Thank you to all........

.......who entered the Name That Crab Contest.






A winner will be announced before the rooster crows!

Girls Night Out

That was the plan anyway, and believe me when I say Grandma J let's nothing get in the way of a good time.

This post might be a bit long, so go fix that chocolate martini, pour that carafe of wine, or pop open a nice cold brewski. Now pull up a chair and relax, and don't waste too much time or you'll miss the nine o'clock mass golf tournament on TV in the morning.

Since I'm moving at the end of the month, and I'm supposed to drive to Tucson June 1st with my granddaughter and JJ co-piloting, then continuing on to Las Vegas, things were getting a bit hairy and hectic. Normally juggling and multi-tasking is my middle name, but my Vegas buddy, (1SGT John's mommy) is heading to Miami the second week in June, and with the H1N1 swine flu floating around, I figured the scheduling was just too hectic to even pursue. So, I made a deal with my granddaughter. We'd scratch the trip, and I would take her shopping at her favorite mall in Austin, because it's only 77.3 miles away. Not only would I take her to her favorite mall, I would let her buy all the Wet 'n Wild makeup that she can fit in her Coach purse some new summer clothes. And, she could bring a friend.

The deal was cut immediately without any need for negotiations....and we were off.

The girls decided that it would be more fun if we flew down I-35 with all the windows down....and the moon roof open! Then we played loud Country Western music as we sang, la....la...la...la, all the way to Austin.

See? la...la....la.....la!

Then we switched to show tunes....because granddaughter's BFF is quite the dramatic singer...la....la....la....la!

Grandma J was happy as a pig in manure, because for the first time in ages, she recognized the music, and sang along.....la....la....la....la.



When we got to the mall Grandma J left the girls in Nordstrom's as she headed off to J C Penney's Coldwater Creek and Macy's.

We met back at square one when the mall closed, with square one being the Jr. department of Nordstrom's. We were all hungry, and decided to have a good all American Mexican dinner at Abuelo's.

The girls had piña coladas ............



Dinner with plenty of shrimp, fajitas, guacamole and maraschino cherries wasn't complete without plenty of chocolate. Yes, they sat this close throughout the meal, even though we had a huge booth.

We get back on the road at about 10:30 PM........that's when the real fun began.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grandma J decides to take the back roads home because it's really dark and isolated bound to excite the girls and maybe they will want to open the windows again and sing kumbaya show tunes, and giggle.




Here is the route to Heaven paved with chocolate the mall. Just your routine 77.3 miles of good old I-35.



This is Grandma J's big idea of a fun drive home....did I mention it was 10:30 at night? Did I forget to say that the alternate route is a two lane highway? How about the fact that Texas doesn't have any stimulus money for street lights...because Texans don't like payback. OK, I made that part up.



All of a sudden the light became dark, and the singers fell asleep were rendered mute, and Grandma J's bright idea was snuffed out in an instant when she came upon a closed road.....because a bridge was out. Back peddling wasn't a big problem, but it was a problem just the same. Big or small, a problem is a problem. There aren't too many FM routes on my way home, but there are plenty of CR roads, but many go nowhere, and this wasn't the time to explore.....I save those trips for JJ. Grandma J wasn't lost in the official sense of the word....besides, she has GPS. Even though it's always been a real friend to Grandma J......last night her GPS asked for a PIN NUMBER! Huh?


That's what made the alternate route a bit unpredictable. Grandma J kept a keen eye on her compass.....because it said she was definitely heading S/E instead of north. Clinging to the E part of S/E, Grandma J forged ahead......into the light. Yeah, when you are on rural roads, a town several miles ahead can be detected by a glow off in the distance, but you knew that.


So with the surroundings looking familiar, excitement filled the air, and Grandma J started singing show tunes as she went faster and faster....

That's when the red and blue lights started flashing, and the party was over.

The officer told Grandma J that she was going 67 mph in a 45mph zone.

Are you wondering how Grandma J got away with just a warning?

She cried like a baby. Yes, she did.

Step Into My Kitchen

As you know, Pioneer Woman had a contest, inviting four bloggers to her ranch to cook with the infamous Barbarella Bakerella. I missed the cut.

I've been following Ree since October of 2006, and I can remember getting so excited when she'd have a name that photo contest for a $25 gift card out of her junk drawer. And then over the years she became so dang popular, and her blog blossomed into cooking, and remodeling, and castrations, and birthing of calves. Her blog is so big....like world reknown, and her contest prizes are now over the moon! Ser.i.ous.ly. But I don't go gaga over Mixmasters and Porsches.

Cooking with Ree on the ranch was a contest I wanted to win. But I didn't, so I decided to be there in a virtual sense.


Wanna join me?





We made cupcake ball things...These are the ones I made...in my humble not so upscale kitchen.

Let me give you a few step by step photos. I know you want actual lessons but it would be less that tactful for me to cut and paste the whole thing from The Pioneer Woman's blog. Ummm, yeah, I could do that for you, but really? You can get a much better tutorial from P-Dub herself. Let's just pretend we were at the big bash at the ranch.



These are my balls.....you know, the end result of crumbling up cake and mixing it with frosting. Then you make little balls by rolling dough with your hands...and refrigerate while you go wash your car, but then if it rains you take a nap.


I wanted to make some special treats for St. Patrick's Day, so I used green and white melt away chocolate. This is what they look like after you drop them in melted green chocolate. Mine are a bit messy and crooked because I spiced up the process by pretending I was playing beer pong.

After the green stuff hardens up, you take the little cupcake papers off and dip the top part in melted white chocolate.

I then make little shamrocks out of fondant. I have never used fondant, and could have easily made shamrocks with plain old green icing using a decorating bag. But....I bought the fondant so I could pretend I won the "come to the ranch contest follow along with Ree and the winners.



First I rolled little bitty balls with my fingers and spaced them like this.



Then I smashed them ever so gently with the new fondant smasher I bought in case I won the contest.




This is what the ended up looking like when finished. A bit on the sloppy side, but hey......





I wrapped them with love, and I will deliver them to my daughter tomorrow. She will probably bring them to work and tell her boss she made them....or not.

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL...is AWOL

Well not really, she's just too busy for blogging trivial stuff. Who the heck am I talking about? Why it's the person who talked my into blogging, and the girl who's diapers I changed, just twenty-one years ago, practicing for my next three babies.

That's right, it's Heart Shaped Hedges herself. Not only is she busy with her three children, and with two of them in school, swimming and soccer, there is only a sliver of time left for becoming a National, award winning, top performer as a Dove Chocolatier.

That doesn't mean I haven't been working hard on fulfilling her real life long "chocolate dream".

I went to see some Oompa Loompa's and convinced them to help me make Heart Shaped Hedges' birthday special....and they did!

They included her in some fun

and gave her one of their shirts

and a pair of rose chocolate colored glasses!

Now the only things missing are some Billy Mays gifts birthday wishes from her blogging friends.

Happy Birthday, little girl. I hope your day is special. I love you!

=================================

WORLD SERIES SCHEDULE

Game 1: at Rays, PHILLIES TAKE IT 3 -2

Game 2: at Rays, Thurs., Oct. 23, 8 p.m. ET

Game 3: at Phillies, Sat., Oct. 25, 8 p.m. ET

Game 4: at Phillies, Sun., Oct. 26, 8 p.m. ET

Game 5: at Phillies (if nec.), Mon., Oct. 27, 8 p.m. ET

Game 6: at Rays (if nec.), Wed., Oct. 29, 8 p.m. ET

Game 7: at Rays (if nec.), Thurs., Oct. 30, 8 p.m. ET

DO THEY TAKE COUPONS?

Another news flash!

Eli's Manhattan has decided it isn't enough to charge five times the national average for a one pound bag of carrots.....which would be $4.50. Unless you're a cheap chump who schleps her way to Walmart or H.E.B. or somewhere else and pays $.79 for the same bag. No siree!

Eli's wants to take full advantage of the energy crisis and charge a surcharge on top of their already high prices.

Now, I don't shop in gourmet markets because there aren't any in Central Texas Walmart has a Gourmet Half-Aisle. It has all the fancy pickles and mustard and maybe some artichoke hearts floating in marmalade.

I know I would never pay $150.00 for this breakfast basket, even if they threw in a couple extra croissants. Now add the energy surcharge...BINGO! $152.70.

I love good bread....fresh bread, with some weight to it and lots of fiber and never white. But would I pay $55. for four one lb. loaves? Don't forget the energy surcharge.

A seven lb ham is $95.

How about one lb of hand dipped chocolate shortbread cookies....only $45.

So please Mr. Eli's.....why the greed? I would guess you already make a nice hefty profit. You will never make up the loss in revenue that your former customers have taken elsewhere because of your stinking 1.8% energy surcharge.

Does anyone know of anyone who shops at Eli's? Still?

SANTA PLEASE BRING ME A HERSHEY BAR

I don't have a real handle on progress when it comes to some of the personal changes in my life. Like people messing with my chocolate. I get it when gas goes up, and when I have to pay twenty five dollars for a piece of luggage to travel with me. I do my best to be green....I turn the lights out at night and chew gum for three days straight a long time. Bad news about interest rates, and mutual funds tanking are a disappointment but I can mooch off my kids ride it out.

Do you know what really upset me today? I heard that Hershey is raising the price of candy 11%. What were they thinking?


This is where the Hershey family lives. Right smack between Willy Wonka and Bossy. I know for a fact that Bossy eats Hershey laden s'mores. What is this thing called greed all about?

This is what's happening to the price, and the volume, and the stock is tanking...down 5% in one day.

Back in the 50's, that would make these six cents and eleven cents.


But would you really want to pay $277.50 for this?


And this cute little two pounder goes up to $27.75.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

FOOLERY

blogger extraordinaire

Sugar Sugar

foolery was fortunate to be a toddler in the era of Bubble Gum music...because it was made for toddlers...mostly!

Have a wonderful day full of relaxation, coffee, and chocolate

...AARRRR