Gettin' Sun in Florida

Hey All, A brief update from me...down in good ol' Ft. Lauderdale visiting family. Got here Friday AM. I am not sure how....someone thought it would be a smart idea to book at 7 AM flight out on Friday morning when they had a concert to go to the night before. Rolling in on 3 hours sleep to the airport, I am so glad I didn't run into anyone I knew. I must have looked awful! Either way I slept on the plane a bit and then once I got down here it was all about the sun shine. First day and I got burned. If I wasn't so frickin' glow in the dark white with speckles of chocolate on me (aka freckles) I wouldn't have turned to medium rare quite so quickly. Saturday, I ventured to a spring training game by myself. Everyone was very concerned that I was going by myself.....who cares..your sitting in the sun with a couple thousand Red Sox fans decked out in orange...what are they going to do jump you? Its like 7 miles down the road...by the way...oh and I'm 35!!!!! Walk off homer in the bottom of the 9th. O's win 9-8...suck it Boston! HaHa. The rest of the weekend will allow me to catch up on some reading. I get NONE done at home as I always seem to have something to clean, cook, fix, walk, or organize so, ya, not really a reader unless it is a recipe magazine.
Maybe you all can answer this question....why does everything always fall at once?..It's not a big deal but can't we like spread some stuff out....three business trips in three weeks, this week's vacation and then...as you know...my sisters and mom will be at our house the first week of April. Al, is also coming but I think I'm paying him in some good cooking for a little bit of the paint brush!..
Alright all, over and out. Enjoy a bit o' the ol' saint patties day, will ya.

Groundhog, Smoundhog

Whatever...what does that little creature know anyway? Spring is all in the mind!!! Ok, you might need a hat on that mind/head but as long as you are starting to get in the spirit it is half the battle, right?
It's still cold...true dat...and the tulip tips are peaking their heads out of the frozen ground. There is even a tree across the street with red buds all over it...but best sign of all????.........MLB Spring Training!!!! I've got emails already for Spring Softball and? I'm going to FL to 1) see family but 2) taking an afternoon to bask in the sun and watch Spring Training (O's vs Boston Red Sox). I'm so excited!!!
Until I head south in two weeks Darrell and I are continuing to bowl on our Monday night team. Not bad. D has really turned into a good bowler. He is fitting right in with the rest of us Michigan natives....kind of runs in our blood.
Finally..the best news is that my family is coming to see us!!! We're so excited. Laura, Erin and Mom will be here the first week of April. In the meantime we went to go paint the last wall in the kitchen and realized that it was molding within. We had to tear off the drywall and the floor/tile. The clock is ticking 3 weeks and counting since each of us has a weekend that we will not be here. ....wish us luck. I really want the house to look the best it can. Who knows when they will all be back!
Well, I'm out for now. ....cheers.

Wow...Who's an adict?

So, I'm killing time while Darrell is at the gym, the weekend laundry project continues with the third to the last load (it is Tuesday) and I figure I will catch up with the family. I'm surfin' around, checkin' what's happen' with all of you and then I get to Misty's page. Every time I go there it is like I have a friend in the professional web design business...Misty, the stuff you have on your page is amazing....links, followers, picts...I have no idea how to do even a hundredth of any of that stuff. Then, cuz I'm nosy like that, I see she has a follower with a name of three bay girls, or something like that.. So I think "bay" as in Bay Area, where I'm from...sure I'll click on that. It has the Golden Gate Bridge after all. Then I see it is a bunch of mom's staying connected and I notice all the stuff they follow...I click on a couple of those (I feel like I'm digging a deeper and deeper hole here) and the links......My mouth drops to the floor as I continue to click..and click... People posting EVERY DAY, SEVERAL TIMES a Day. I can't believe this stuff. Who has time to type all this???? Who has time to follow all this??? This one site (which was awesomely designed btw) gave me hourly details including her trip to the morning potty where she had to open a window. TMI!!!!!!!
While I have often thought of creating my own blog where nobody knows it is me and I can just vent...and I mean really vent!! Swear words, way too personal stuff that nobody should know about but sometimes you feel like "if I just typed out my thoughts (that burning email that I shouldn't send to the jerk in the office) then I would just feel so much better and no one would know".....ya right. Holy smokes bat man. Not after what I witnessed today.. It would be my luck that my boss would be the next blog stalker and someday realize it was me!
Alright...well, while I will continue to waste precious time (as I actually got on here to make a Love Day dinner reservation) surfing spots that will tie my curiosity up for hours, I will stick to writing my thoughts down on paper and then sending them through the shredder.
Happy Stalking!

Taking a Time Out

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you all know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth....again.

I'm going to be taking a break from blogging for a while...reasons I will not bore you with. But please know that I'm checking this link to get to all of you and check in and see how you all are.

Use the following email if you want to send something along: technobluesteph@gmail.com. I'm using this for more fun stuff. Home is for bills or it gets trashed and work is way over loaded with the 80 pieces of crap, I mean important work documentation, so I'll check techno more often to say hi.

No worries, we are all fine here. As I am sure Sarah can attest to with the new shop, I just need to find more hours in a day and I just didn't want you to think I would be posting once a week as before. Maybe once a month or so.

Here is about what the weather feels like these days...Talk with you soon.

Happy New Year!!

Sorry for the delay in posting!!! I had 12 days off of work, McCormick was closed, and I have no idea how I didn't get a chance to post. Well, better late than never. Please accept my apologies. First, Christmas Eve. We really don't have any traditions, Darrell and I. I had heard from some of you and a couple friends that they always do Chinese Food on Christmas Eve. What??? No makin' dinner...hand me that phone. In retrospect, not really my best Christmas Eve dinner but neither was really anything about this year "my best". As you may have guessed it was really all about "getting by". Oh well. It's come and gone and it is just us anyway. Although I must say I love Holiday movies and watching Darrell open his gifts and kitten's playing with ribbon. Christmas Day was great. Watched movies. Christmas Breakfast- Pillsbury Cinnamon Twists and Coffee. Lunch- Shrimp and Crab Civeche with Tortilla Chips and Mimosa's. Dinner- Marinated Pork Tenderloin in a Cranberry Merlot Beet Sauce (thyme & bay leaf made this so yummy), Horseradish Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans with Smoked Bacon and Onions. A delish Merlot, courtesy of my sis. Yum!

Darrell worked most of the time between Christmas and New Year so I managed to knock a few things off the to do list..primarily painted another room in the house. I hate to say it but I get a little bit better every time. This time, my top edge between the ceiling and wall didn't even need Darrell's help. It looks pretty dang good, if I do say so myself!

New Year's eve was spent with a bunch of friends at their house. I brought grasshoppers and ended being the only one to drink them...oh well. No big loss. We brought in the new year with Dick Clark and 10 of our closest friends. It was fun..BTW...someone needs to call ABC and tell them that even if Dick Clark has a contract he needs to go. He looks so bad, I felt terrible watching him. I guiltfully had to change the channel.

New Year's Day...Michigan looses..bummer. USC wins! Two bowls of Chili and a couple friends over and the day was done.

Today it was back to work! 10 cups of Mac & Cheese and my tummy about freeked at being back at work. The Tums were out for sure.

Here are a couple shots of my beautiful niece and nephew, ....our other ones....when I was in CA a couple weeks ago. And my baby.

Cheers!

STOP!!!!! Just for a day or two

Seriously...the problem with this time of year is that you are constantly running from one thing to the next. Rush for a gift for this person (has to get in the mail today). Dinner party? Ok, I'm throwing this together. What Christmas is in four days and I haven't bought anything for hubby?
Every year, I say the same thing. Next year I will be more organized. I'll start shopping in October like my sister. I'll create a list of ideas for people through out the year so I am not stuck at the last minute trying to remember their true likes. It all seems so rushed. What do I have to do today to get through tomorrow? We've had our tree since the 6th and I barely put the ornaments on it on Thursday! Cards? Ya, I'm looking for New Year's cards!
Anyway, that's my rant this week. I took a trip to California to visit the family the 11th through the 15th. They are just so cute. Then this last week I had business up in New Jersey for a day. (That drive gets shorter every time I do it). Last night we had dinner with 12 friends down in Columbia (almost to DC). Started at 8, 6 courses, and we got home around 2 AM. We definitely woke up with a food hangover this AM. Good stuff.
Finally, I thought I'd share a recipe from a Christmas potluck we had this week. I had heard about this recipe so I thought I would make it. Absolutely Delicious!!!! If you are looking for something VERY EASY to make Christmas Morning....here you go. Sorry for you dieters. There is no sparing the fat in this one. One piece wont kill you!

Monkey Bread

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of allspice

1/8 tsp ground ginger

2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury Grands Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk discuits

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon french vanilla extract

3/4 cups butter, or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease a bunt pan.
In large ziplock bag, mix white sugar, cinnamon and spices. Separate dough into 16 biscuits. Cut each into quarters. Add to bag and shake to coat. Arrange biscuits and nuts in pan. Mix brown sugar, vanilla, and butter in bowl. Pour over biscuits.
Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until no longer doughy in center. Cool for 10 minutes. Flip over onto serving plate and serve warm.


Enjoy!

The power of purple

First off ....congrats to Hil and gang! You finally have that little boy. Glad to hear everything is going well.

This week's post is about the power of purple! Raven's purple. Sunday Night we went to see the Baltimore Ravens play the Washington Redskins! Big local rivalry. I haven't been to a game yet this season so it was fun. Here are some photo's you might enjoy. The two other guys are friends of ours that live downtown. Our usual posse.

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The weather was in the 20's with winds up to 25 mph. It was cold!!! We each had on at least two hats, four upper layers, two pair of pants, several pair of socks and hand warmers in our doubled up gloves.

Ravens win...24 to 10!!

With the power of purple one can survive anything. There were 71,000 fans at this game!