So, we had tickets to the Saturday afternoon Cardinals/Twins game at Busch stadium in St. Louis. We, being thirteen members of my family, because my brother, Jeff, ( number 14) stayed at home as they are so behind in the planting. The temperature at the stadium was 99 degrees. Our group included a two-year-old, a queasy pregnant woman, and two 70-ish ladies. Did we have fun? Well, let's just say we were committed to following through on it. And the Cardinals won and Albert Pujols hit two home runs and my favorite player, Yadier Molina bulldozed this runner at home plate and got him out, and we all lived through it and not one of us fell out of our seats during the singing of the national anthem (which really happened there on Friday night) so we considered the whole thing a success. Here we are after the game, looking a little rough, and any money in our pockets was moist money, very moist.

Since there was such an overwhelming response to my query a couple of weeks ago about the best rock and roll song of all time, a-hum, I thought I would pose another question to blog readers. Which product brands do you buy faithfully? I'm talking about brands that you are so loyal to, that you would refuse any substitute, even if it was given to you free of charge. Here are mine:

Heinz Ketchup

Jif Peanut Butter

Kraft Miracle Whip and Mayonnaise
Tide

Oscar Mayer Bacon

Duncan Hines Cake Mix

I'm sure there are more, but these are certainly critical ones. What are yours?

Getting ready for the One Room Schoolhouse Camp tomorrow. I was there this evening, writing spelling words on the blackboards and I took this picture of some cornhusk dolls and twig stars that Debbie and I stuck on these small trees, just for fun. We used these trees at a Halloween event a couple of years ago, and certainly have got a lot of mileage out of them.

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it." Jack Handey

Cartoon Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog is celebrating an occasion this weekend that merits even more fanfare than her usual five-woof salute. So, she composed a celebratory song that should be sung to the tune of YMCA by the Village People

Young Girl!

No more need to feel down.

Young Girl!

No more reason to frown.

You went there

And you gave it your best

And you fin-ally passed

The last test.

DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO

Now Lindsey is A CPA

It's fun to be A CPA

She can count all your stuff, She can take you to lunch

Just give her the numbers you want her to crunch.

Because Lindsey is A CPA

It's fun to be A CPA

Hmmm hmmm hmm and so on and so forth

Yes, we're very proud. I also find it pretty amusing that my daughter is a CPA. In fact, what I'd really like to do is call up all my old high school math teachers and give them this little tidbit of information. I think they'd be very surprised.

I spent the week reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins for my English Lit class. I also had a couple of meetings and went out to lunch on Wednesday with the Tri Kappa ladies to the Adam's Lake Pub. On Thursday, I had another lunch date that was scheduled for the park, but was moved to my kitchen because of rain. Tuesday evening was my second cake decorating class of the year. Here are a couple of photos from that evening:

From the Archives: Just a couple of years ago. Rob and I are happy grads. (But we are not CPA's)

Recipe of the Week: I fixed this pasta salad for my Thursday lunch with Vi. I've been looking for a mayo-based pasta salad for some time. I found the recipe for Ruby Tuesday's pasta salad online, but it called for ham chunks and I was already serving my dilled chicken salad on croissants, so I didn't try it. (but I will in the future). This one is pretty good. I did blanch the broccoli and carrots slightly. I would also double the recipe, as this doesn't make a whole lot.


Creamy Shell Pasta Salad

1 cup small uncooked shell pasta
3/4 cup fresh broccoli florets
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
1/3 cup cubed cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup sunflower kernels
1 hard-cooked egg, peeled and chopped

Dressing:
1/2 cup may
1/4 cup Ranch salad dressing
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon prepared mustard

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, broccoli, carrot, cheese, cucumber, celery, sunflower kernels and egg. In a small bow, combine the dressing ingredients. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.





"Beauty is like a fox in winter bouncing through the snow. All is well, all is innocent. But there! Lurking behind that tree trunk is the fox's mortal enemy, the fox. He waits until the fox is within range, then he springs. Fox on fox. Man, what a sight." Jack Handey

After much research, well, not much... some, after some research, Bob and I have decided that the most bathingest bird on the block is the American Robin. Every time I look out into the backyard, there's a robin sloshing about in the birdbath. In fact, Bob insists that recently, while mowing, he was harassed by a couple of robins who wanted fresh water added to the bath. Do they just like water or are they trying to keep their orange chests nice and bright? We may never know. Second place in the bird-bathing competition goes to the always-pushy, but also body-conscious blue jay.

Bob and I spent the weekend in Effingham. We went to my nephew, Kyle's wedding in Shelbyville on Saturday afternoon, and then down to my brother's house in Hord for a cookout that night. My sister-in-law, Conni dug up two boxes of perennials, including some great daylillies for me to bring back and add to my own collection. We also got to spend some time with the toddler formerly known as the cutest baby in Springfield, Landon Kutscher, who is a very big Uncle Bob fan. On Sunday, we visited with Bob's mom and dad. We did not get home until late Sunday night, and that is why the blog is late.

Here are a couple of pics from the wedding:

Conni, Landon, (with blue cupcake), me, and Megan

Aunt Kae, Lindsey, and Baleigh at the reception

Are you wondering why there are no men in these pictures? At about the same time these photos were take, the deejay announced that a Bonneville was blocking a service entrance road and almost every man at the reception got up and went outside to check and see if it was his Bonneville. Men. They're hard to keep track of unless you can hold them on your lap.

On the drive to Effingham, Bob and I had a discussion about music. I asked him to name the greatest rock song of all time and he said it was Free Bird, by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I told him I thought it was Layla. Bob said it couldn't possibly be Layla because the ending was too long and repetitive. And the ending of Free Bird is not?????????

Please leave your comment. What do you think IS the greatest rock song of all time???

"I think we should let kids play around in those big underground catacombs they have because, to an adult, a skull is just a skull, but to a kid, it's a truck or a boat, or anything his little imagination can come up with." Jack Handey

Here's what I spent most of my weekend working on - cheesecakes for the lovely Miss Elizabeth's graduation open house. We were pretty busy this week getting estimates for the addition we're planning to add on to the house in August. A new dining room and a bigger kitchen!!!! The old dining room will become a library, I think. Maybe it'll be like a queue "Sit down and read something before you come in and eat in the new bigger dining room! I can't wait. We also got a couple of quotes on siding and shopped for new carpet for the family room.

I met with the one room schoolhouse ladies to plan our summer camp. We'll be celebrating nature this year, I believe. We're thinking about making chicken and dumplings over the fire too. We've never tried that before.

This is the beautiful rose tree that the peeps in my aerobics class gave me as a goodbye and thank you gift. I think I'm going to have Bob plant it right here, by the front door, when he gets home.

Some of those ladies had been in my class for almost ten years, and I will miss seeing them.

Coiffed Canines Crave Cheese Chunks - JUST TELL US WHAT WE HAVE TO DO TO GET THE CHEESE!!!!!! I drove Bonnie the Barbarian back to the Gas City/Upland exit Starbucks (we like to think of it as OUR Starbucks) to meet up with Brent so he could take her back home. I sent that rib bone along with her, as a sort of a reminder of all the fun she had at Grandma and Grandpa's. The coffee boys remembered me and asked if I was bringing the dog back again. They're just so nice and chatty at Starbucks.

Recipe of the Week: I believe the following recipe is the only recipe I have that calls for Jello. I don't get Jello - never have. It's nothing. Why bother eating it? I know lots of people like that Christmas ribbon jello salad thing, but am I going to spend my Christmas calories eating Jello? No, no. Bring out the heavy stuff - Bring out the fudge. Bring out the buche de noel - in fact, bring me a figgy puding, but please, no Jello. Anyway, this pretzel salad with Jello deserves to be in my recipe collection. The combination of a salty, buttery pretzel crust, cream cheese center, and strawberry topping is a winning one. For many years, our local Tri Kappa chapter hosted an annual salad bar luncheon in early June. We served a hot chicken and noodle casserole and a variety of side salads. This was one of them. The chapter doesn't do the salad bar anymore, but traded it in for a basket bingo afternoon some time back. Enjoy the salad.

Pretzel Salad

1 (8 oz) package pretzels, finely crushed

3 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup butter melted

1 (8oz) package cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 (8 oz) carton Cool Whip

1 (6 oz) package strawberry Jello

2 cups boiling water

1 (16 oz) package frozen sliced strawberries

Combine crushed pretzels, 3 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press into 9 X 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for ten minutes. Cool completely.

Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Add Cool Whip and mix. Spread on top of pretzel crust making sure to spread completely to the sides of the pan so the Jello doesn't leak down to the pretzels. Put in the fridge.

Dissolve the Jello in the boiling water. Add strawberries. Refrigerate until slightly thickened, then spread on top of cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate.

"It's a shame that a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs." Jack Handey