Whoo-hoo! Guess who is a 2007 Nanowrimo winner? Hurray!!!! And ya'll thought I was busy watching Jerry springer all this time didn't you? Okay, I was, but in the commercial breaks I took the time to jot a few lines down for national write a novel month. Woo-hoo, I rock!

I am an angry person. At least lately I am. I am angry at family members who take advantage of me and annoying the living piss right out of me. Mainly my sons. One of them can’t stay out of jail. I think the longest he has ever been out of jail in the last 12 months is 2 weeks. For example, he just got out of jail seven days ago and is going back to jail tomorrow to serve a 45 day sentence for underage drinking. They don’t normally give you jail time for underage drinking but when you have been caught 5 times in the last 11 months they tend to get a little tough on you. Then there is the other son which I seriously doubt still has a job since he seems to have the time to stop by my house every 20 minutes during the day and take over my computer. I want to run away from home (taking my laptop with me) and tell neither of these family members where I am going. They are life suckers and will suck the life and joy right out of you if you let them. And they wonder why the hubster and I are moving out of state. Yes, it is to get away from them. I won’t be leaving a forwarding address! AAGGHHHH!!!!!!

In other disappointing news, I had every intention of starting my holiday baking today. I was going to make up the dough for my world famous gingerbread men as well as making the first Chex mix batch of the season. Would you believe we have some sort of leak and the hubster shut off the water this morning before he went to work. I didn’t bother asking him what sort of leak or how bad it was because honestly I didn’t want to know. There are some things I am better left in the dark about and plumbing is one of them. In the meantime amuse yourself with a picture (above) of last years Gingerbread cookies.

Guess what happened to me yesterday? I was recognized! No, not by a summons server, by someone in the drugstore. They stopped me and asked me how cookbook sales were. It seems this person had read the article in October’s Carmel Magazine where they interviewed me about my cookbook Cooking With Friends. How cool!

Good friends are hard to find, especially good friends that take you out to nice Italian restaurants for a birthday lunch to celebrate your 29th birthday (again). But fortunately I have good friends and one of them (pictured above) did take me out for a birthday lunch at a nice Italian restaurant today.

Sometimes I am a little behind the times. For instance, I kept my beta recorder until they stopped selling Beta tapes for it before I would upgrade to a VCR. I have held off getting a Flickr account for years until yesterday. At first I thought I would wait to announce it until I finished putting my zillion pictures up on it, but now I am thinking, of what the heck. So I invite ya’ll to check out my Flickr page as often or as little as you like. Now to figure out how to link it on here. The address of my Flckr page is http://www.flickr.com/photos/terrispics/ but you can also access it now by clicking on the Flickr link on the sidebar.



I have wonderful, wonderful news. I went to my favorite coffee shop for an after lunch coffee and guess what yummy seasonal drink is now available? Just the best coffee drink on the planet, Eggnog Lattes! I recommend a dollop of whipped cream on top with a dusting of nutmeg. If that drink doesn’t make you think “holidays” you are beyond hope. And not to scare you or anything, but I think I will be putting my Christmas Village on the mantle this weekend. Darn, I’ve gone and done it haven’t I? I scared you didn’t I?

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Just when you thought it was safe to go in the kitchen again… the attack of the killer squash hits. Yes, I made ratatouille again. But I had an excuse, the movie Ratatouille was released this week on DVD. It would be all the same if there had been a movie named Porkchop released, or a movie named Beef Stew. Besides, I am in a cooking mood...or…I…was. It may come as no secret to those who know me (and a few of you certainly do) that I enjoy cooking, particularly in the colder months. I polished my calaphon cookware in anticipation of the cooking season. I dusted off gourmet cookery books. I sharpened my chef’s knife. In other words, I am ready to cook! It would seem we are forgetting one tiny little fact though. I can sum it up in two words; car accident. Remember the car accident I was in on October 28th? Would you believe I still feel like death warmed over? I do and it isn’t a nice feeling. Last night’s ratatouille and lamb chop dinner was very painful to stand in the kitchen and cook, due to my sore, aching back and stiff, swollen neck. Tonight I tried to stand in the kitchen to julienne celery, carrots, onion and beef but it wasn’t happening. Eventually I managed of course and the hubster finished up by cooking the Stirfry for me. But I have decided I am not going to push my sore body anymore. The kitchen is closed for the next week so the cook can get recuperate. My biggest problem will be to decide if I call out for pizza or Chinese takeout.

In other news Saturday is going to be a dark day for me. I am not looking forward to it. My birthday is on Saturday. I am afraid that people aren’t going to believe that I am twenty nine this year, which is just as well because I am actually 31…33….35….29. Birthdays suck!

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In my last post I was gloating over the fact that we never get trick or treaters anymore, so the milky way bars I bought for Halloween would all be going down our gullets instead of being handed out to the angry masses ringing our doorbell. I spoke too soon. We had our 7 year old granddaughter Jas, of course, and a 6 year old neighbor girl. Jas was a little she-devil and the neighbor girl was a princess. I gave them both piles of candy, leaving ten mini milky way bars for the hubster and myself. Wouldn’t you know that we ended up getting eight more kids (teens actually) later that night. After that I turned the outside light off and the hubster and I ate the two remaining mini candy bars before some wayward trick or treater came by trying to claim them. A chocolate junkie has to do what they can you know.


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I took my Pathfinder for an estimate on Friday morning, confident that they were going to tell me I merely needed a new bumper. I was floored when they told me my SUV was undriveable! It seems that the exhaust system was crushed and buckled. Instead of being straight it was pressed sideways against the rear tire. The mud flap had melted all over the tailpipe. I had no idea! I had seen the exhaust pipe sticking out from the side, but it hadn’t registered in my brain that it shouldn’t be like that. The other persons insurance company has admitted liability and they are covering the rental car. They tried to put me in a Ford Focus, which is a small car. So I would be going from a huge fully loaded luxury SUV to a dinky little pregnant roller skate. I don’t think so! The gal at the car rental agency told me a secret. She told me to call the other persons insurance company and tell them that I needed a comparable vehicle to mine, not a Ford Focus. So I ended up getting the best vehicle the car rental agency had available, a 2008 Ford Explorer. It’s not as nice as my Pathfinder, but it’s not a pregnant roller skate.