Ms. Adele

Does it again. Enjoy, Chasing Pavements.

Adele

I've just discovered her and I adore her bluesy
styling. Here she is with, Cold Shoulder.

Double Rainbow

Here's another double rainbow. Lucky for me!

OMG!

No, I didn't eat it all. Just barely a third of it. Sheesh!

Peanut Butter Cake

Smitten Kitchen did it again. I can't help myself when Deb's email comes into my inbox. Ugh. A ton of calories and I'm going to have to give away at least 3/4 of this cake that weighs about 10 pounds. Oh, and that's what's going to happen to my weight too. Another 10 pounds. So? Perhaps I won't eat a dinner tonight. Perhaps I'll just eat cake!

This is a triple layer 9 inch chocolate cake with a cream cheese/peanut butter frosting and a peanut butter ganache poured over the top. Ugh. And don't even think of wrinkling your nose to cream cheese and peanut butter together. I have learned to trust Deb and I cannot believe what heaven this frosting is. The only thing I did different from Deb is make 1 1/2 recipes of the cake batter as I had 9" pans and the recipe called for 8" pans. It probably would have been just fine the way it was, but ...

And although mine isn't as pretty as hers, I'll bet it tastes just as good. Nothing like chocolate and peanut butter together. Why, that's how I found Deb's Smitten Kitchen Blog in the first place. Looking for a recipe for peanut butter brownies.

Happy Birthday Missi!

A monkey getting the best of two cubs

This is really cute.

Since 7th grade

Whitey's Diner, Fremont, OH

I sat up at the counter, which was always my favorite seat when I lived there and frequented the joint. Chatted with Mark for a while and picked at his memory until he remembered me.

Gosh! Have I been gone that long???

And talk about some grub. Lord have mercy! I ordered eggs, bacon, Mark's famous potatoes and could only eat half of it. Unfortunately, I attacked my food with gusto before I thought of taking a picture of the enormous amount of food set in front of me, but that plate of food I shot is a close resemblance of mine. Add the bacon and replace the white toast with whole wheat.

I had to take half of it with me. Even the bacon. I was given 7 strips of thick, crisp bacon. I ate 3 of them. They didn't go to waste though. Ha ha ha ... Sandy's son saw them and just like that, they were gone!

A visit to Fremont, OH

While driving back to Michigan I decided to make a slight detour. To the small town I lived in while married to Art. What a man!!! Anyways, I stopped to visit him in the early morning hours on a Saturday morning.

Then over to take some pictures of Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken joint.

Matt? The menu is for you to make any comparisons. Ha ha ha!

I interupt my Yankee trip to rantings -- 400 Billion mortage bailout

Check out this cartoon. This guy got it right and this was the initial reaction to the 400 BILLION bailout of homeowners. That is until a mere few days later it was a must sign bill to save all. Ha! What is wrong with this picture? Note the poor taxpayer on the left with all the gluttons on the right. Ugh.

Excuse me! But those homeowners signed those papers. And if they didn't take the time to read what their obligations would be, then that is their problem. Live with it!

But oh. Now it's going to be ours, the taxpayers, problem. Come on now. Puleeze! Quite frankly I RESENT MY SOON TO BE INCREASED TAXES to go to this.

Are you kidding me? I am no spring chicken and have made many mistakes in my life and when I signed my life away I was responsible for my signature. And the ensuing credit report and all other repercussions related to that signature.

During the housing boom I was sitting back and thinking, are these people nuts? There were many, many people taking out 2nd's and 3rd's on their home to finance (I gotta have it NOW!) shopping sprees.

And dumb shit brokers encouraging interest only or ARM's when the interest rate was at historical lows. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

There was no way I was using my home (MY HOME!) for a tanning bed or vacation. Absolutely not! And neither would I have gotten a trick loan when I could've gotten a fixed rate at 5% for the life of the loan. But oh, excuse me, I could've gotten it for 3% for 3 years and then take a chance on the interest rates being even lower (ha!) and paying those extreme closing costs (how did they get to be so high???) and have it made -- until the time was up. Or better yet -- an interest only loan and you'd never get away from owing the debt you signed for. Another gamble that homes would increase in value and you'd be able to pay the Realtor fees when you decided to move.

But they didn't increase. They dropped -- like a bomb!

And dear God, please help us. The GOVERNMENT is going to handle this. I can't wait to hear how much of the 400 billion actually went to these crappy mortgages and how much was used to 'manage' them.

UGH!

And now the time is up. Our country is in bad financial shape. Our dollar is dropping. Oil is insanity AND inflation is rearing it's ugly head.

There had better be a lot of heads rolling -- all the way up the jailhouse steps over this crap!

I am pissed!

Oops! Almost missed this pic

More of Ohio

The trip to the beach has been a habit now of ending with an ice cream treat. Boy did Cooper make a mess of that cone. But boy did she love it also.

And then it was off to Ohio

A visit with Missi and the grandkids along with our annual trek to the beach.

Alicia Ramos

Along with Sandy Bauer, Judy Willis, and Donna Esch. OMG!!! It'd been at least 35 since I'd seen the latter two gals. We spent four hours at Bennigan's Restaurant having lunch. We poured over our high school year book and reminisced about many, many things.

More pics out on the lake

It was a good time. And it was a good meal we all enjoyed afterwards. We had salmon marinated in teryaki sauce. And not just any teryaki sauce either, but Soy Vay brand. I grilled salmon tonight marinated in one of the bottles I'd brought home from MI (not sure I can find it here in FL). YUMMY!!!

Yes, that's my leg!

The one that isn't all red that is. Sandy and I went a had matching tatoos put on. She picked the style and leg (mine is on the left leg and hers is on the right) and I picked out the colors. And silly Sandy wasn't thinking when she picked the leg with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Hence the reddened areas and the slow healing.

I was a tough bird and made just a few grimaces during the process. Whereas Sandy suffered through it and said, I don't believe I'll ever get another tattoo. Ha ha ha ...

The tatoo artist? Meet Scoob.