bar makeover

before and after pics of part of our collection of alchoholic beverages.

two more down

I went out to feed the fish this morning and couldnt see two of them. So i unplugged the filter and picked it up out of the water. there they were. dead and for some reason stuck to the filter. ewwww. I got them off with the net and decided they should now feed my garden. the other big fish are getting really pretty but I have decided not to get all attached to them. it would be nice if they grow bigger, but i aint stressin over it.

last night when i opened th garage to go to work, i noticed up in the sky and there was this strange white stuff floating up there. I recall seeing it there in the past, so I didnt worry about it. then, this morning as I left the building, i saw it again. I also could small that smell when water hits hot concrete. its the smell of rain, but that hasnt happened here since too long ago. then, on the way home, I looked on my broken windshield and water droplets were landing on it from out of the sky. strange. it wasnt enough water droplets to have to use my wipers, just enough to streak the dirt on my broken windshield.

I took before and after pictures of my old and new bar arragement. I really like how it looks now and I think I want to buy another shelf unit and extend it out with some wine glasses and our collection of shot glasses. the shelves were only 19.00, so its is an easy decision. and yes, that is the only thing we collect. so what i wanted to do was post the before and after pics here. do we still have to post them to flicker of photobucket then use the code to post them here. or can I make a private file of picturs I want to put on here and somehow tranfer them to the blog. I know lu and jan are always putting pictures in their posts, and it seems like it would take to long to do it that way. if there is an easy and fast way to do it, i would sure like to know.

one last thing. for some reasson i went back and read my last post about our trip to vegas. it sure sounded like i was trying to jsut get it out of the way and not talk about it again. that wasnt it at all. we had the best time with amber and chris. it seemed like we had known each other for so long and meeting in person was an extra bonus. john and chris made fast friends with each other and im sure they will remain that way for years to come. we are looking forward to their visit next year and john is already talking about things we can do and what he wants to bbq while they are here. I really shouldnt have made so little of our visit, but taht is just how i was feeling that day.

ok, thats it for now. but let me leave you with this one request. if you watch dancing with the stars, please vote but not for cloris leachman. she has a place on tv and in comedy, but not on that show. lets not let really good dancers get the boot.

ok, really, see ya ll later. have a good one. but not two. lol

Wooooo hopoooooo! i saw how to pictures in and i actually did it!

Chile Egg Puff

Description:
this dish is baked in the oven and makes your house smell yummy. I have had it for dinner also. The recipe calls for Jack cheese, but I use Pepperjack. It spices it up a bit more. You can also fry bacon crispy and mix it in before baking for a different flavor. I also line the bottom of the baking pan with whole chiles laid out flat.

Ingredients:
10 Eggs
1/2 cup Flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz small curd cottage cheese
1 lb jack cheese
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cans diced green chiles(the small cans, or one large can)

Directions:
Beat eggs in bowl. (I use my kitchen Aid mixer for everything to really mix good) add flour, salt and baking powder.
grate cheese and add with melted butter and cottage cheese. add chiles
bake in a 9 x 13 dish at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes until brown and done.

Another productive weekend

Yesterday i wrote in a very long post(at least for me) about cleaning my room n living room. I couldnt beleive what a difference that made in how we both slept last night. its not that our room was filthy, it wasnt. it jsut gets dusty in places you cant just get to and you have to tear it apart to get it. Our bed is too heavy to slide from one place to another, so I am forced to take it apart. the room did smell good though after. By the time i sat down, i wasnt gonna do anything else.

This morning i woke up at 5 am. I had told john i would make chile egg puff for breakfast, so i got up and put that together. I really need to put that recipe on my recipe spot, OMG it is so good. after that went into the oven, I cut the pineapple, cantelope and watermelon for our lunches this week. the cantelope n pineapple have been a part of our meals for the last few weeks. it really is a tasty combination. then I made johns cookies. I make him cookies about every two weeks. I really dont mind, maybe i should put up that recipe too.

So i was done with waht i was gonna do

 

 

 

 

 

oops, did anyone notice that big ole gap in the post. John just brought me breakfast so I had to stop n eat. I was hungry and it was goooood.

so back to where I was. I was done, then John got up and asked if I would go to target with him to get a light for his bike that he as finally decided to ride to work. I said sure, and took my shower and we left. I found a set of shelves to put our extended bar on. I am getting real tired of the current set up. at first, it was ok, but now its out of control. There are bottles and other alcholic parafanalia on our floor in the corner of our livingroom. now it just looks tacky.

So guess what happened. we got into the car on friday evening to go to P Wexfords for dinner. (See Reviews) When I got in on the passenger side I noticed the big ole crack in my windshield. I dont know when it got there, but now we have to pay for a new windshield. that jsut bugs me. Does anyone else notice i consistantly spell jsut wrong?

Oh! a few comments back the Devine One asked about my fish. when we got home from vegas, the house stunk so bad from the tank I couldnt stand it. Then, i looked closely at the tank and saw a bunch of little flying critters above the waterline inside tht tank. That was it. I had had it. the next morning I put all four fish back into the barrells outside. no more stink, no more flying critters. this morning i went out to feed them and check the water level in the barrel, and one more feeder died. now I am down to six. three of each. when they die, that is it. no replacetents here.

I think that is it. I really am trying to get caught up on all the things I want to write about without going on for too long. so see ya all later.

Its been too long(and so is this blog post)

Wow! I just looked at the last post I put up here. it has been a long time. Well, its been a week. I have been so freaking tired though, I couldnt sleep all week. by friday, i figured out what was wrong. It had cooled down to the eightys, it got comfortable. we turned off our AC, no need for it anymore, we thought. Then last week it got hot again. I didnt realise why I was waking up every day at 4. that is about the time it get hottest then starts to cool off. Actually the hottest time is around two or three, but I woke up at 4. by friday i was talking to one of the guys at work. he said he wasnt sleeping either cus it got hot again, he turned his ac off too. i completely forgot we did this. it is supposed to cool off this week, I really hope so. get this, 97 on this past friday, and next friday they are predicting 77. Im gonna have to start wearing a coat again in a week.

Ok, so i really do want to tell you about our last trip to pick up wine and champaigne. We buy the majority of our from one wine maker in Calerveras. He is the owner of Hello Wines and he really does make a very good product. It takes about a little over an hour to get there but it is a nice drive up to the foothills. when we got there, a note on the door instructed visitors to call his cell, as he was in the fields only ten minutes away. So john called and was told he was three minutes away. we relaxed  a second and he pulled up. he was on his way back.

When he got there, he opened the door for us, then opened the large roll up doors to his shop. HIs winery really is just a section of warehouse strip. that is all he needs to make wine. A space to create his product. so inside his space, along with all the barrels of last years wine still sitting in barrels and getting ready for botteling, were covered vats. HUH???? What was this. We were told he was in the middle of the crush. These were tubs about  4 x 4 of grapes starting the process of winemaking. Now you have to understand, he is a small winemaker and this is not how the large wineries process their grapes.

John, winemaker, explained to us the whole process and let us taste the grapes and see the process that was taking place. When the covers were removed from the vats, there was a layer of grapes on top, with Juice on the bottom. he had a long smashing thing he used to mash the grapes down. He showed us the difference in the different variety of grape, petit serah compared to merlot and zin. It was so interesting. Then, I asked him if I could try to do the mash thing he was doing. He was so surprised i wanted to try. he said most people wouldnt even want to, let alone a female wanting to try.

Well, let me tell you, it was hard. the tool he uses to mix the grapes around weighs about ten pounds. You have to push the grapes from the top to the bottom in  a forward motion, come straight up and do it again. I could only do it a couple times, it was hard. he was impressed i even asked, but i felt like a wimp. Thats just me though. the whole process was really interesting. if you ever get to see this, i recommend taking advantage of the opportunity. it lets you appreciate the wine you drink. even if you dont drink it, it is still cool to see.

This morning I got up and tore my room apart, dusted everything, washed all the bedding, including the pillows, had john help me turn the mattress after i vacuumed under the bed. I then started on the living room. I finally finish waht I was gonna do at 2. I was so tired. that is when I opened my lappy to finally give you an update. this has turned out to be very long. I wont do the room like that again for a while, and I promise not to drone on this long again unless I have something really cool to talk about.

so see ya all later.

norton update issues

this morning i updated my norton account. it did a good job for me last year, so I bought it again. also, at costco it had a thing where i could load it onto three computers. I have two in my house, so that was a good deal for me. I may ask my sister if she wants the last download.

anyway, i loaded up the desktop in the spare room and got it cleaned up. it hasnt been covered for over a year, so it really was a mess. it took me a while to get it finished. I did get it done though. it had a virus that looked like microsoft, everthing about it looked like microsoft, but it wasnt.they kept warning us to update our copy cus we had 62 virus's.  it was a fake staged out of russia. I know this cus i bought the thing and got a call from the bank telling me it was bad. ok, lesson learned.

so i went and purchased a new copy of norton to load and clean up these messes. the desktop is fixed now, but john just told me, and i mean just now told me his firefox/mozilla page is gone. it used to have a bunch of stuff on it that he painstakingly im sure put there, and now its gone. just a blank page. I am missing my toolbar on top of my yahoo page. that tool bar has all my book marks. i can still get to my bookmarks, but its a pain.

so this is what happened when i tried to get to multiply. i went the only way i could to my bookmarks, and clicked on my page site thingy. when it showed up, it acted like it didnt know who I was and asked me to sign in. it asked me if i knew who lisa was, what the feck. I know there is some way to get my yahoo toolbar back, but i cant remember what it is. hint here folks.

i want the toolbar that has the little picture things on it. i will keep trying and i will also have to go find johns page that got lost. i sent an email to norton this morning about another issue, i may have to send another one for these two issues.

yesterday we went and picked up our new supply of wine and champaigne. we stayed way too long and i ended up driving home in the dark. i dont really like mountain driving at night, the oncoming lights on dark roads hurt my eyes. we finally got home at nine, and we both just fell into bed and fast asleep. i know it was early, but that is what happens when we spend the day outside all day and drink wine all day. lets not for get that. i realy need to tell you all about that. the one time i really should have had my camera, and i left it at home. i didnt even have my cell phone to snap a shot. that really is another blog i have to write, maybe tuesday cus im too tired on monday.

speaking of champaigne, did you know amber had never had a mimosa till we had breakfast at our hotel together on the day we left. and she liked it i think.

ok, thats it for now. i should probably try to get caught up on what you all have had to say.

What to talk about

I have found that if I dont write about something as soon as it happens, or in a recent time frame, its no longer fun to write about. Im talking about the balance of our trip to vegas. we had an absolute blast, but i didnt finish telling what we did and now I just dont really feel like it. On friday we swam all day in the pool at Ambers hotel. We also drank all day from the bar at the pool at Ambers hotel. it was fun, ok. I could probably go into detail, but i would have to remember it and my brain just cant do that right now.

so I am going to get on with whats happening right now. the weather is finally starting to change here. Just last week we were suffering in extreme heat here in the valley. this week its quite nice in the 80's. this will only last a few weeks here, then one day we will wake up and it will be cold. not freezing cold, no snow. We couldnt get that lucky. but it will be numbingly cold. it will stay that way until may of next year when it will again be sufferingly hot. But thats ok, we know this is how it works here.

The funny part is, just a short drive away, and you get all four seasons for the right amount of time. I am just hoping we get some of that rain all the other states get. This terminal dry spell is getting very old. California is like a dried up sponge. if it ever rains, all your gonna hear is a big ole slurp from the ground beneith our feet here.

the new tv season is finally upon us. or it will be in a few weeks. i am waiting for my favorite dancing with the stars. i have all my faves set to record on my dvr, so i could sleep through most of the season and still catch the new shows. speaking of new shows, last night i watched the new one called fringe. it was a little different but i liked it. i dont know if its dvr worthy yet, ill find out in a few weeks. i know it sounds like i spend hours in front of the tube, but actually there are only a few days a week that there is anything on that i like. there are shows that are on at the same time, and that is when i can watch those shows anytime.

I dont have any new projects in the works right now as far as quilts go. My neice is having a baby due Oct 30, so I think i am gonna make a baby blanket for her. I may make one for a lady at work for her daughter also. she isnt due for quite a while though, so I can wait on that one. I like making them though. its fun watching them come together and then finally giving them away. that really is the best part.

ok, i think in done for today. nothing else is popping into my head that wants to come out, lucky you.  see ya all later.

Pancakes n syrup

Description:
really freaking good. these are the same cakes my gran made for my mom and my mom made for me and i made for my kids n grand kids

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 TBS baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs, seperated
milk to desired thickness
a dash of vanilla flavoring I just started doing this. it makes them better

Directions:
mix dry ingredientd in a bowl and set aside. mix wet ingredients in a seperate bowl. I use a 2 cup measuring cup. I use a whisk to mix all the wet together. then add to dry ingredients.
beat the eggwhites till fluffy and fold into batter.
cook on a hot griddle n enjoy

Luck Be A lady water show

this is so cool. the water dances to luck be a lady by frank sinatra. i had to load it twice. it only loaded 5 seconds before. hope you enjoy it.

a short video of us in front of the belagio on the strip

we were waiting for the water show here. i finally figured out how to use ther movie maker on my camera. this is sorta funny.

Pics from Vegas

this is right after we saw each other

here are some of the pics i took in vegas. i will have to go back and add a few more. i took over 100. we had such agreat time.

Ive been to Vegas Baby!

i dont know where to start. our flight down to vegas, which should have taken us a few hours, was delayed due to fog in san francisco and we ended up getting to our hotel room at 830 pm. we should have gotten there at 3 something in the afternoon. talk about being exhausted. we then had to go to the imperial palace to pick up the free hotel voucher, then grabbed a cab to our hotel. really, it was 830 when i called amber at her hotel and told her we were there. there was a message at the desk to call her, with a correct number. I had tried to call her room from our house, but was told they hadnt checked in. talk about being just a little confused. now what were we gonna do.

ok, so we agreed to meet at the tropicana in the morning about 11. the next morning, john n i got up, went for breakfast at the hotel. we hadnt eaten since french fries at the bar in sf the day before. we were really hungry. the waitress told us about the bus, buy a day pass and take it all over. we could catch it right across the street, 5 dollars each for the day. so that was the plan. we ended up walking so much cus we didnt realise all the little shortcuts and over paths. we did find all the right buses, and finally got to the tropicana.

we stood out in front, we were really early. got there about ten 15 or 30. i just kept looking around at all the faces waiting to see if the bateman family was there and i missed them. all of a sudden, i hear this familiar voice say hello lisa! it was coming from the car door of an open cab that just pulled up. i was running across to meet amber, chris and brandon and i dont think my feet touched the ground. i think i screamed, or screeched or made some sound, but i really dont remember. i do remember  amber telling me to breath a few times. all i could do was hug her and try to breath. i have a few pics of the first meeting. it was really exciting.

anyway, after the initial meeting thing, we decided to walk the strip and see what was there. do you know how big that place is?????? we talked, walked, laughed a whole bunch and took a whole lot of pics of each other. it seemed so strange to finally meet. we both felt like it wasnt really real. when i think back on those two full days, now it seems like it was more than just two days. we fit so much into that time. we went to the top of the eiffel tower, had lunch in margeritaville, made reservations for dinner at pampas inside the miracle mile of planet hollywood, walked the miracle mile, which took forever it seemed. it was really strange walking around there. it was like going to a different place, or state or country at every casino.

I didnt realise it at the time, and i really feel bad about this, we just about walked the batemans to a frazzle. the heat didnt bother us cus it was about the same as it is here. they are not used to the heat though, and we just kept walking, not realizing they wanted to stop for a bit . we finally found an outside bar where we could all sit. Brandon is only seven and not meeting the age requirements just yet. That is where chris tasted coronna for the first time and i think likes it. its my beer of choice. We sat there for a while and relaxed.

I dont want to go on and on in only one blog, so i will end it here. i took a video of the belagio water show and i am trying to load it, but its not really working. I think multiply is going to force everyone to go with the premium package if we want to load our vids on here. i wasnt able to load one earlier either. so now i will put on some pics. maybe tomorrow i will finish our two days and crappy trip home.

if you live in the path of hanna or now ike, i hope you are ok. we watched some of the devastation on the news there and i worried about all those folks. and everyone always says california is going to fall off into the ocean.

I had a very productive weekend

I did it! I finished Lindas quilt. I think it turned out quite nicely if I say so myself. I added the pics to the Just quilts album. It is on the very end. I still dont know how much to charge for making it. I was thinking 100 or 150 plus the charge for materials. I know that may not sound like a lot, or to some it may sound like OMG, its a freaking quilt who do you think you are????? But that is what quilts go for. They actually go for a lot more, but I cant bring myself to ask for more. Anyway, I think that is a fair asking price. It turned out good, and I worked my fanny off on it. I will be giving it to her tonight at work. Im gonna bring my camera and take a picture of her with it.

Yesterday was the fifth annual vfw post 3199 chili cook off. John worked it all day. I didnt go until noon, I was working on the quilt. I went though and took a bunch of pics. this is what I do. I go to their events with John and take pics while he does what he wants to do. then I burn them to a disk and hand them over to them. I have been doing this for a few years. Its a good thing cus when the building burned down(was torched by two juveniles)all that was lost also. I was able to burn what i have on both of my puters and give them something new to start with.

John bought a bunch of raffle tickets and put my name on all of them. So, I won a dvd player, six pack cooler, t shirt and a huge dog pillow which we donated back. we dont have a dog, so we dont need it. the dvd player will probably turn into a christmas gift. John will have the tshirt, it says "freedom isnt free". I dont wear message shirts, even good ones. and the cooler may turn into my new lunch bag, if it will hold my lunch.

Now, today i made the decision I am tired of messing with the wine barrells for my fish. I went out and bought an aquarium to put my fish in. I have it set up in my living room and found a really nice surprise. It makes a really nice fountain sound that I didnt expect. Now the water is in it and trying to declorinate. I will let it sit over night and clear itself out. In the morning, I will catch the fish and put them in a plastic bag and float that in the tank for 30 minutes then have them in the house. I wont have to worry about jumping or water draining out or anything. And even better, I will be able to see them from my favorite spot on the couch. I will add plantlife a littel later, but for now, I have a tank. (Insert smiley face here)

Ok, in two more days we will be heading to vegas baby to meet Amber, Chris and Brandon. I am so excited. My next quest will be to meet Em either on her side of the states, or over here on mine. she has a bunch of people to meet over here, and I already have a day trip planned for us. OK, this is for the future.

So I am done now. I will take a few pics of the new tank for you all to see. Have a great week All.

Monster Quest

When we were in tulsa and sitting in our hotel room waiting for  alex to get off work or for something, John found a new show he liked, Monster Quest. Its on the history channel. We watched quite a few of those mostly because I had to force john to leave sometimes. I wont get into that right now. Anyway, when we got home, john said he tried to find it to set it up to record. He said he couldnt fine it, and would i please try. So of cource i did, and I found it and now it is set to record on both tv's. Now here is the thing. I think this is so funny.

They go out on these travels looking for giant birds, big foot, strange blood sucking monsters, Creatures from the deep and also man eating snakes. They set up real realy expensive cameras, night vision cameras and underwater cameras. these real grown up guys go out and act all serious about finding these creatures. It always seems someone had a picture from half a mile away. the picture is always blurry too, with nothing close by to compare it to.

I have watched about five of these. They all have the same ending though, they never get to catch a real whatever it is they are looking for. One time a lady had the bones of a chupacabre. or maybe it was a dog that was deformed. Bigfoot is a very popular hunt on this show. there are so many different names for big foot. one of the shows was about a large black catlike creature found running around parts of england. Those poor people, they dont know what a leopard looks like.

I dont know why i am writing about this. it was just on my brain for a minute. I am so sleepy, and that is what is falling off my fingers here. so this is where i am  ending this. hope you all have a great weekend.

Quick Note

Just a quick note. the young man that I wrote about yesterday has passed away. I cried when I heard this. I didnt know this guy at all. I had seen him on tv when he ran for city council in Fairfield. Some people questioned his experience, asking him if he knew what he was getting himself into. He replied, yes and he was willing and to jump in and make a difference in his community. His whole community liked him. they were sad to hear of his being shot, and then of his passing. He was only 22. I am sorry this happened to you Matt Garcia. Hopefully you will inspire someone else to be like you.

fishy problem solved

I went to orchard supply hardware and bought some plastic wire looking stuff to put over the top of the barrels. I also moved the fish up to the middle barrel. The water stays colder there cus there isnt as much direct sun hitting it. the water in this barrel is always full, as opposed to the bottom barrel, it gets empty real fast due to evaporation and splashing. We tried covering the barrel, and that design didnt work well, more water escaped. Yesterday john cut a circle and fastened  it to the top with zip ties. I am happy with this now.

I am also happy that the storms in the southern part of our states didnt do the damage it did last time. New Orleans was spared this time, or so it seems at the time i am tappin this out. They are saying on our news that texas may get hit with a bunch of rain. I am just hoping everyone is safe. If you live or you know anyone that lives in the path of these storms, do what needs to be done to keep yourself safe. That is really what is important right now. peoples safety.

I think it was last year, or maybe two years ago. a young man of about 21 ran for city council of a county a short drive away from us. He is the youngest person to ever run for city council and win. He truly cares about his community and the people. He was working on projects to reduce gang violence and make his community better. Well, last night he was shot and is in critical condition. He is 22 years old and fighting for his life. he is from Fairfield. His name is Matt Garcia. I am writing about this because it makes me so upset that guy was hurt. they have no clues as to who shot him, if it was an intentional shooting, or if he was collateral loss. I hate gangs, gang members, and anything having to do with gangs. They are a problem out here. I hope its not that bad in your part of town. If you have one more prayer in you, can you send one to Matt Garcia from Fairfeild. He is in John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.

I want to tell you about the Shark steam floor cleaner i bought, but now Im all upset so Im gonna go for now. I just had to get that out of my system.