True Friendship

Today I received another notice of a donation being made to the Comanche Public Library in memory of my mother. This time a letter was enclosed with the note. Margaret, the librarian had received it with the donation and thought we would enjoy reading it. I did! The donation was from my dearest, life-long, friend, the other Cindy. We were known as the two Cindy's, and as Cindy said, "what a pair we were"! Oh, did we ever have fun back then. We knew every little secret about each other. And talk!!!!! Her father could never understand how come we had soooo much to say to each other on the phone after we had been together all day. Before we left for our separate colleges, yes, the two inseparable Cindy's had chosen different colleges! Anyway, before we left, we made a mexican dinner for our parents. We worked all day on that meal. Made with our very own hands! Looking back, we didn't have a whole lot of cooking experience, so I'm not sure how edible it was. But, our parents thought it was fantastic because, after all, that's what parents say! We even made homemade pralines. Here's a picture taken after the meal. That's my mother on the far left, Cindy, Cindy's mom, Betty and her dad, Jim. Remember, this was the early 70's, so the photo quality isn't the best.



Here's Cindy with her mother. I've got a picture like this of me and my mother, but couldn't find it. Betty was like a second mom to me. Cindy and I were either at her house or at mine, very seldom were we apart. She lived so far out in the country that when we were in school with all our activities, it was often easier for her to stay with me.



This picture was taken in front of Cindy's house. Notice the wide open space!!! Not a house for miles.




Now, you want to hear something funny??? Cindy, who was raised in the country with all the fresh air and space, now lives in Houston! Oh, she might tell you that she lives in a small little town just outside of Houston, but that would be close to a lie. She lives in the hustle and bustle of a big town with all the traffic and road construction of a constantly growing city. And me, well, I've finally moved to the country. And on top of that, we just bought 100 acres farther away from town. Maybe someday I'll finally have that nice little farm I've always wanted.

Mother passed away three weeks ago on March 14. She was the greatest mother and inspiration to us all. Jennifer gave such a beautiful eulogy at the funeral. What she wrote and said about mother was so true. Please take a moment and go over and read her post. We are going to miss a beautiful and wonderful woman.

Birthday Boy

Isn't he just the cutest one year old???? We had a great birthday party and I'll share more later when I've got more time. He really enjoyed his cake!

Cooking with Pressure

Growing up, my mother always cooked with a pressure cooker. I realize everyone thinks their mother is the best cook, but my mother really is the best! My family loves her carrots (and they really don't even like carrots!). I think it must be because she cooked them in a pressure cooker. Everything just tastes better. I bought an electric pressure cooker this year and it is my favorite cooking utensil! Everything I have made in it comes out tender and tasty. Here's what it looks like:



Tonight I fixed pork chops and in 20 minutes, we had delicious, fall off the bone, pork chops. I changed one of our favorite recipes for the cooker. Here's the original:

Glazed Pork Chops

2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients together and spread on pork chops. Bake uncovered at 250 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn chops over, spoon dripping over. Cook for 15 minutes. Increase oven to 350 degrees and cook 15 more minutes.

For the Pressure cooker, I just placed the pork chops in it, sprinkled the mixture over it, added 6 ounces of pineapple juice and cooked on high for 20 minutes. Very good. In fact, once again, I failed to take pictures, we were too busy eating!
Super easy!

Weekend of Painting

Hope B and K don't mind, but I thought I would post a few pictures showing the progress of their house.
Here's a picture of the front:





The Back:




Just look at that pretty roof line.





Here's one of the aliens painters. You can't tell from the picture, but he is really up high on the ladder.




Living in West Texas, you always have to deal with the wind. Here's a picture of the super-heroes, Fantastic Four, trying to master the tyvec and the wind. I'm not sure, but the wind may have been the winner.



Now take a look at their view from the back upstairs window. This may be Kellie's office. If it was mine, I'm not too sure I would get much work done!



It's amazing how much progress is made in just a week's time.

No More Wash Day Blues

Look what I got! If you don't know me, you should know I'm pretty frugal. So, when our washer gave out, we went looking for a new one and decided to get a new dryer to match. Now, my old dryer wasn't broken, so to buy a new one just because I was getting a new washer was really hard on me. That being said, look at what I ended up buying.

Dear, sweet husband did a lot of persuasive talking on this. (He's the big spender in the family.) He kept telling me that it would make my work so much easier. Then when he got to the part about saving money because it doesn't use much water and the dryer time is shorter because of the efficiency, well he nearly had me. After all, we're on a septic system so less water is better for that, too. But, when he reminded me that most of our company enter through the garage entrance which comes right through the laundry room, well, he had me! I have to admit, it's making my laundry chore much easier. I do feel guilty when I think of the money spent. After all, it's just the two of us. It's really fancy smancy! When I put the first load in, I couldn't even turn it on! I kept pushing the start button and nothing! Then Mike said, "Look, it's got a power button, too. Maybe you better push that one first." It has steam for the washer and steam for the dryer! Way too complicated!


Look at all those buttons!!! That first load, we just kept watching the washer. Boy, have we got to get a life!!! Anyway, I am enjoying them and spending a lot less time doing laundry which gives me more time to do the things I like. What a life!

Week in Review

You all know that wonderful feeling you have when you come home and know that supper is fixed because you put it in the crockpot that morning? Well, that's what I did for half of the dinner I was planning on feeding the bunco group. At 3:30 when I walked in the door expecting that great aroma, instead, I was met with that horrible stench of burnt food! I couldn't believe it! I had put the crockpot on high instead of low! I went into high gear and started looking through the pantry trying to find something to fix. I had made a batch of black eye pea gumbo and it was in the refrigerator. Since I hadn't doubled the recipe, it would not be enough for twelve women. I started another pot of potato soup in the pressure cooker. I didn't have enough ingredients for a large pot, so I had to find something else to fix. I had all the makings for a quick chicken tortilla soup, so I made that, too. After getting all these started, I then realized I should have just ordered some pizzas. It would have been much easier! Oh well, everything turned out okay and we had a great Mardi Gras time.

Mike has been sick with the flu all week, but he got me some wonderful chocolate covered strawberries for Valentine's day. Isn't that sweet? I didn't think to take a picture until I was eating the last one! So, I put it on this pretty plate that my son and daughter-in-law gave me for Christmas. Isn't that pretty?

A Few Things I've Been Working On

It's been a busy 2008! I think I'm finally getting caught up at work. Of course, it's the weekend, and when I get to work tomorrow, I'll be behind again! hehehe Oh well, that's life!

Mike's cousin, David and his wife,Mary, came for a visit this past week. They're from Wisconsin and we had met them briefly back in 1988 at a wedding. We tried showing them a real Texan time! Mike and his brother, Pete, took them to Frontier Texas. That is really a great place! Pete took them to a few other places of interest and then we all met at Perini's Steak House for dinner. What a great meal! Texas at it's best!!! I think we even got Mary to say ya'll a few times. The weather was great (I think we broke a record with 85°) and when they got home she said the wind chill was minus 40°! Here we are having dinner at the steak house.

I've been working on a few things for an auction for my granddaughter's school. I doubt if they'll bring much, but I enjoyed doing them. The first picture are some burp cloths and a blanket for a baby girl and the second one are some for a baby boy.

I have bunco at my house this Tuesday, so don't know when I'll get to post again!