Grammy Camp

We have been getting together for the first week of August in Nashville for over 10 years now. It's sort of a last "hurrah" before school begins---hanging out by the pool, playing a zillion games and just having fun together. And did I mention the laughing? Well, more and more, the joke's on me!

When Steph was a teacher, and Mindy was home for the summer, we actually had a little more time together. Now we squeeze in whatever time we can. The Lapps family arrived last Friday night. I had the schedule posted on the refrigerator. The kids like to know what they can look forward to for the week. Mindy likes to have the meals posted too, but since she was only "breezing" in for 2 days, I didn't think that was necessary.

Saturday

Lonnie Young---for school shoes

The Dog---who would have thought that you could spend $60 at a hot dog place?

Tast-d-lit---new low-cal ice cream shop

Pool

Washer tournament---(we actually had to postpone this due to rain) played poker instead--- Texas Hold 'em---it's so cute---the kids each have their own poker money that they keep in the cabinet. There was a little controversy over the Lapps money because they were not clearly marked. Mitchell had won "big" a few weeks ago, so he claimed the bigger bag. That problem has been corrected!

Sunday

Pool

Park n' Shop

Scrabble

The Lapps' went to spend time with the "other" side of the family, so it was just Steph and girls at the pool. That gave me plenty of time to re-create the entire Italian dinner from last weekend. Jordan invited her boyfriend---I was impressed that he would come as he's very shy. When I mentioned it to her, she said that he'll do anything that she wants. I guess she's got it goin' on! Nathan definitely was raised right! He showed up with lemon squares- --that he made himself. They were very good---we all asked him for the recipe!

Monday

The Lapps family spent the morning at the pool and then went to lunch before dropping Greg at the airport. After dinner, we played "Bingo for Bucks". Then we taught the kids how to play Tripoly---which was the start of many games all week.

Tuesday

Kids shopping spree at the mall. I let the kids each get 2 outfits. I like to call it "speed shopping". The teenagers go off on their own and scout out what they would like to buy. In the meantime, Victoria and Elizabeth, Sandy and I hit their favorite stores. When we met up with the teens, we had them try on for our approval. A successful trip followed by lunch at Red Lobster and a couple hours at the pool. More games after dinner.

Wednesday

We picked Mindy up in the morning and had a pool day. She is working so much, that her permanent New Orleans tan was beginning to fade. After pool time, we rented "Hotel for Dogs"---cute movie, but watching anything with teenagers is a challenge. They make fun of everything! We went to the club for Mexican night. After Sandy put the little girls to bed, we watched "Obsessed" with Beyonce'---the movie was good, but it got pretty hokie at the end---which started the kids up again with their criticisms.

Thursday

Everybody was on their own today. I enjoyed my day at the bridge table. After dinner, Sandy picked Greg up at the airport. When he got back, we stayed up pretty late playing Liars Poker.

Friday

The day I was most looking forward to---our "big" girls shopping trip. I really enjoy having my 3 girls to myself (no kids). We started at the book store to pick up Jordan's high school text books. We had barely arrived when Steph got a call from Jordan---a female issue that required immediate doctor attention. Unfortunately, she had to leave. Mindy, Sandy and I continued on our own. Steph returned in time to pick us up to meet Butch for lunch. He took us to a really nice place downtown. I'm not even going to say how much lunch cost, but we thought it was pretty funny that he complained about the $3.25 ice teas---which we wouldn't have even ordered if we'd known that we were going to order a bottle of wine!

After lunch, we dropped Mindy at the airport, Butch at his office and Sandy and I took Steph back to the mall. New York & Co. is our favorite place---and they really have the sales. All of the girls did pretty well. I shopped Cold Water Creek. 

We got home at 5:30 and it was time for the evening activities to begin. Tonight is the scheduled kids camp out, late night swim and s'mores. Butch and Greg put up the tent. I handed Morgan a roll of toilet paper and a shovel and told her to ask Butch where she was supposed to dig the latrine. It cracked me up that he thought I was serious. Seriously!?! 

After swimming, we started the fire in the fire pit. After several failed attempts, I put my Camp Fire Girl skills to use. I didn't get the "honor camper of the year" award 3 years in a row without knowing how to build a "friggin" fire. Besides roasting s'mores, we roasted ourselves. Having a campfire in Nashville in August amidst 95+ degrees was really pretty stupid---not to mention that I had forgotten to turn off the grill the night before, so the patio was really heated up.

I think it was about 9:15 when the teens went to the tent. Butch wanted to take bets on how long they would last. We adults stayed out another 45 minutes or so. We weren't in the house 5 minutes when Jordan was the first to come in. She said that since her trip to the doctor, she had bathroom issues that would require her being close to the "john" during the night.  Within 5 minutes, Morgan and Mitchell came in. Mitchell said, "grammy, it's not because we're scared, there's nothing to do". They didn't even bring a deck of cards for the tent. Kids now-a-days are so used to their video games, iPods and phones that they don't know what to do without them.

Saturday

Butch and Greg played golf while we girls and kids had our final pool day. When the guys got home, we had the washer tournament. Each person put in a dollar. We chose teams by drawing out of a hat. Jordan's boyfriend was here again and as luck would have it, they luckily paired up. They did pretty well together. Sandy and Stephanie ended up being the winners with each winning $5.00.

We barbecued and started the "homemade ice cream fiasco". We haven't made homemade ice cream in probably 15 years. I followed the recipe in the book. As I was making the mixture, I noticed that there was no sugar in the recipe. Apparently, there was a "typo" and they left out the word "sweetened" in front of condensed milk. I added sugar, but it didn't work. We ended up with a soupy mess. I put it in the big freezer and the kids had some later. I threw it out this morning! 

We finished our week with another family game of Texas Hold 'Em. I was the big winner this time with Mitchell coming in second and Butch third. We each put in $3.00 in exchange for chips. My winning cut was $18.00. I love taking money from kids!!

Casualties of the week:

Handle fell off the back door.

After 15 years, Greg still doesn't understand "decorative" towels.

Steph should NEVER be assigned any cooking duties.

Mindy ruined her carpet by dropping her bronzer on it---thanks, Mindy---it's always expensive     having you home.

Mitchell broke a few eardrums wailing on his electric guitar to Inagadadavita.

The whole house was completely "trashed" as usual.

Elizabeth can't handle poker and Fanta Grape at the same time (picture to follow).

Turns Out I'm Still Italian After All!

You almost can't tell that I'm Italian---I have pale skin most of the time (of course the pool helped with that this year), I don't look Italian, I don't speak Italian and besides the occasional pot of spaghetti sauce, I don't cook Italian. I've been to Italy, but I'm not sure that counts. I changed all that last weekend---I'm definitely Italian through and through (okay maybe only half)---and I have the FOOD to prove it---and I've been on a roll.

It really started when I was in St. Louis for nearly a month helping mom after her surgery. Visiting my favorite Italian restaurants is a must when I'm in town. We just don't have any Italian restaurants like them here in Nashville. 

I decided that I was going to cook Italian for my friends. I left St. Louis with a cooler of toasted ravioli, Valenti bread and aged cheeses. I finally had that dinner last weekend. I decided to serve courses. There were 11 of us.

The week before, I went to the liquor store to find just the right wines for the party. I told my buddy at the store that I was serving Italian and wanted some "respectable" wines. He said, "so you're thinking the $30.00 range?" I said, "well, I was really thinking more in the $20.00 range." I didn't want to look cheap, but I was really thinking more in the $15.00 range. He helped me with 6 different types. I got 2 of each for a case. They ranged from $14.00 to $28.00 a bottle. That's when I started to complain to Connie---entertaining is expensive and I'm mad that some of our friends never do anything.  Anyway, she's good to let me vent. I swore to her that this is the last time I was doing something. Of course, it doesn't do a lot of good to complain to her because she shares my plight. She is the only one that plans and does as much as I do. We rant and rave and say we're not going to do it anymore, but then we can't hold out because we want to do fun stuff. Enough of the complaints and on to the dinner.

I started cooking on Saturday morning. Butch had gone to play golf, so I had the house to myself. I put on my music and really enjoyed the process. I used fresh herbs from my farmer (I don't know if I've reported this---another story---I get a basket of fresh vegetables every week) and lots of fresh vegetables. I cut flowers from the garden for the table and had all the food ready by 1 p.m. I took my nap floating in the pool.

Dinner:

Course 1: Toasted ravioli---2---1 with butter, 1 with sauce.

Course 2: Grandpa's soup via grandma---my grandpa Preli made the best soup. It's the only thing he made. When he died, grandma tried to duplicate it. She got pretty close. She babysat Sandy a lot when she was a baby, so I was at her house all the time. I wrote things down when she cooked because she didn't have any actual recipes. 

Course 3: Italian salad with all kinds of good stuff in it---like St. Louis salads. I used the Pasta House dressing recipe, but substituted balsamic vinegar for the red-wine vinegar and it was great. I served a slice of Italian bread (toasted with butter and herbs) with the salad.

Course 4: Gnocchis (home-made with Grandma Preli's recipe) with spaghetti sauce, bruggeloni (I have no idea how to spell that---it's the round steak with seasonings, bread crumbs and parmesan cheese rolled around hard boiled eggs and cooked in the the sauce) along with another slice of bread.

Course 5: Fresh Blackberry cake. For 4 weeks in a row, I've gotten a quart of fresh blackberries from the farmer. I found that recipe on the internet---homemade from scratch---delicious.

The meal was a success---and fun to do. Even Butch, who really doesn't care about food, told me it was great. 

Now this week, the whole family is here for our annual first week of August last hurrah before school begins. I was telling the girls about my dinner party last week. I had planned to make some spaghetti for them this week as I made a HUGE pot of sauce and froze it. Then I got to thinking---I made this great Italian meal for my friends, why don't I do it for the family? So, I did. The Lapps family were gone today and Butch was playing golf, so, again, I had the house to myself. I made the entire dinner over again. This time there would just be 10 of us---or so I thought. Jordan ended up calling to find out if she could bring her boyfriend. Sure, what's one more.

Did the whole meal again. I let Victoria and Elizabeth help me make the gnocchis. Funny how I have so much patience when it comes to my grandkids. When my girls were little, I could not bake with them. I "wigged out" about the mess. Our family Christmas cookie baking day ended up with me making the dough ahead of time to avoid the mess. We all rolled them out and baked them. Then, Butch was in charge of decorating. I went in the other room and just cringed when I heard the sprinkles hitting the floor.  I've come a long way.

Anyway, after cooking a huge Italian meal twice in the same week, something crazy has started to happen. I'm talking more with my hands and an accent has emerged. Turns out I'm still Italian after all! Arrivederci! (Okay, so I cheated---translations.com).

Photos

Just thought I'd show you a few layouts. I really should take the pictures before putting the page protectors on!

.

This one is titled "Disney, daddy and me".

The title of this one is "high society", but I wanted

it to be subtle.

The entire title is pretty hard to read in the picture.

I embroidered it, but didn't take into account that

some of the letters would go off the page. So, I had

to change the title to make it work. It is "there's

somethin' special about a daddy and his little girl.

Oh, and it wasn't until I was into it that I realized

that the whole thing really didn't even fit! That's

Sandy in the pictures.

Love this one. I just used a scallop square punch

and wove floss around them.

There's nothing that says "Mindy" quite like

"open-mouthed enthusiasm".

Facebook What???

I've had my Facebook account for about 6 months now and I still don't get it. I've had friend requests from people I went to high school with that I was never friends with then. Why do they want me to be their friend now? I'm starting to get it that it really isn't about friendship---it's about the numbers. I have people requesting to be my friend that I don't even know. They just happen to be friends of friends of mine. Well, NO, I don't want to be your friend. I already have 46 friends of my own.

And what's up with writing on my wall? I never was able to even find the wall.

I've been tagged and poked and have no idea what that means. Today, I was sent a cup of coffee, but I never received it. I also received 3 friend blessings, whatever those are. I've been invited to support numerous causes---stop child abuse and save the children's hospital in North Carolina (I didn't know I knew someone in North Carolina and can't for the life of me figure out who that is). I've been invited to Boycott China and end Animal Terror. I don't plan to go to China, so I guess I'm supporting that cause.

I received 2 hearts and again, never actually received anything. This all sounds more like a tease if you ask me---send me yummies, but don't really send them. What the ???

I've been challenged to a pillow fight and have been hit with a tootsie pillow. Don't know what that is and never felt it. Sounds sweet though.

I have online sisters reaching out to me across the miles---don't know them either. One even sent a "what kind of teacher are you" invitation. So this friend doesn't even know I'm not a teacher. Some friend.

Another friend is sending me a fat cat---if I accept. No way, I'm finished with pets. 

Someone has smiled at me. I've gotten 2 requests for hugs. Sure, I'd do it, but how do you hug the computer?

Another person wants to know what color crayon I am and I've been bitten by a zombie. Now I'm starting to feel like all of these people are in rubber rooms. 

I've been asked which Facts of Life character I am. Hhheellloooo, I was never on Facts of Life. Now someone is confusing me with that chubby character. I definitely don't want to be her friend.

Someone wants to know if I'm spoiled. For that answer, just read my previous blog entry.

I've been asked "5 tricky questions". And someone else thinks I'm a flower.

Sounds like none of these friends know me at all. And all I wanted was to be Ellen Degeneres' friend. She's the only one NOT asking to be my friend! 

Sometimes I Forget...

...that my husband has to work for a living---or at least to sustain the lifestyle to which I've grown accustomed. Right before our Scotland trip, there was a problem with our airline tickets. He called me to handle it. I kind of whined about it to him---"can't you handle it?"---because in my head, I was thinking, "waaahhhh, I want to get a pedicure." 

Then a couple weeks ago, I was getting ready for my weekly pool party with my friends (some weeks we have 2 or 3). Right before they arrived, I called Butch at the office to ask him to pick up some vodka for our frozen drinks. Later, I called to see if he could pick up Sandy and Greg at the airport so I wouldn't have to leave the pool. He reminded me that he actually had to work. Oh, yeah, I forgot.

I'm not the only one in the family that forgets that he has to work. Steph has called him in the middle of a meeting to say that her closet pole had fallen down and could he fix it---like now. He told her that he was in Atlanta in the middle of a meeting with some $500 an hour attorneys.

Mindy has also interrupted him with her issues. Her apartment lease had to be re-signed by June 1st. Butch was the co-signer originally and had to re-sign again. She hits it with him on the 1st at the office---faxing the lease back and forth and numerous phone calls. When he asked why she didn't send it to him sooner, she said, "daaad, I couldn't even get it from my mailbox before now because I had to WORK." 

Sandy doesn't seem to bother him at work. I guess that's why she's the favorite!

Lest you think I'm too spoiled, I'm being punished for my inconsiderate behavior. My nails are weak from all that water and my neck has a "crick" in it from spending so much time on the pool float! Oh woe is me....

A Diagnosis---Finally

I've been battling my hives for nearly 10 years now. Basically, the doctor explained them by telling me that I have an over-active immune system. It's not necessarily a bad thing, more of a nuisance---sort of means I have a very healthy immune system. I went today for my 6 month check-up. For just about the past year, I've had very few out-breaks and am able to self-medicate with prednisone as needed. I now recognize all the signs and can tell when I am descending into a bad case. A round of prednisone keeps them at bay---at least long enough for my body to realize there is nothing wrong---just a mosquito bite, hard bump, bee sting, new earrings or shoes---I never know what might trigger them. Anyway, today Dr. McDaniel told me that the dermatology community has finally put a name to my type of hives---Auto-Immune Hives. There is no cure, but rather the approach to take is to just control them. It is not unusual for them to go away altogether. I look forward to that day. In the meantime, my hives rarely "put me to bed" anymore as I recognize what is happening and can start medication to prevent that descent. 

After our hive discussion, I asked the doctor to remove a wart on my elbow and check a spot on my face for skin cancer. He called it some "mumbo jumbo" medical term that I cannot pronounce or even remember to repeat. He then asked if I had ever had anything "frozen" off. I told him that another doctor had removed an "age-related wart" from the side of my nose---twice. He said, "oh, this is the same thing. I just don't call them that. Most women don't like hearing it". I love this guy!! Then I asked about a long-lasting "pimple" that I've had since I went to St. Louis in mid-May. It just seems like it's never going away. The doctor then said that it's not a pimple, but the same "age-related wart" that probably had a bit of an infection that gave it the appearance of a pimple. 

So the good news is that I am no longer looking like Quazimoto due to my hives, I'm just going to be covered with warts! For each one that is frozen off, I better not get 10 more! I swear, I have never kissed any frogs!

It Must Be Said Out Loud!

I LOVED Michael Jackson! There, I've said it. I've loved him for a long time. I refuse to believe all the horrible stuff that's been reported about him being a perverted child molester. My opinion is and has always been that he was stunted in his growth and remained a little boy inside---naive and innocent---and at times---just plain stupid. He should have learned his lesson about having young boys over. But isn't that typical of a little boy---lack of judgement?

There's a book coming out soon that was already in the works prior to Michael's death. I'll definitely be buying it. The author has stated that he started the book project trying to get to the real dirt of the child molestation allegations. No matter how hard he "dug", he came up empty-handed. I'm glad. Now that he's gone, perhaps he'll be remembered for the genius that he was. True, he was definitely eccentric. But aren't most geniuses? Granted, he looked like a freak at the end and for a long time before. But, boy, he could still sing and dance. I can't wait for the album that was to be his return to come out. I'll be one of the first to buy it. 

There's no doubt that he loved his kids. I hope that they don't get lost in the very world that Michael tried to protect them from. 

I love you Michael---and I'll miss you! I just had to say it out loud!