kids
Get Large Applejuice for kids
Get Pepsi for Ungabby
Get stuff to make smores at campfire
make sticks to roast marshmellows on
vacuum whole house
wash all glass doors
bake cookies
make dinner for Wed. night

Gee, Curtis is going to be exhausted when they get here :)

But I will be ready to rock....sewing with kids, painting with kids, going for walks with kids....until other grand kids arrive and I am left in dust....exhausted.

Will have to get a good night's sleep Thurs. night because I have a command performance to to Christmas shopping Fri. AM....daughter will have a marathon schedule nailed down.

Toy's R us....7 am; Target 8am; Best Buy 9am and on and on and we will talk our heads off on the way there and on the way home and between assignments (she will assign me...."Mom, go to electronics ask for the rr2d2 player with the free game boy whatchama call it, be sure it is the 2009 version not last years....on second thought you go get the checkers and I'll get the technical stuff."

Thanksgiving 2008 style ya gotta love it!

Gabby Grandma

This is the way we clean our house, clean our house

clean our house, once every forty years....hubs and I are trying to remove some of the offending allergens and crud that has accumulated in our forty year old house. True, I am known as Nancy Neat, but I am always quick to point out I am NOT Cathy Clean. So a lot has gone undone in the name of travel, babysitting grand kids, volunteering, reading and just plain goofing off.

Oh my goodness....do you realize how long it takes to clean thirteen paneled doors with a wet rag? How about five bathrooms and six commodes....I mean down on my knees reaching all around the back....now I know why European toilets go back in the wall instead of down to the floor where little boys (and I think a few bigger boys) can whiz on the them.

Well, we are committed to getting this job done by Thanksgiving when we can truly give thanks we've got another 40 years to let it accumulate :)

Care Givers

Yesterday I had the distinct privilege of doing "stand up" comedy for a group of caregivers who were being treated to lunch by a local church. One of my "life goals" (aka bucket list items) is to do stand up comedy. Of course, this FREAKS my children OUT! (Picture my evil grin here)

Anyway, the point is, each of the people invited is taking care of someone for an indefinite length of time. One lady is taking care of a sister with Alzheimer's, one 87 year old man is taking care of a daughter with brain cancer, one their aged father etc.... I was really blessed to be there. The church members had really gone to a lot of trouble to make these "strangers" feel loved, welcomed, and special. We had games, delicious food, door prizes, some tips on stress relief, and of course the wonderful comedy of Las Donnamo. (my stage name)

This experience got me to thinking about "caregivers". Society today defines caregivers as the people I have described and has recognized their need for recognition and relief. (By the way there were CSI's taking care of the patients while the caregivers were at the luncheon, in case you wondered.) This is great BUT...

Every Mom and some Dad's are also caregivers. They are on call 24-7 from the child's birth until adulthood. When children are young, before school age, children must be supervised, fed, clothed, changed, potty trained etc... all day every day. Of course as they age the needs and demands change. No one seems to realize this is just as stressful as taking care of an older adult (at least they stay put, usually). I think we need to recognize mother-hood as just as crazy making as adult care giving. Give these Mom's time off and time out. Got any thoughts on this?

Memories Like the Corners of My Mind

Well you can be thankful you can't hear me singing the song. Barbra Streisand I am not. But I do love the words (and the melody) to that song. I guess the older we (I) get the more our memories mean to us. They take us back to the carefree days of childhood, youth, young love, and the way we were.

Saturday night my husband and I went to the annual reunion of our community school, Antioch School. The huge three story school with an auditorium and amphitheater was built in 1914 and torn down in 1953 to be replaced by a generic brick elementary school. Curtis' dad Roy graduated from Antioch as did his eight brothers and sisters. Curtis went there until it closed and his mother taught there. She also was the girls basketball coach, yearbook sponsor, Junior/Senior Prom Sponsor and Senior Trip Sponsor; oh, and did I mention she taught all the Math subjects from seventh grade thru twelfth. (And we modern day teachers complain about too many preps.)

I love hearing about The Glory Days of Antioch High, when boys were boys and girls were girls (no homosexuality) and all the children above average (no children left behind) :) May Poles, Cake Walks, Womanless Weddings, Halloween Carnivals, playing marbles, canning vegetables, fixing tractors, woodshop, they did it all. At the reunion the former students relive all of the above and more. (The times they got in trouble...so minor compared to today's Columbine type violence and mayhem.)

Everyday Curtis and I watch the Waltons instead of the news. I think this might mean we are living in the past; but, hey, what is wrong with that? The past is a lovely place. My children were little with little problems. My Mom and Dad and Rose were alive, we were young and hot to trot....

Memories, like the corners of my mind, misty watercolor memories, of the way we were.

Random Smandom

I've been trying to decide what to write about next :) I've decided; how about "random thoughts from a random mind?" No relation here to a beautiful mind....absolutely NONE! Trust me, on that one.

Okay, I am reading Forward From Here by Reeve Lindbergh. Daughter of Charles A. and Ann Morrow. Today she talks (writes) about writing tips she has gotten over the years. (This is her fifth book; who knew.) My favorite tip is, "Absolutely, no meanness" said Stuart Little. Now that is a rule to live by, folks! Remember this when your husband, or mother, or mother-in-law asks you something for the fiftieth time because they are deaf as a post, Absolutely NO meanness!

She also writes about her writer's group and all the pitfalls that go with one.....aka the reason I am not in one......but now.....blogging....= the best part of a writers' group....positive comments and Absolutely No Meanness! Thank you one and all, or is it two and three, of you who have responded to my blog. Even my daughter, Hagar, I mean Gabby (her real name) who has called me "Crazy Old Lady Blogger" or some such not exactly nice, maybe a little mean, and I did teach her better, comment. I have given her my password, mistake??, and now she comments under my name Donnamo.... in case you thought I had gone over the edge (which would not be far) and was responding to my own blog. Hmmmm.....she may be going to use this blog to get me in THE HOME.....but that costs money....and would eat up her inheritance..... she's probably just biding her time before carting me off.....oh I know....she'll wait until Curtis is dead....its cheaper....and he does take dern good care of me.

I recommend a fabulous blog turned into a book for all you blog reader/writers out there. Julie and Julia, by Julie somebody. This is a 30 year old temp sect'y in NYC who decides to cook thru Julia Child's book, The Art of French Cooking. Did I mention she knows nothing about cooking or a kitchen? Please note I was so inspired by the book I have cooked three meals in three days. Most of you know; I conned my husband into thinking we made a vow at the altar that I would cook the first 25 years of our marriage and he the next 25. It is now year 43....do the math.... I haven't cooked for..........years now. Gabby, do not comment on how grateful you are or you WILL be Hagar again. (I think my husband is going along with this ruse because he prefers his own cooking!?!)

Well, that is enough randomness for today. Hope your day is well, random, and funny and there is absolutely NO MEANNESS!