Jafar? Are you in there??

This is my new grandbaby, Jenna Beth, wearing the same dress her mother wore home from the hospital 33 years ago.


I know it's been a while and I'm not sure anybody is even reading this, but as an excuse for part of my downtime, I spent three weeks with my daughter in El Paso to welcome my new grand-daughter. She was born May 12 weighing 9 lbs. 9 ozs. Babies run big in my family, so she was pretty typical for us, but she looked like she was 3 months old already.

Only my grandson, Bailey, will get the title of this post. Jafar is the bad guy from the Aladdin movie. This was a running joke while I was in El Paso. The parrot, Iago, knocks on Jafar's head at one point and says "Jafar, are you in there?" Bailey and I would do this to each other everytime something happened and we wanted to get the other one's attention. I enjoyed watching several movies with Bailey. Speed Racer and Rattatoui were my favorites.

The Rattatoui movie inspired me to let Bailey (age 4) and Maverick (age 2) help me cook one day. They were so funny standing on step stools, mixing eggs with milk and salt and pepper and Maverick's secret ingredient for perfect scrambled eggs, parmesan cheese. Bailey left after the mixing part was done, but Maverick saw it through all the way to frying his eggs and buttering the bread. He loves helping with anything from mopping the floor to changing a diaper. Bailey, on the other hand, hates being asked to do anything that interfers with his agenda.

Here are Bailey and Maverick with their versions of a milk mustache.

Who Says??

I've been contemplating who decides what is a waste of time and what is a constructive use of time. Mainly because I've been wasting a lot of time lately! But who says it's wasted?? It all started when my daughter blogged about Spring time. That got me to thinking about spring cleaning, which unleashed a torrent of activity in my bathroom. I cleaned and dusted everything in there from top to bottom and cleaned out shelves and drawers and mopped the floor. Then I decided the next day I would start on my bedroom, but Rusty found a new hidden object game on the computer and we played that all day. Then I helped him finish Mortimer Beckett and then he got me started on Detective Stories Hollywood and one thing lead to another and my room never got cleaned. I felt bad about it for a little while, then I realized that the time I spent with Rusty and the time I spent relaxing, while stimulating my mind, in front of the computer isn't wasted time. Maybe my bedroom isn't super clean and my furniture didn't get treated with liquid gold, but I washed the sheets and comforter. OK, I still have some Christmas stuff on my dresser that I need to put away. But so what if it's still there next Christmas and I don't have to "waste time" getting it out of the closet??

Paula Deen or Mortimer Beckett??

This week I've had a hard time deciding who I want to be. If you recognize those two names in the title, you have some idea of what I'm talking about. Paula Deen is, of course, a cook. Tuesday we decided to create our own Japanese Steak House at home. We made a huge pot of fried rice, stir fried veggies, shrimp, chicken & steak. Then I made the creamy sauce they serve in the restaurants. We also had some spicy mango sauce and some onion blossom horseradish dip. It was all delicious. We invited my sisters over to eat with us, and even took some "take out" to my Mom.

Wednesday, my husband promised to make my nephew a pan of bread pudding. My grand-niece came down and decided she would make the bread pudding with Kirby's instructions. So, while they were working on that, I fixed the rest of the steak from the night before, along with some oven roasted garlic potatoes. When my nephew came for the bread pudding, we ended up feeding steak and potatoes to him, his wife, my grand-niece and nephew, and one of their friends. Everyone loved all the food, but grand-niece Jessica said she would rather have my sloppy joes than steak.

You probably know what happens next. Thursday we made sloppy joes for everyone, along with a special request for my cole slaw (from my nephew). Dessert was peanut butter cookies with M&Ms (one of my favorites).

So what about Mortimer Beckett, you ask? He is a character in a computer game. I have become obsessed with hidden object computer games lately. Between all the shopping for food and cooking, I sit at the computer and download free trial versions of games. Some, like Mortimer Beckett, I enjoyed enough to actually pay for the full version. Others, I play for 30 minutes and decide they are not that much fun. Right now I am going through Escape the Museum. It's pretty good, but the objects are very well hidden (to the point of being impossible to see). Yesterday I played Unicorn Castle all day. The day before that it was Hide & Secret Treasure of the Ages. I have my sisters playing these now, too. They finished Mystery PI - the Lottery Ticket and now they are playing Mystery Quest Secret Island.

I have probably played upwards of 20 of these type games and so far, Mortimer Beckett is still my favorite. There are two of them in case you are interested. Secrets of Spooky Manor and Time Paradox. Both are entertaining and sometimes challenging. Be prepared to waste a considerable amount of time if you start playing. They are addictive. But it's a relaxing, good for your mind kind of addiction.

Pay it Forward

This was a game that a neighbor and friend of mine (a young woman who is in Germany with her Army husband) put on her blog. I thought it seemed like fun, especially since I was one of her first three to respond. Read the rules and post a comment so I can send you something from Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. I may even go more than three people if I don't get too many. Then post the rules on your blog and pay it forward!!



Here are the rules:


1.Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward by creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember - It’s the spirit and the thought that count! (I think 365 days is too long myself, but that's what was in the rules. Believe me, you won't have to wait that long to get your gift from me!!)

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the top three commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

That's it. Pretty simple. Hope some of you decide to play along.

Sick!!

Isn't it funny how thinking of one thing gets you to thinking of another thing and pretty soon you are thinking of things that had nothing to do with your original thought? I have been sick with a head cold for the last couple of days and for some reason, all my wadded up tissue this morning made me think of an old Brittish comedy we used to watch in the 80's called the Young Ones. If you ever watched it, you know it was outrageously crazy and disgusting. Perfect for a teenage boy (my son) and his friends. The Sick episode was one of the funniest, along with Have We got a Video and University Challenge.

Anyway, then I was reminded of a time when my Mother was sick and she was in her bedroom and heard us coming toward the room and she started yelling "unclean" like the lepers did in the Bible. She didn't want us to get her germs, but I always thought that was so funny.

But unclean made me think of the laundry I had in the washer. So as I was putting that in the dryer, I had to clean the lint filter. Which made me think about the air conditioner filter.

So I checked that, and of course, it needed to be changed. When I tried to throw it away, the trash can was full, so I had to take the trash out.

When I got outside, I noticed my car was facing the wrong way because my last trip had been to my mother's house. Which reminded me that I needed to go back to her house and fix her kitchen light for her.

I got in the car and there was the mail in the sunvisor that I had forgotten to take inside the day before. And in the mail was a coupon that I had sent for. $1 off cat litter.

Which reminded me to check the cat litter, which needed to be changed. Which reminded me that I can't smell anything because of this head cold. Which got me right back where I started. I need to get rid of all these wadded up tissues and take something for this cold.

Finally a Trip to El Paso!!!

It seems like forever since we got a chance to go through El Paso and stop to visit with the kids and grandkids. We had to stay out almost three weeks, but it was worth it to take the California load that got us through west Texas. I tried so hard to get some good pictures of the boys, but they never hold still. Here are a few of the better ones. I don't think I ever got Bailey to look at the camera.

coupon clipping craziness

While we were home for a few days I meant to put some pictures of our snow storm on my blog but every time I sat down at the computer I was distracted by coupon websites. I didn't know there were so many places you could find money saving coupons. I must have printed 20 or 30 coupons to use at the grocery store. Then of course I went to the store and didn't take the coupons with me because I didn't want to waste them at Savalot when I can double them at Krogers. Now I need to work on my grocery list that I can print out every week so I get the best deals and use the right coupons. No wonder people pay for someone to watch the sales and tell you which coupons to use. Saving $.50 is a lot of work. Every time I print a coupon they also include an ad or a recipe. When I have to replace the ink cartridge in my printer I hope I can find a coupon. Of course, I won't be able to print it if I'm out of ink. Guess I'd better plan ahead for that. This is getting so complicated. Where did I put that coupon for Excedrin?