Family Wedding Drama

Our youngest niece in Oklahoma City has been planning her August, 2010 wedding for some time.

For a variety of reasons, during the long planning process there have been several changes. In the last couple of months, the plans have come together and the vision of the wedding and reception were becoming reality.

Reality has suddenly had to change.

Her fiance's father received notice that he is being deployed to Afghanistan.

As of this writing, they do not know the exact deployment date, but it will be soon. Her sweet fiance does not want to get married without his father present, and who could blame him?

So, guess what? We are having a wedding on March 6th!

It will be beautiful and happy.

We are so proud of our niece. She has seen her planned dream wedding turned upside down and she is being the absolute opposite of a Bridezilla. She is focused on what her fiance needs to make their wedding day happy.

We could not be more proud.

Do You Have A Helper In the Kitchen?

A Kitchen Elf has appeared in my home. I hope the Queen Troll doesn't get mad.

I really hope KE knows how to cook and clean up.

The Husband and I would appreciate a third person in the rotation.

Violets

I rescued this violet about 6 years ago from a member of my family.

It loved the eastern exposure in my sun room. It grew and grew, until I had to split into two pots. The two plants bloomed and bloomed, after I found the right liquid food for them. The original plant grew so much, I had to split it a second time.

I moved them upstairs, to my office, where they had the same eastern exposure.

And then all three plants died. Died dead.

Approximately 3 months ago.

I finally just admitted to myself there was not going to be a miraculous recovery.

I threw the plants away.

I'm bummed.

Lost: Episode 5 of The Final Season

"Lighthouse"

I know lots of people are frustrated by the lack of answers to old questions in the new episodes.

Not to mention, the new questions that are raised in every new episode.

But I have confidence by the end of the season all our questions will be answered.

What do we know after this episode?

On the island:

• Claire is crazy, but at least we now know what happened to her
• Jin is a terrible liar
• Hurley follows directions well and is funny
• Jack ultimately still thinks only of himself

Sideways:

• Jack has a son
• Christian is still a jerk

I can't wait to see the episode again and to read the blogs on the web tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to next week.

The Pioneer Woman's Creamy Rosemary Potatoes

I made the PW's Creamy Rosemary Potatoes Monday night.

The ingredients:

The final product:

The Husband and I both enjoyed the wonderful smell as the dish was cooking.

The smell was nothing, and I mean nothing, compared to the taste!

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh. My. Goodness!

The recipe is found on pages 204-205 of PW's cookbook.

I recommend you make this dish as soon as possible!

The American Woman's Cookbook (1942) - The Friends Who Honor Us

Another funny tidbit from the 1942 edition of the above cookbook.

How to put together a guest list for a dinner party. Page 724-725:

"The guest list must be carefully considered. When inviting persons for the purpose of introducing them to someone else, be sure that as far as can be discovered, there is no third person to inject a discordant note. One cannot take full responsibility for the emotional responses of all one's friends and acquaintances, but some caution can and should be exercised. When entertaining a group of professionals it is well to have several professions represented so that the conversation will be general and pleasant and not turn to moot professional questions that may start a sharp debate.

Many families, too, see in their social life an opportunity to train their children in the social graces and amenities. This, of course, can be overdone if not carefully thought out. Many guests are not interested in children and some are annoyed by them. But family parties are always the logical and pleasant opportunity to give the youngsters their chance. In any case, children should be prepared for what is ahead of them. Being more at ease in their own minds about what may happen and what is expected of them, they are much less likely to "show off" or behave like the "enfant terrible." Being reminded of the uses of the knife, fork, and napkin beforehand, too, and not reprimanded in the presences of others, will make for better behavior."

I guess this was the era of children being kept in the background. My goodness, I'm glad things are different now.

Our 7 year old niece frequently declares "dinner party" at The Sister's house. Mom, Dad and both girls have to dress for dinner and sit at a pretty table. She's also quite the party organizer (birthdays, etc.). She lists everything needed; plates, napkins, forks, balloons and so forth.

These are good skills for the niece to learn young!

Our Old House

I've mentioned before that we live in an old house. One built in 1915, to be exact. When you are the owner of an old house, any minor repair has the potential to become a major repair.

Do you get where this story is going yet?

We had our friendly plumber over this week to fix a minor leak in the basement. The Plumber has done quite a bit of work for us over the years. A few months ago he mentioned that we might need to start thinking about re-plumbing the entire house because the pipes are really showing their age. Not what we wanted to hear. Ends up, the minor repair we called him for this week should have taken 15 minutes and ended up taking 2 hours because of the old pipes.

The Plumber and The Husband had a consulation Friday afternoon about possible approaches to this work that would minimize damage to our plaster walls and ceilings (old house, remember?)

The Plumber promised to ponder the project this weekend and contact us soon with an estimate. Said estimate is only as good as what he finds when he starts tearing into the project, as we all know.

The Husband and I both had martinis Friday night. We needed them.

Happy Birthday, Erica!

Today is our oldest niece's birthday. Happy birthday, girlfriend!

2010 - The Year of The Troll

I think the Queen Troll will be making appearances in future Cindy's Clipboard posts. Evidently, she has things to say.

Yesterday - A Perfect Wednesday

By 9:00am, I was showered, in clean clothes, and had make-up and jewelry on.

Not that I'm not showered and dressed early in the day. It's just that I had MAKE-UP and JEWELRY on by 9:00 am.

I was at Tulsa's Old School Bagel Cafe early for breakfast. I left there and went to an estate sale, Red Crown Credit Union, Gardner's Book Store, Sam's Club and my Mom's house.

It was a full day.

After a couple of busy hours at the house, The Husband came home from work. He and I had dinner at Sonoma, one of our favorite places.

I cannot think of anything that was wrong with today. I hope you feel the same about your life.

Lost: Episode 4 of The Final Season

"The Substitute"

Awesome episode.

Great, witty dialogue that caused a number of giggles. Ben's eulogy was priceless. As was Sawyer saying "I guess I'd better put some pants on."

Lots of information to mull over. We are getting closer to answers, I believe.

Look closely at the photo above. Everyone except Locke is facing forward. Locke has his back to us. Perhaps it symbolizes he is not the real Locke, but is the fake Locke.

And the Old Spice commercial was the best!

One Year Anniversary of Cindy's Clipboard

Today is the one year anniversary of my blog.

It's hard to believe 365 days have passed since I wrote my first blog entry. I've written 280 posts about a variety of subjects, some serious and some silly. I'm proud that I've stayed committed to this blog and produced so many posts.

By exploring the internet, I've found a number of excellent blogs to read. I have also learned from these blogs what I like and do not like as a blog reader. Best of all, I've met new people on-line and in person.

My goals for the second year of Cindy's Clipboard are:

• to continue writing about anything and everything that interests and amuses me
• to meet more bloggers and continue learning from them
• become an active part of the blogging community

I hope you stay with me for this second year of Cindy's Clipboard!

Be My Valentine?

"Up In The Air"

The Husband and I went to see the movie, "Up In The Air" this week. We really enjoyed it and laughed out loud several times.

After spending the majority of our careers in the corporate world, we have not only worked for and with people who have been laid off, but have been the receipent of the dreaded "package" ourselves. The movie very accurately depicts how people can react to the news.

Another accurate depiction in the movie is that of a professional "road warrior" aka the professional business traveler. The scenes of the main character packing his suitcase and getting through the airport security line are so true! Later in the movie, the advice he gave his younger co-worker on how to select the least problematic airport security line was dead on accurate.

I would recommend this movie. It was amusing.

Good Bye, Great Aunt Hester

My Sister phoned me last night to tell me she was just told that our Great Aunt Hester died that morning. Aunt Hester was born, raised, married, lived and died in a small area of NW Arkansas.

Aunt Hester and Uncle Herbert (my father's uncle) had a farm with cows, chickens, pigs, etc. They had a big pond with fish and snakes. They put in a HUGE garden every year. Every year, my brother, sister and I would spend a summer week at the farm, escorted by our Granny (my father's mom).

We have the best memories from those weeks. They made sure the city kids had a good time.

I'll never forget Aunt Hester saying "Lawzy me!" when she heard something interesting.

I'll never forget Granny and Aunt Hester sitting down for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie (or cake or a cookie) and talking about various family members. I heard a lot of "Lawzy me's" during those conversations!

I'll never forget Aunt Pearl coming from the "big" city to "do" Granny's hair while we were at the farm. Then, we would all go visit Aunt Ruby, Aunt Opal and Aunt Emma. My great-aunts had wonderful names: Pearl, Ruby, Opal. And my granny's name was Jewel.

I'll never forget Aunt Hester teaching me to gather the eggs from the chicken coop. Or, her sending me out there by myself to get the eggs and the rooster chasing me.

I'll never forget her asking us if we wanted chicken and dumplings for dinner and when we said yes, she went outside and WRUNG A CHICKEN'S NECK!

I'll never forget her "temporarily" shortening one of my dresses so I could wear it to a community get-together and she didn't tell my mom.

Aunt Hester was 94 years old. I last saw her one year ago at Great Uncle Gene's 90th birthday party at the small community center in NW Arkansas. (Coincidently, yesterday was also Uncle Gene's 91st birthday.)

She didn't see or hear so good when I last saw her. I sat next to her and held her hand and said, "Hello, Aunt Hester. It's Cindy."

She turned to me, looking confused. So I said, "I'm Cindy. Billy Wayne's daughter."

She said, "Billy Wayne?" I said, "Yes, Billy Wayne's daughter. Bill and Jewel's granddaughter."

She said, "Oh, Cindy. Lawzy me. How are you?"

I loved that woman.

Rest in peace, Aunt Hester.

Lost: Episode 3 of The Final Season

"What Kate Does"

What did we learn tonight? I don't know. I need to watch the episode again.

The Weekend

Since Thursday, I've been on the go, go, go...

I enjoyed the Tulsa Blogger's Meetup Thursday evening. I was happy to meet Carla from Jill of all Trades and her daughter, Briana, from SheezKrafty. They are nice, nice people! There were a lot of nice people at the event and it was great to see the bloggers in person. Hopefully, more of these events will occur in the future.

Friday night, The Sister and her family came for dinner. It had been a while since we'd been together due to illness, work schedules, vacations, etc. It was great to be able to sit around talking and laughing.

Saturday afternoon I went to Diva Girlz for the 7 year old niece's official birthday party. Unfortunately, I missed the portion of the party where glitter eye shadow and glitter in your hair was applied. I would have TOTALLY rocked that look, I just know it!

Saturday night, old friends came over for dinner. It had been quite a while since we had been together, so it was fun to talk and laugh and share a bottle of wine.

Sunday was a very lazy day. Of course, we watched the Super Bowl and the commercials. We were happy the New Orleans Saints won. I can remember rooting for them years ago when their fans would wear brown paper bags over their heads! They've come a long way, baby. Good for them.

Happiness Blogging Award

Carla, of Jill of All Trades, gave me this blogging award. How sweet is that?

I'm supposed to list 10 things I love and then pass this award on to 10 bloggers.

10 Things I Love

1. The Husband
2. Our entire family
3. Our friends
4. My life with The Husband
5. Our home
6. Living in our neighborhood in Tulsa
7. Meeting interesting new people
8. Learning
9. Art
10. Books

And the award goes to........

1. M O N K E Y M I N D
2. GATHER
3. Tulsa Gal's Blog
4. The Provident Woman
5. Reddirt Woman
6. 47 & Starting Over
7. Perspective Required
8. Voice of An Angel
9. Read and Tell Me
10. A Wedding and A Funeral

The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin

The Sister and her family came over for dinner tonight.

The Husband grilled ribeye steaks, fixed his famous salad (The B-i-L's favorite) and I made The PW's Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin.

As The Husband said, "How can something with heavy cream, butter and cheese not be good?"

How true is that?

Orange & Yellow

Neighbor Tip - What To Take To Bed With You!

YOUR CAR KEYS

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

It's a security alarm system you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your home and will keep honking until you reset it with the button on the key remote. It works if you park in your driveway or garage.

If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your home, odds are the burglar won't stick around... After a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough, the criminal won't want that.

And remember to carry your keys while walking to/from your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there...

The above information is quoted from our neighborhood association newsletter. We have been having some "issues" in our neighborhood recently.

I thought it was a great suggestion and wanted to share it with my readers.

Lost: Episodes 1 & 2 - The Beginning of The End

"LA X 1" and "LA X 2"

After last night, I have even more questions. Do you think they will ever give us any answers?

Vacation - January, 2010 - Post 3b of 3a/b

This post has so many photos, I decided it should be separate from the overall post of our time in Memphis, TN.

As you know, we spent a couple of nights at The Peabody Hotel. On Tuesday night, we had dinner at Chez Philippe, the elegant French restaurant in the hotel.

Oh! My! Goodness!

Go ahead. Click on the Chez Philippe link above and take a look at the picture of the dining room. I'll wait.

See those columns? Imagine the super tall ceiling. Gaze upon the finely set tables. Impressive, yes it is.

Here's The Husband perusing the wine list:

A self portrait of me:They put your purse on a little table to your left, so you don't have to reach down to the floor. Niiiiiice!

A tuna amuse-bouche for each of us from the chef:

My starter:

Chicken "Faux Gras" (They do NOT serve duck at The Peabody!)

Port Wine Gelee, Cornichons, Macerated Figs, Pickled Red Onion

The Husband's starter:

Escargot En Croute

Sweet Garlic-Herb Butter, White Wine, Puff PastryPrior to the main course's arrival, the waiter brought steak knives for us. On! A! Steak! Knife! Plate!

We've eaten at some nice places, but we've never dined where they use Steak! Knife! Plates!

My main course:

Loin of Venison

Wild Rice Pilaf, Roasted Apples, Chestnut Puree, Calvados JusThe Husband's main course:

Neola Farms Beef Duo (strip steak & braised roast)

Sweet Potato Puree, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Pearl Onions, Reduced Natural Juices

My dessert:

Souffle Du Jour

Butterscotch (OMG!)

The Husband's dessert:

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Blood Orange Sorbet, Toffee Sauce, Candied Orange, Citrus Tuille

And to finish, more tasty tidbits for us.

To accompany our delicious feast, we shared a lovely bottle of Jordan Cabernet.

The wait staff was excellent. Very refined and professional.

The strangest thing about the whole evening?

We were in this lovely restaurant all by ourselves!

Alone.

Secluded.

Our own private dining room.

This was lovely for us, but I'm sure it was disappointing for the staff. They did say that during the week in January is a slow time, but they are looking forward to February and Valentine's Day!

If you ever have the opportunity to dine at Chez Philippe, please take a advantage of it!

Vacation - January, 2010 - Post 3a of 3a/b

This is post 3a of our vacation posts

Sunday, January 24th

The Husband and I drove out of New Orleans around 1:00pm. We wanted to "get out of Dodge" before the NFL playoff game. Thank goodness the Saints won that day. :-) Who Dat????

Since we left NOLA late, we stopped in Jackson, MS at a Best Western for the night. We were on the road the next day to Memphis, TN

Monday, January 25th

We took Highway 51, instead of the interstate. It was interesting driving through small Mississippi towns. We stopped for a bathroom break at one small town convenience store and The Husband scored some great fried chicken gizzards! He was a happy boy, let me tell you...

We arrived in Memphis early afternoon and checked into The Peabody Hotel. It is one of our favorite hotels and we take the opportunity to stay there whenever we can. We settled into our room and went down to The Lobby Bar* for a drink and to watch the famous duck walk.

* The Lobby Bar, has been referred to as the "living room of Memphis" and is the heartbeat of the hotel. As the place to see and be seen in the “Blues City,” it has been voted “Best People Watching by the readers of Memphis magazine. It’s also the place to watch the March of The Peabody Ducks.

The hotel was hosting a huge convention the days we were there, so we had 400+ people to watch in the lobby. People watching is one of my favorite things to do! We decided to eat at the Corner Bar that evening and go to bed early.

Tuesday, January 26th

We had breakfast at The Arcade. The Arcade is the oldest restaurant in Memphis and has been used as a film location for a few movies.

We were not impressed with the food, plus it was very expensive! $25 for breakfast is a bit excessive and we had typical eggs, bacon/ham, hashbrowns, biscuits, etc.

After breakfast we went to a few junk/antique shops. We like to visit these places while on vacation to see what is being sold/collected in other states.

The first shop we went into was junky, disorganized and dusty. The very first thing I touched was this set of 8 glasses:

"This is your 1st of Tulsa....mix the next one yourself...but Think First."

I'm not up to speed on all the history of Tulsa banks, so I'm not sure which modern day bank has 1st of Tulsa as part of it's history, but I'm sure one of our banking friends can tell us.

The Husband and I were pleased to find these glasses on a dirty, dusty shelf in Memphis and be able to return them to Tulsa for a mere $2 apiece. They look great on our bar, with other Tulsa glasses we have collected.

We went to another dusty, disorganized shop and found an old lamp. It needs to be refurbished, but's that's okay. I think we got it for a good price and it will turn out to be a great lamp. I'll take before and after pictures and post them here after it is refurbished.

We went to some other shops and saw many interesting things, but nothing that called to us to take it home. We drove around the city for a while and then returned to the hotel.

Our dinner for the evening deserves it's own post, so look for post 3b soon.

Wednesday, January 27th

We were up and checked out of the hotel by 9am to begin the long drive across Arkansas. We did take the time to stop at a couple of antique malls in Crystal Springs. It was interesting to see the different items in the malls. We ultimately purchased a nice oak framed mirror.

We decided to hustle home to Tulsa, since a winter storm was marching across the country and was predicted to hit that evening. We arrived home around 6pm, tossed all the luggage out of the car and ventured off to the grocery store.

Grocery shopping in Oklahoma when a major ice/snow storm is predicted should be an Olympic sport. Bread, milk, eggs, jiffy cornbread and many other items were in short supply. Any kind of canned tomato (sauce, diced, whole) was scarce. It was actually very funny. We managed to get enough food to tide us over for a few days and returned home to face mounds of dirty laundry.

We had a great road trip. Now, we must start saving our pennies for the next one!