Just to clarify, "drive by howdy," as mentioned in last week's post is a little expression I invented and it means - "just stopped by to say, 'Hey.'" It's simply a quick exchange of pleasantries, and one does not have to be in a car to execute a "drive-by-howdy." A co-worker who stops at your cubicle and asks about your weekend? Drive-by-howdy. A fox just passing through, in front of the Snowmancam? Again, drive-by-howdy. I am the sole author of that nifty saying, but only the co-author of the increasingly popular acronym for tough economic times, TET. Stormy and I made that up together. (although, teachers, don't use this one in the middle school classroom because I'm sure it would produce giggles) Here's a third one that I had nothing to do with at all: It was made up by my friend, Cindy. It's called "making the appropriate noises." Like, when that person standing at your cubicle is telling you all about his weekend and although you might not really be that interested, you're being supportive and giving him all the timely, "ah's" and "oh's" and umm-hmms, and hmm-mmms, and tsk-tsk's and shocked gasps. "He was boring me to tears, but I made the appropriate noises." Feel free to use all three of these great expressions in your daily conversations. No, really, they're our gifts to you and the world.

From the Archives: Halloween, 1987 - Lindsey as a lovely green-faced witch, and....

......Halloween 1998 - Also lovely, Rob and Mike prepare for Trick or Treat night on Hickory Hill Drive. I had to keep an eye on Rob because he liked to lay in our ditch and pretend to be a dead body to scare our Trick or Treaters. I don't know how many times I made him get out of that ditch over the years.

And, how about a bad Halloween poem I wrote in the 5th or 6th grade. It has no title.


Unnamed Halloween Poem

On Halloween night when the moon is out
And the wind through the trees sings a song.
You think there is nothing but silence about
But that's where you get me all wrong.

Down the sidewalk comes a bunch
That scares you plain out of your wits.
There's a ghost, a witch, and a goblin
And things that come out of pits.


Recipe of the Week: I tried a new chicken recipe tonight, which consisted of browning some breasts in butter, then sauteing mushrooms, black olives, and green onions in the same pan and pouring them over the breasts in a glass baking dish and adding slices of mozzarella on top. The originator of the recipe claimed that this preparation kept the breasts very moist. I thought the dish was okay, but wasn't so sure about the moist part, and didn't really consider it blog-worthy. You can't hit a winner every time.

Happy Halloween

Autumn on Hickory Hill Drive

We make these topiaries - one on each side of the driveway - every fall. My husband drills a hole in each end and drives a metal post or dowel rod down through the pumpkins and through the hole in the bottom of the pot. Wrap bittersweet around the pumpkins and, voila.

Cornstalks, pumpkins, and mums, oh my!

And, of course The Autumnal Spider

Bittersweet on the lights.....

...and on the coffee table too.

Burlap Pumpkin - please ignore the mess in the background, we're getting new siding.

And, bushel-basket pumpkin. We love autumn!

I subbed on Friday and sent two kids home sick before 9:00 AM. I thought sure that one of those students was faking, but, of course, allowed her to go see the nurse anyway, who promptly sent her home with a fever. I had my hand on that child's forehead three times. Was it the Swine Flu? To quote another teacher, "Right now, everything's the Swine Flu." Hope I don't get it.







Work continued on the new addition last week. Windows and new door are in and the ceiling is finished. We've moved on to the new siding. Here's a picture taken just moments ago of the guys working on the front. The color is woodland green, a very subtle shade.








On Friday night, Bob and I drove down to Indy to attend the Indiana CPA Society's Annual Banquet with Brent and Lindsey. The theme was "Friday Night Fever," and our favorite part was when the waiters paraded out with the salads, led by some Afro-wigged ladies grooving to disco music. Those crazy accountants. Our Lindsey was recognized for passing the exam this year, as was her friend, Laura. Congratulations girls. The Mad Dog barketh for thee. We spent the night and then Lindsey and I did a little shopping on Saturday at Keystone, where I ripped open my little finger on a straight pin while trying to check the price tag on a wing-back chair at Renovation Hardware, and then was compelled to just abandon our shopping cart and run because of the chaos at Costco. While we having all this fun, Bob puttered around their house, and Brent went to the Purdue game. Darlene joined us Saturday afternoon and we went out to dinner at the Outback. She is on her way to Florida for the winter. Here's a picture of the four of us at the banquet. I know it's fuzzy and that's because I scanned it and then cropped it to eliminate a small fat bulge on my right side. Yes, that's right, I'm that vain.




Book Babes meet this week at Julia's house. I thought you might like to take a look at our 09/10 reading schedule. Here it is, although, I believe that March is subject to change.


September - The Art of Racing in theRain by Garth Stein

October - The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

November - Digging to America by Anne Tyler

December - Christmas Wing-Ding no read

January - South of Broad by Pat Conroy

February - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

March - Being Dead is No Excuse by G. Metcalf & C. Hays

April - The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Schaffer & Barrows

May - Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

June - The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by K. Howe







If you haven't checked the Snowman Cam recently, you might want to start, as I saw a fox do a drive-by-howdy on there last week. Watch for bears.









I'm the first one to admit that the blog is pretty boring this week. I should tell you that our neighbors have been so kind during our kitchen demolition. Cathy fixed supper for us one night, Monday, I think, and then Rick brought supper over on Wednesday night. We confessed to them that we'd hooked the stove back up so we could cook, but we probably should have just remained mum on the subject to see what other tasty goodies might come our way. Thanks, you guys. I did make some popcorn balls on Sunday afternoon. I have to be careful eating them though - don't want to lose any more crowns (see April post). I used this recipe and doubled it.



Popcorn Balls

7 cups popped corn

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup white syrup
dash or two of salt
1/4 cup butter

Bring ingredients to a rolling boil. Cook to softball stage. Remove from heat and pour over popcorn.

Happy 45th Birthday to our Sunbeam toaster! Well, okay, I might be just a bit off - my memory isn't THAT good, but I know it's got to be close, so we're celebrating. This is the toaster we used at the old home place and I inherited it. How we marvelled as we watched the bread automatically descend into the toaster, brown between the orange coils, and then slowly reappear. Pure magic. I know it's old, but I'm not giving up on it and I don't want a new one. Sometimes when I think Bob might be questioning my frugality, you know, like, counting shoes and eyeing all my coats in the closet, well, I just make him a nice piece of perfect toast, and remind him that this toaster and I have been together a lot longer than he and I have. Toast for all my friends!







It was a cold and rainy week - too cold to live in a house without windows. Bob was gone all week, and the only thing that separated me from wild critters and other dangers was paper. As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered if it would be possible for a deer to jump right through that Tyvek House Wrap and come bounding down the hall. And, of course, we could hear the outside sounds so much better, and every time Sage, the crusty old Rottweiler from down the road, barked, Maddie jumped right out of her skin. There was extra barking on her part this week, too. Here's a picture of the addition, as of this afternoon. You can't tell too much, but it's coming along.













Bob helped me make the pumpkin topiaries this week. It's kind of hard to decorate with all that's going on here.





It's also hard to cook anything since the stove is unhooked. I went over to Stormy and Nick's house this afternoon and boiled some eggs to make ham salad. I could have done that at a neighbor's, but when Bob and I were driving home from Fort Wayne Friday night, we noticed a basement light was on in their house, so I thought I could go take care of that and get my eggs boiled too. I put a chuck roast in the crockpot this morning. It turned out well, very tasty. Easy recipe is below but first:





From the Archives: Sugarplums - 1989









Recipe of the Week:

Delicious, Easy Chuck Roast
2-4 lb chuck roast
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, sliced
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Season roast with salt and pepper. Put it in the crockpot. Add the onion and pour soup over all. Cook on low 8 - 10 hours or high for 6. How easy is that?

Acorns in my driveway

Big wind knocked them down.

Make the squirrels step lively

They poke them in the ground.

They stick them in my flower pots

And in my flower bed.

We've got a bumper crop this year

So, watch out for your head.

I wrote this little song after a big storm blew all these acorns down. It's a country song. It's too bad that you can't hear me singing it for you, because trust me, it's a great song and it's got one of those tunes that you just cannot get out of your head.

The 24th annual Apple Festival of Kendallville is history. Bob and I both worked the information booth on Saturday and I helped out at the gates on Sunday - same thing I did last year, except, I also did a shift selling tokens in the ticket booth in the children's area. A damp and dismal Saturday kept the crowds down a bit, but people came out on Sunday, and Miss America was here. She performed twice in Raise a Ruckus on both days. Here's a picture that Rick took of Bob and me after our information booth shift ended Saturday morning. Or rather, it's a picture of Bob and the picture of Miss America. Very funny, Rick. I hope you know you might be jeopardizing your seat at my big new dining room table. And speaking of that dining room, great strides were made this past week, in spite of the rainy days. The walls are up and I believe drywalling will begin tomorrow. Today we got a new roof and a new skylight. I'll post some of those pictures next week.

Stormy and Nick are in Paris with Emmet and Emily - Bonjour Stormy, I know you'll be checking this. Try not to lick the delicious French sauces off your plate while you're over there. I won't have them thinking you're one of those ugly Americans.

Congratulations to our mom, Darlene, who won the Illinois State Senior golf tournament in her division. Go Darlene. We're proud of you.