Haunted Houses and Scary Movies

Our neighbor puts out a deliciously creepy haunted house display in his yard each year which Chris loves to go look at. Since I'm not a huge fan of horror/scary movies, (he claims I got scared watching Finding Nemo which I claim was mostly for show since we were engaged at that point and I just wanted to cuddle, I mean the part with the sharks was a little scary, but once I learned they weren't going to eat them I was ok). I finally got up the nerve to watch Psycho with him the other day, it wasn't too bad, but I draw the line at his Steven King movies. Last year he induced me to watch Nosferatu, an old black and white silent movie about Dracula, I LOVED it! I died laughing it was so funny! My favorite part was when Nosferatu is coming after the girl with the hands up to his chest trying to look scary but just looking ridiculous, I love to pretend with Chris holding my hands up like claws and hissing at him! Anyway, we went down today to look at the neighbor's yard one last time before he starts taking it down this weekend, I got some cool pictures, maybe tonight I can get some more photos when it's all lit up. I'll put them in when I get them off the camera.

Anniversaries and Injuries

I am considering buying a football helmet for Ruthie to wear while working at home. In the past few weeks, I have seen her bash herself over and over again. We have seen in our marriage:
1. Ruthie sitting at the computer and getting a serious splinter in her foot.
2. Ruthie drop one of her painted boards just under her eye. Keep in mind many of these boards are used in buildings such as barns.
3 Ruthie hit herself in the face with a pan while drying dishes.

Of course, the occasional headbutt to me is not a concern, as she may be just trying to give me a kiss, but her safety is a concern to me.
We had a nice anniversary, although I don't know what it is with all the emphasis on our age. (Thanks especially to Matt and Brian for the Old Farts and AARP membership comments.)

We recieved a nice set of penguin stocking holders from my mother, to match the penguin stockings Ruthie is embroidering. I gave her a set of candle holders. She made a nice cake for me and a delicious diner.

I gave her her card which she appreciated, but then she confessed that she had forgotten to give me my cards and wasn't quite sure where she'd put them, I told her that was ok, she could save money and just give them to me next year. She didn't seem to appreciate the genious of my thrifty comment.

Well, that's my news for now,

Chris

P.S. She just head butted my ear as I finished this. Another attempt at a kiss.

Cakes and Anniversaries

Well, I'm still fighting the cold that lasted 5 days for Chris, I'm on my fourth week! Today is our fourth anniversary, for Chris' birthday in May I tried to make a Red Velvet cake for him, well, after three unsuccessful attempts, I gave up. Today I'm giving it another shot. I measured the cake pans with a tape measure and it said they were 9 inches wide, so I put in the cake batter, it filled them up rather full, but I didn't think anything of it until I started to smell something burning. Here the cake batter had leaked over and was burning on the bottom of the oven. Of course that's better than the first time I made the cake, that time I had forgotten to add in the eggs, the cake batter exploded all over the oven! I had to throw that one out and started over again, this time I forgot to add in the vinegar and baking soda combo and so the cake was flat and burned. By the third time I was almost out of ingredients and frustrated and the kitchen was a mess, so when that attempt didn't turn out, I gave in and made him a cake from a box! Next time I make this I'll have to try 3 cake pans instead of two. That is if I decide to make this very irritating cake again! Every time I make it something goes wrong, that and it takes 2 oz of red food coloring, I used every bottle I had in the house, I didn't know I had so much food coloring until today! Of course now I'll just have to replace all my red food coloring for the next time I make this stupid cake and for Christmas cookies of course. Chris said that to save money this year we should just not do a whole lot for our anniversary, so then after I already said I'd just make him a special meal for his present he asks me if I've seen the present he got me!!!!! So, that's why the cake. Well, the cake is done baking and I'm delicately trying to get it out of the pans without totally destroying it. The frosting required some "tweaking" The milk and the flour were supposed to cook until thickened, but apparently I didn't let it thicken enough so the frosting was runny so I went through my corn starch trying to thicken it up once I added it to the butter and sugar I had creamed. After adding a combo of flour and powdered sugar I finally got it thick enough. Now if only the cake will come out of the pans nicely....! Well, the frosting is runny, the cake is misshapen, but hey it tastes great, so we'll just call it modern art.
Chris came home last night with a present from his mother, he won't even let me peek until he come home from work today! It's killing me not to know! He loves to do this to me, last year he wrapped this HUGE package and left it up on top of the tv cabinet for weeks, tormenting me!

Colds and Vet visits

I caught a cold on Saturday, from Chris. Although being very thoughtful and concerned about me in most areas, he couldn't help making fun of the way I sounded all weekend. I kept telling him it wasn't nice to make fun of his sick wife, but he just couldn't seem to help himself! I just took Bogey to the vet this morning for his second set of shots. The vet thinks he's about six months old, judging by his teeth. He gave me some more worm meds for the little bugger too. I'm hoping it helps to improve the smell of the litter box whenever he uses it. It's his third round of worm meds, I'm hoping the old adage, third time's the charm, is true in this instance. Our neighbor is setting up his Halloween display in his yard again. Chris and I look forward to watching it evolve every year. This year seems to be a pirate theme. Lots of pirate skeletons with eye patches. How did Halloween get to be a national holiday in all but name anyway? I am practicing my Ebay bidding skills. I have about 30 minutes before an item that I want is going off. I am biding my time until the last second before placing my bid. I'm also trying to watch the shows I tried to record last night while we were at AWANAS, but ever since Princess knocked the living room VCR off the shelf it's been messed up. We haven't been able to get the tape in it out, I've been able to record some shows on it in the past, but last night aparently wasn't one of those nights. It started to record the first show I had programed and then quit. I'm hoping that it didn't mess up all my shows. I can still watch them online, but I can't fastforward those comercials. I'm hopeful, because I started recording on NBC, the TV was on CBS when I turned it on. Well aparently I lost and the machine won. Nothing on the tape from last night. We're planning on replacing the VCR and DVD with a combo player. I'm thinking of shoppping for them on Black Friday when they have all the great deals going on. Well I managed to miss bidding on my item because my computer was too slow registering the bid, urgh! I'll have to keep practicing.

Cats!

Princess is our naughty cat. If there's trouble to be found, she'll be in the middle of it. If I hear a crash from the other room, I know which cat's bound to be responsible for it. One of her favorite things to do is to find a drink left on a table and jump up next to it, she'll stick her paw in the liquid and lick it to see if she likes whatever it is, if she likes it she'll stick her face in it and drink it up, if she doesn't she'll knock it off the table! When she gets in a bratty mood she'll jump up on the dresser and knock off everything on it to clear off what she perceives as "her" spot. She HATES the vet. He's the nicest man and treats her so much better than she deserves, but she just turns into MONSTER CAT whenever she has to go get her shots. I don't even take her out of the carrier when we go, he just unzips one side a little ways and pokes her with the needle while she hisses and squawks like she's being killed! She's still pouting about Bogey's arrival, I took him to the vet the other day and when I brought him back she hissed at him as if to say, "I thought we finally got rid of you, what are you doing back here you little twerp?" She loves to climb up to impossible places. I have a wooden crate on top of the cupboard I use for my pantry and it goes up almost to the ceiling, well one day I looked up and lo and behold Princess had climbed up there, removed the impediment of the pitcher I had up there and made herself at home. She loves to climb into my sewing bag, and so I'll pick it up and her little head will poke out! She hardly weighs anything as most of her is made up of fur, she's the hairiest of our cats, but Gizmo is the one who sheds the most, when I run my hand over her fur I come away with a ton of hair!

Gizmo is my lazy cat. She weighs at least 10 pounds and is very short and compact which makes it painful when she climbs up on my lap. She loves to climb up on us when we're in bed and stand on us demanding to be petted at four in the morning! The rest of the time she's really laid back. She's very patient with Bogey who loves to jump on her and wrestle with her. She's the last to eat and I have to persuade her to eat treats, she's a little air headed sometimes. She lets the other two walk all over her. She loves to lay on things. If there's a shirt on the floor, she's laying on it. Both she and Princess have a bag fetish, if there's a bag that they can climb into they will.














Bogey is a stinker. Literally. Whenever he uses the litter box you can really tell! He's really growing fast. He loves to cuddle and purr. I call him Dracula because he loves to nuzzle my neck with his cold little wet nose. He's got no fear of either cat who could easily squish him like a bug! He's always jumping on them and wrestling them, he makes sure he gets to the food first and won't budge no matter how much he gets growled at. He's super active, always running around getting into stuff. He loves to be wherever I am, he'll crawl up in my lap or on my shoulder and just purr away.

For the Love of Coffee

I love coffee, I cannot live without coffee! From the scent of the coffee as I spoon it into the filter to the aroma that comes as it brews and then the first heavenly sip that begins the wake up process, I love coffee! I am a zombie until I finish that first cup. I have three coffee makers, one is a regular 10 cup coffee maker for when we have company, one is a double travel mug coffee maker, and of course my lovely espresso machine. I worked a few brief months as a barista at a coffee kiosk where I learned to love specialty coffee drinks. My husband, on the other hand, will drink coffee under duress only if it is so heavily milked and sugared that you can't taste the coffee! My entire family is addicted to coffee and I marry a non-coffee drinker! Not only that but he doesn't like hot drinks at all, whereas I love any kind of hot drink, tea, cocoa, coffee, espresso. Especially in these COLD Iowa winters! He gets his caffeine from pop. He likes to drink decafinated iced tea as his favorite beverage, ugh!