Lost - The Final Season: The Package

I love Lost.

You know that.

I've not blogged about the new episodes the last few weeks, because I'm speechless.

I've been a Lost fan from the very first episode.

I've stuck with this series through thick and thin.

I know the show will have a BIG ending.

And, I hope I understand it!

A Quiet Afternoon. Or Is It?

I've done a number of chores around the house today and had the tv on for noise.

I just turned off the tv and sat down, thinking I'll close my eyes for a minute and enjoy the quiet.

Hey, Internet. It's not quiet.

I opened windows and doors this morning to air out the house and now I hear everything that is happening both in the house and in the neighborhood:

• The wind sighing through the trees
• Leaves skittering across the driveway
• The house creaking
• The neighbor's wind chimes tinkling
• The water filling the refrigerator's ice maker
• The timer on the china cabinet lights ticking
• A plane overhead
• A distant train whistle
• The dryer buzzer
• A car
• A motorcycle
• Birds chirping
• Dogs barking
• A fire engine siren

I love having the windows open in the spring when household noise and outside noise combine.

What do you hear when you open your windows?

Are You Planning A Party? Let Me Help!

I have become obsessed with vintage cookbooks, entertaining books and etiquette books. Below are just three of my collection.

The Glamour Magazine Party Book was published in 1965. The Year-Round Holiday Cookbook was published in 1969. And the 1,001 Ideas for Parties, Fairs and Suppers was published in 1964.

There's a hand written note, penciled on the cover of the Glamour Magazine book that says, "Great book to have around."

So, if you're planning a party and want a mid to late 60's theme, just let me know!

The Year-Round Holiday Cookbook has a number of recipes to use your left over hard boiled Easter eggs. The following recipe (page 70) caught my eye:

Eggs in Sausage Shells are a delicious luncheon dish served on a bed of rice with a tomato or mushroom sauce. Two egg halves is the usual serving.

6 hard cooked eggs, shelled and rolled in flour

1 1/2 pounds sausage meat

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Bread crumbs

Fat for deep frying

Coat the floured eggs evenly with the sausage meat, completely encasing the egg. Dip them into the beaten egg, roll in bread crumbs and fry in deep fat heated to 350 degrees until they are richly browned. Cut the eggs in half before serving.

These are also known as Scotch Eggs and were created in London in 1738. A few years ago, I had Scotch Eggs at an Irish Pub and thought they were interesting. I may try them at home again.

How about you? Have you ever had a Scotch Egg?

Historic Paint Colors

The Husband and I took a drive to Guthrie, OK Saturday.

We took an indirect route through the Oklahoma countryside and stopped at a few antique malls along the way. When we arrived in Guthrie, we shopped at 3 or 4 more antique stores. I found some holiday themed cookie cutters, that I will use for decorations. I also found two very cheap Longaberger baskets, with which I was quite happy!

Believe it or not, our purpose in visiting Guthrie was not to shop at antique malls. It was to veiw exterior paint colors used on many of the historic houses in town. Since we live in an historic district in Tulsa and our 95 year old house is in need of painting, we thought we could borrow (steal) ideas. We saw a number of nicely done homes and are now more confused about colors. We'll keep researching and hope to have a color selected soon.

I hope you had a wonderful Saturday, just like we did!

I'm Better!

I'm feeling better. Okay, yes I still sleep A LOT. Sleep is GOOD. The End.

Hello.

I've been sick.

Headache, sore throat, coughing, sneezing, etc.

I've not wanted to do anything but lay in bed, sleeping.

I hope to be better soon.

The Yard Art Game

Guess what?

I have a new game to play -- The Yard Art Game.

Have you ever heard of it? Me neither!

My recent post "Okie Yard Art" came to the attention of the administrator of the website Along Life's Highway The Yard Art Game.

I received an e-mail from her asking for permission to use my photo and I, of course, immediately agreed and said "I wanna play! I wanna play."

My entry into the game was posted this week and I was awarded 7 points. Whoo hoo!

I am now SERIOUSLY kicking myself for not buying the garden gnome I saw at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago.

He kept calling to me "Cindy, Cindy, buy me please."

But I ignored him, even after returning twice to have another look. I'm a FOOL! Little did I know then that garden gnomes are the highest scoring individual item in the game at 4 points. 4 points!

My personal yard art is sooo boring. A frog here, a sun face there. You know...typical stuff.

I'm so happy I was found by the Yard Art Game folks. I love me some good yard art and I admire the creativity that goes into the scenes. Now I'll have a place to share the best examples of Okie ingenuity for both fun and points!

If you need some humor in your day, I encourage you to visit Along Life's Highway The Yard Art Game and to also play the game!

The Weekend

The weekend certainly didn't turn out like I expected.

I developed a scratchy throat on Tuesday and as the week progressed, my symptoms expanded to include headache and coughing. I medicated myself with DayQuil and NyQuil, and went to bed, hoping it would pass.

When I started wheezing, I knew I needed to see my doctor. Fortunately, they were able to work me into his schedule on Friday.

My weekend has consisted of keep track of my meds, coughing, wheezing, sneezing, sleeping and reading two books in preparation for a book club meeting I've been invited to attend this week.

The book to be discussed is Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Wells.

I also read her book, The Glass Castle, to have the background for Half Broke Horses.

Have any of you read these books? If yes, what did you think?

P.S. I also watched it snow on the first day of spring in Oklahoma. I didn't have the energy (or the heart) to take a photo.

Beautiful Blogger Award From Jenn

Jenn, over at Perspective Required, gave me the Beautiful Blogger award:

The original rules of this award were to list 7 interesting things about yourself. Jenn modified the rules and listed 7 bizarre little quirks and/or weird chapters from her past. Now she wants to know the same about me! Here it goes:

1) I count things. All the time. All things. The Husband knows if we are out driving and pass a field of cows, he can ask me how many cows were there and I can tell him. (OCD, anyone?)

2) I check, re-check and re-check to make sure the doors are locked every evening. (OCD, anyone?)

3) I only allow myself to eat Funyons in the car while on a long road trip. Otherwise, I'd want them all the time.

4) I love laundry. I love the whole act of taking a pile of dirty clothes and making them clean, fresh smelling and put away in their correct places.

5) I've read Mrs. Mike at least 25 times since I was a young teenager. I just love this book!

6) The Husband has banned me from looking up any illness on the internet. If I have a common cold, after looking on the internet I will be convinced I have the most bizarre ailment. He uses "that" tone of voice and tells me, "Do NOT look on the internet, Cindy."

7) I have been a Trekkie since the original show was first aired. I've seen all the movies based on the original show. I've also seen most of the Star Trek, The Next Generation episodes. I absolutely adore the comedy "The Big Bang Theory" because the guys are such geeks and quote Star Trek a lot.

There you have it, Jenn. A little peek into what makes me, me. Hope it doesn't scare you away!

Now, all of you go visit Jenn and get to know her! Perspective Required

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Patio Project - Status Report # 10

Remember all those posts* I wrote about our patio project last year? Today (six short months after the last status report), I have the latest update!

Here was the back of the house this morning. See, we still had ugg-lee wires tacked to the house.

Here's the back of the house this afternoon, with The Husband pointing out there are NO MORE wires! Yippee!

In our defense, it took The Husband quite a while to find a contractor# who was 1) willing to do this work and 2) would not charge us an arm and a leg. Plus, a lot of contractors aren't crazy about working on a 95 year old house, because it can be like opening Pandora's Box when you start a project.

The last task for our patio project is to get the concrete stained.

We will then move on to repainting the entire house, preceded by repairing the stucco where necessary. Sigh...it just never ends!

* Click here if you want to read the patio posts again.

# Video Revolution is the Tulsa company The Husband chose for this project. He was very pleased with his dealings with everyone from VR and would recommend them without reservation.

Okie Yard Art

The Husband and I frequently take Sunday drives in the country, with no intent other than to share Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken gizzards (don't judge us) and to spend time together.

I always bring our camera, because we never know what we are going to see.

Okies are resourceful people and we hate to throw anything away.

Behold...recycled goods that make a lovely tableau in the front yard!

Note the plastic flowers. They must be enticement for the lead deer!

Chicken Stir Fry

Saturday night's dinner was Chicken Stir Fry.

Ingredients prepped and ready to go:

Ingredients in the wok:

The final result:

This was a great meal. We are going put this in our recipe rotation.

Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament

I'm proud to say the Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament is in Tulsa, Oklahoma this week, at the BOK Center.

See The Husband in front of the BOK Center:

The Husband in the BOK Center:Note to Self: Get a "big girl" camera if you are going to post pics on the internet!

The Husband and I attended 3 of the 4 games on Wednesday.

The Husband and I will be there on Thursday, cheering on the teams! If you can, come out and join us.

Are You Ready For St Patrick's Day?

My tree is decorated!

Photo Booth Fun At The Niece's Wedding

The Husband and I sat in the "photo booth" at Mary's wedding. The first photo of me is not flattering. However, it's all in good fun, yes?

Scenes From The Wedding Weekend

Bride Mary and Aunt Cindy at the beginning of the wedding shower:

Groom Joel and his mother, Pam, at the rehersal dinner:

Bride Mary watching the photographer work:Bride Mary waiting for her cue:Our niece Tosha took the official wedding photos. I'll post one or two of those in the near future.

The shower was fun. The wedding was beautiful. The reception was lovely.

Congratulations, Mary and Joel!

G.R.I.T.S.

As you know, our niece is getting married on Saturday. I wrote about the wedding in this post. We are having a family brunch/wedding shower on Saturday morning and I made two Sausage & Grits casseroles for the party Thursday evening.

As I was stirring the grits, I thought about a cute little store I used to frequent when I lived in Houston a number of years ago. It was named G.R.I.T.S., which stood for Girls Raised In The South. That was the first time I ever heard that phrase and I thought it was cute. In addition to being cute, evidently it's good business. You should Google the phrase to see the results.

I'm a Girl Raised In The South. Are you?

United Airlines Breaks Guitars - Song # 3

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Dave Carroll and United Airlines.

Dave is a musician and was on a United Airlines flight where his guitar was mis-handled and damaged. This post of mine has links to his first two songs.

As you can imagine, Dave was not happy. He spoke to a number of UA employees trying to resolve the situation and ended up writing 3 songs to express his frustration.

Here is his third song.

Because of this situation, Dave has had a lot of publicity. I say "good for him" and I hope this exposure helps his singing career.

I would think that United Airlines is not looking forward to hearing this third song!

Wedding Brunch Planning

So, what did I do Monday?

• Sorted and started laundry
• Went to breakfast at my favorite bagel shop
• Purchased wedding brunch paper goods (plates, napkins, cups, utensils) at Party America
• Grocery shopped at Reasor's Grocery Store
• Wrote a Saturday wedding brunch e-mail manifesto
• Created the wedding brunch grocery shopping list
• Planned my wedding brunch activities for remainder of the week

Heh heh.

I'm reviewing my manifesto and related Tuesday "things to do" list.

Finishing laundry is high on that list!