That's Just Wrong, Page 16

Take a good look at this picture. Go ahead; I'll wait.

Tonight, Ron and I went to Sam's Club after dinner. I shop Sam's Club the exact same way each time I'm there. I go up and down all of the aisles on the left, across the back and then up and down all of the aisles on the right. I pretty much stay out of the middle of the store.

The last aisle on the right comes through the candy aisle and then we go over to the cash registers. As I'm walking through, looking if anything catches my eye, here is what I see.

Middle shelf, left to right, is Double Bubble bubble gum and York Peppermint Patties. Top shelf, left to right is Fruity Snacks and on the right is Imodium. Yes, Imodium. You know, the anti-diarrhea medicine?

Now, I understand merchandising to a point. I know that in the grocery stores near the pork roasts I will find sauerkraut. By the cereal will be some bananas. I get it. But for what reason would someone stock the Imodium in the candy aisle? I mean, for real. If you were looking for Imodium at Sam's Club would you think to look in the candy aisle?

I think we can all agree . . . That's Just Wrong!

Stupidity Should Be Painful - And It Was

Yesterday I was stupid. Ok, that might not be unusual for me, but I was more stupid than usual! And, this time it was painful.

I was making pork chops for dinner last night. I was pan frying the pork chops just long enough to brown them and then they were going into the oven. I could only fry two chops at a time. As one pork chop came out of the pan, I went to put another one in the pan. I had the raw pork chop on a fork for the transfer to the hot pan and PLOP! The chop fell off the fork and into the pan and the hot grease flew everywhere. Considering the hot grease got me from head to toe, I ended up VERY lucky. I have a small burn on the top of one of my feet and that was my only injury.

As I was cleaning myself up and I realized just how much grease I got on me, I am amazed, and truly lucky, that one small burn was the only injury.

So, here I am, taking inventory of the damage and the worst part is that I have grease ALL over my favorite blue sweater. As soon as I finished with the chops, I ran upstairs with my bottle of Dawn dish washing liquid (it is a de-greaser after all) and my sweater and my one sock are now soaking in one of the bathroom sinks.

My concern is what if the grease doesn't come right out? How am I supposed to get grease out of my favorite sweater?? Any suggestions would be welcome.

The good news of this story though is the pork chops. This is one of my favorite meals and I don't cook them often because mine never come out that well; always too dry. This was the exception though. These were the best darn pork chops I ever made! I paid a price for them, but they were very good.

Next time I'm working with hot grease though, I'm wearing an old t-shirt and not my favorite sweater.

A Major Reward

It is now Ron's turn!

His largest client was on a conference call with Ron and Ron's company, talking about how the service has been in the last quarter. Ron has not only met the client's goals, but exceeded them by leaps and bounds. To say the least, they are thrilled with Ron. Then again, what's not to be thrilled about with Ron?

After this conference call, the VP of Ron's company called to give him the company's attaboy for making a very large client very very happy. To show their appreciation, they told Ron that he should take me out for a very nice dinner and expense it! Dinner is on them! Hey, I'm just thrilled I am able to share in his reward!

So, Saturday night, I have a date with my boyfriend. We have reservations at one of Ron's favorite places, Pier W.

Thanks to Ron's company for footing the bill for dinner. But more importantly, way to go Ron on a job well done! As if you could do it any other way.

Phil Had An Idea

Yes, Phil had an idea. And, it was a good one, too!

Phil was nice enough to take me for a few groceries last week. One of the things on my list was a box of cake mix. I don't bake cakes very often, but I do like to have a mix on hand just in case I want one.

There we were in the boxed cake mix aisle and I was trying to make a few wise choices. A good yellow cake is never a bad choice; check. Hmm, lemon cake? Hey, one of my personal favorites; check. Then Phil pointed out a box: strawberry cake. Hmm, this would normally never make my top 10 list of cakes mixes to buy. However, Phil seemed interested in it so I thought what the heck. Phil should be allowed to choose dessert once in awhile too! We also chose the strawberry cake mix.

The more I started to think about this the more it was intriguing me. Strawberry cake with Mom's chocolate icing. Hmm, almost like chocolate covered strawberries? By last night after dinner, I couldn't take it any longer. As soon as dinner dishes were done, I started in on the cake.
Ron was nice enough to mix the frosting for me so we all had a nice late night snack! Don't knock it until you try it. And by the way . . . darned good idea, Phil!

I Am Thankful

Thanksgiving weekend. A time to give thanks. And, yes, I do have a lot to be thankful for.

Let's start with the big day itself; Thanksgiving Day. I am thankful that brother Jim made the drive out here to Ohio to join us for dinner! Since Jim was willing to do all the driving, the least I could do was make one of his favorite meals. Instead of turkey with all the trimmings, we had ham! Before you start to laugh, my ham was absolutely the best ham I ever made! I didn't do anything differently than I usually do when cooking a ham but this baby was the bomb. A good day of family and laughs and good food. Can it get any better?

Yes, it can, with another entire Thanksgiving dinner with more family!

Saturday we headed over to Michael and Mary Jane's to join in their family celebration. Hey, like I need another excuse to put on the feed bag, especially when I wasn't the one cooking it!

Ron provided his famous ranch beans, vegan style, and I went and spent all day over a hot oven baking a couple of pies. Ok, I lied. I had Phil drive me to Mama Jo's Pies and bought a couple of pies! But, if anyone asks . . . I slaved all day, ok?

The young ones of the family were in overdrive, and Papa and Grandma were in heaven in the midst of the chaos! Since Noah and Grady just woke up from a nap around the time we got there, it took them a little while to feel the warm fuzzies in a house full of adults, but they warmed up soon. Isaiah and Evan were everywhere and giving love to us all! I hope when they grow up, they carry with them the happy memories that we all have of having holiday meals with the family. Lots of people, lots of food and lots of love.

Yeah, it was a good weekend.

So, Thanksgiving. What am I thankful for?

• Ron
• Family
• Friends
• Large print books at the library
• Vicodin (for which I am VERY thankful)
• Pomegranates
• Light traffic days
• Yellow finches eating from our bird feeder
• Foot rubs
• Sitting on my front porch on a nice day
• Halushki and Cabbage
• www.fark.com - curses to you, Michael J for teaching me this one!
• Laughter
• Kitchen curtains

What? Kitchen curtains? Ok, this is only a partial list as I am thankful for so many things. And, after being in the house for five years now, we finally put up kitchen curtains! Ok, Ron put them up, but I supervised! I supervised him installing the rods and I supervised his hanging the curtains. If I do say so myself, he did a great job!

Cute, huh? And, as a cutesy detail, there are little grape clusters covering the loops that you put the rods through. Is this just too cute or what?

Ok, I happen to love these curtains. Good thing they are hanging in my kitchen!

Last but not least, today is my anniversary. December 1, 2001, I moved to Ohio. I only lasted six years in Houston and here I am seven years now in Ohio! What's next? Time to move yet?