Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A RUDE AWAKENING - A TRUE STORY WITH A MORAL

We were awakened from a dead sleep at 4am this morning when our burglar alarm went off.  Trust me, it was not a pretty sight.  I sprang out of bed yelling, "Holy Cow!" and ran straight for the phone, but as I got there realized that the sound was much, much too loud for the phone.  Then I did a series of "starts and stops".  I started for the stairs - realized that maybe someone was breaking in - and stopped, thinking my husband would get up.  Think again.  Then I started for the stairs again - and stopped because I thought that if a burglar was indeed downstairs, that maybe wearing a robe would present a better picture.  I started for the closet, got my robe, then stopped - thinking once again that if it was a burglar, surely my husband had better take his "hurling stick" and go downstairs instead of me.  Think once again.  Finally I started down the stairs, vainly trying to remember the code for the alarm and having my blog password coming to mind instead.  I finally got the right code in and the sound stopped.  Blessed silence!  I then proceeded to check out the downstairs for possible intruders - realizing too late that I had not grabbed the "hurling stick".  As I came into the den, I realized that the wind outside was really blowing crazy.  Then I heard my husband yelling from upstairs, "The wind is really blowing, maybe one of the skylight windows isn't latched tight." 
This whole incident reminded me of a guy I used to work for.  I guess he had had a hard night, so decided to go into his office and take a nap on a cot he had there.  It was a really slow part of the day and usually we didn't get any customers during that part.  He told me that if we did get any, to come wake him up.  Well, sure enough a guy came in.  I went to his office and called his name, but he didn't respond.  I walked over to him and shook his shoulder a little bit and he not only woke up, but sat up hurridly with his hand coming up to my throat!  I said his name and he stopped.  He looked at me and I told him we had a customer.  As I started to go out, he called to me and apologized.  He said to me to never touch him or shake him when he was asleep without calling his name first.  Duh.  That would have been handy information. 
Later I thought about the speed that I had jumped out of bed with when I first heard the alarm and the fact that my husband hadn't even stirred until I had jumped up yelling.  And the moral to this story?  See, I'll be the first one there in an emergency, but will be too disoriented to help.  Then my husband will come later cool, calm and collected with a solution to the problem.  :0) PS. In the picture above, they have hurling sticks.

Monday, March 29, 2010

HE'S 60!


Guess who turned 60 yesterday?  He didn't get his customary pecan pie for his birthday, but had to settle for Pumpkin Cake with cream cheese frosting.  I had to use up a can of pumpkin from the States from one of our visits.  This morning I took a big chunk of that cake to a lady I visit teach.  You can see the couch that he's sitting on sort of tore up.  We move the cushions over to the side and then we sit side by side and cover up with that blanket on his lap to watch tv.  I told him he had a rip-roaring birthday - We went to church, then came home and for dinner I made his favorite dinner: Shrimp Creole on rice and cornbread muffins.  But he did go fishing all day Saturday to Owel (prounounced "owl") Lake with an Irish friend from work and some of his family (brothers and dad).  He didn't catch anything. :0+ 

Since this was the absolute best pumpkin cake recipe, I'm posting it here:
PUMPKIN CAKE
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray pan with Pam.  (I used a 13x9" pan, but you can also use those mini-bundt pans, layer cake pans, or even a bundt pan - I've made this with the mini's before)
Beat butter in large bowl, using mixer on medium speed until fluffy.  Beat in sugars and eggs, 1 at a time, till smoooth.  Set aside.  Combine buttermilk, pumpkin and vanilla.  Set aside.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices and stir in butter, in thirds - alternating with buttermilk mixture - until smooth.  Pour batter into prepared pans.  bake 25 minutes or till cake tests done. 
Glazes for bundt cakes:
CITRUS GLAZE: 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 3 TBL lemon juice.  Tint with orange food coloring.  Drizzle with spoon over cake. 
VANILLA GLAZE: 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 3 TBL water & 1/2 tsp vanilla.  Drizzle with spoon over cake.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: 2 packages cream cheese, softened, 3 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla
In large bowl cream the cream cheese until smooth.  Gradually beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.  Beat until of spreading consistency, adding a little evaporated milk, if necessary.

I was out of powdered sugar, but had a tub of ready-made vanilla frosting and an 8 ounce package of cream cheese.  I just mixed the 2 together with my mixer.  It made a "less-sweet" cream cheese frosting, which I really liked.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

KEEP FEEDING THE GOOD

I'm sure you've heard this story before, it is one of my favorites and quite thought-provoking:

There is a story of an old Cherokee man who told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil.  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. 

"The other is Good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness,
benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth,
compassion and faith."
The grandson thought for a moment and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." 

Monday, March 8, 2010

ONDINE



Last Thursday I went with my US friends to go see "Extrordinary Measures".  When we got to the theater however, we found that it wasn't showing anymore except at midnight. (???) So we looked at what else was showing at that time and decided to go see, "Ondine".  Wow.  What a great movie!  This movie was filmed in Ireland and if you want to see what Ireland looks like, go see this movie.  I don't know if this is showing in the States or not.  It stars Collin Farrell, (who is fabulous in this) Alicja Bachleda-Curus (gorgeous and perfectly casted) and Alison Barry (who you just want to adopt as your own child) as Collin Farrell's daughter.  I think I will take my husband to see this just so I can see it again.  I can't wait for it to come out on dvd!