Bad pic, but, oh well. The girl dog needed some appreciation too.

Things like this get drug up to the house:

It was much grosser yesterday, but I missed the photo op.

Here’s a shocker:

Pammy and Kid are getting a divorce. I wish I could say I was surprised, or disappointed, but I’m not. It’s a shame, but boy do I think she can do much better than him.

If youre interested, here are Pam and Kid in happier times.

I wish I had thought to take a picture, this looks SO festive just cooking.

1 package fresh cranberries

1 cup orange juice

dash of lemon zest

1.5 cups sugar

dash or two of ginger

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan, and let the mixture boil. The cranberries will pop, and the smoother you want the sauce, the longer you boil it. I boil mine for about 10 minutes, and have a pretty chunky sauce. Serve at room temperature. This is delish with your turkey, and tomorrow I am going to plop some on top of a package of cream cheese and serve it with crackers, and I KNOW it is going to be MARVELOUS.

Happy Turkey Day!

Image

What a week (or 4). After a long battle with lung cancer and goodness knows what else, my dear Mother in law passed away last Saturday night, and finally she is resting easily in Heaven. I had spent a lot of time with her over the last month especially, sitting with her at home and in the hospital, and I feel so blessed to have been able to be there and to be a part of her last times on Earth. Besides truly being “hot stuff on a stick” in her younger years (her words…lol), she was a spectacular older woman with a brilliant mind, a fierce wit and wonderful, imaginative, personality. At just a few days short of 69 years old, she died much, much too young.

One of the things I will remember most is how I always showed my dumb blonde around her - she would try to be subtle about asking me to get her some cigarettes - she smoked Sports - and she would always slip some silly comment in about sports (I just hate sports), and I would never get it. Over and over - time after time - I never would I get it, and she would always have to thump me on the head each time and say “duh - get me some cigarettes!!” She was very special to me. We have lived here for 4 years, and above everyone else, Jeanette made me feel like a real, long term, part of the Jones family. She confided in me, she loved me, and I loved her so much.

I sat with her for about 4 hours on Friday morning, and I am so honored to have had that time with her. She was laughing and joking and even ribbing me about my dumb blondeness, all the while gasping for breath worse than I had ever seen. Less than a day later she fell asleep (after 2 sleepless nights) and never woke up again. She frequently mentioned how she believed I saved Marshall’s life, and I know she knows how deeply I love her son and he loves me. My heart breaks for the loss of her in my life, as she is one of the few female friends I have here - and makes me so very thankful that my mother has now moved here.

Marshall spoke at her funeral today, I don’t know how he managed it. He and his two brothers stood up in front of everyone and Marshall was the spokesman - he spoke of the things she loved in life (games, family, crossword puzzles and Art Bell), the important roles she had to so many people, and how beautiful she was. And she really was. I have never been so proud of my husband - he brought much needed laughter and tears of loss in the memories he shared of his mother. The service would have been incomplete without him, and with his eulogy (eugoogley?), the service was absolutely perfect.

Her family is so special - she is one of 8 sisters and 2 brothers, and is the 3rd of the group to pass on. Much of the rest of the DeLeon’s were there, and they are just all so very special to me - they have, just like their sister, made me feel like a real and loved member of the family. They all live out of town, and part of the heartbreak of Jeanette’s death is the fear of losing touch with them - Marshall and I both are horrid at keeping in touch, we will absolutely have to make the effort, as that would be a loss worse than death.

Rest in peace, Jeanette - we surely do love you and will miss you desperately until the time comes when we are all together again.

***

If you are including us in your prayers tonight, please also include my friend AT, whose wife is battling an infection, very similar to the one Marshall went through. She is in Oak Ridge, and her circumstance is possibly even more dire than Marshall’s was, if thats possible. Reading AT’s daily diary about what they are going through has become somewhat therapeutic to me, as her situation has been so similar to Marshall’s and her husband’s bare naked feelings so mimic the ones I had at the same time but never wrote down. BJ is having a trach tube put in very soon, as she has done the maximum time on the ventilator. Thankfully Marshall’s lungs worked just before he had to have a trach put in. As I have been praying for my own family, I have been keeping BJ and AT and their family right there in my heart and mind too, and I hope you will as well - they are going to have a long, tough road ahead.

You want to check out some amazing Photoshop work? Do you love babies? (Do you love Gene Simmons?) Sure you do!

Click here.

After months and months (and months) of being with StumbleUpon, I was filling out my profile, and it asked my personality type, and offered this test - I took it, but not sure why. Looks like I am a middle of the road kind of chick - most of my scores were at or around 50% for each of the personality traits. I could have told them that. But some of their deductions, I thought, were odd considering my middle of the road status:

I guess some of this explains why I am a GTD kind of girl - although my general disorganization around me (HATE to clean house and have piles of papers that surround me in my office) makes me wonder how much I really could get done if I could manage that part of me.

I have NEVER thought of myself as competitive at all - in fact, I hate competitions! I guess I hate to lose, maybe that is why I hate them so much. LOL Aaron told me once that he thought I was very competitive, and that shocked me (still does, obviously). How could he know that about me when I don’t even know that about myself??

Shock effect? Yeah, I have that one down pat. I love it. Ask my mom. Ask my husband. Hell, my kids probably even know that about me. How boring would life be if you couldn’t shake things up a bit??

I used to be a great griller - but I don’t know what has happened. A couple of months ago I ruined a grill full of food - came out with some tongue-numbing lighter fluid nasty taste cooked all the way in to some lovely steaks, chicken and sausage. Aargh. That was terrible. But, apparently I forgot about that experience and last night put on 30 of my rare and prized Dove Diablo’s.

That is some work getting those together, you know. First you have to shoot them, then clean them, then store them. Then, on my favorite day of the year, of my choosing (last night), I get them out, cut the breasts off the bone, stuff them with yummy jalapeno’s, wrap them with bacon, then very carefully and with very much love, tend them on the grill, basting them with butter and garlic, my mouth watering the whole time. There is no better food on earth.

I did remember enough about my prior experience to NOT use any lighter fluid. I had a hickory wood fire. Marvelous, no? No. NO! OMG they were ruined again. Lighter fluid taste - I guess there is something in my grill giving it that atrocious flavor. I am depressed, and I officially quit grilling last night.

Image: TexasHunts.us

Prior to this month, I was a cheerleader for Dell. I really was. We have 6 Dell computers in our home (7, if you count the one that is scheduled for transport back to the hell from whence it came). I loved Dell because they ran well, and because they had incredible support. Sure, I struggled to understand the English of the support team (yes, “Brian,” “Bob,” “Susan,” every one of them), but that was ok, they ALWAYS resolved my problems. Until this time.

My husband works out of town during the weeks. I work with b5media. Both of us rely on our computers for our jobs. So, when Marshall began having problems with the screen on his Dell, I called Dell. One service call later - no resolution. Another long telephone exchange and another service call - no resolution. The technician knew what needed to be replaced, but Dell would not send it. My husband calls Dell - spends a couple of hours on the phone, raises hell, and then arrives a technician with a whole new top half of the computer. Well, the screen was repaired, but it just didn’t jive with the rest of the computer - we are permanently in Safe Mode after yes, another call to Dell. Mark us down for about 8 hours on the phone with Dell now.

Read the rest, after the jump…
Continue reading ‘Dell SUCKS. My trip into dell hell.’