Only One Word Is Needed....

Awwwww...... :)

Amelia and Sid were napping yesterday, so I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures before they woke up. Ain't they cute?

Unstuck

Amelia was out of town yesterday afternoon visiting with a friend up in Mansfield, so I took the opportunity to try, once again, to season our cast iron skillets. You might remember my previous attempt. Well, Amelia's uncle gave me a hint that I wanted to try out, and it seems to have worked! My problem with my previous attempt was the type of fat I was using. I had been using oil rather than shortening when doing the actual seasoning. So, after a trip through the self-cleaning cycle of the oven, I smeared shortening all over a couple of pans and tried again. Last night's dinner, "Kielbasa Surprise", didn't stick, but I rarely have trouble with that. This morning was the real test, the potato flip. It didn't stick! Yay! Thank you, Uncle David.

Hocking Hills: The Bald-Side View

So, before you read my post, go read Amelia's. It's much better than mine. Plus, it has lots of pretty pictures. Go ahead and read it, I'll wait...

You back? OK, then here goes.

As Amelia has already told you, we had a great day tromping around Hocking Hills. The leaves were all very pretty, the walks invigorating, the scenery breathtaking, the wonders of nature awe inspiring. There were so many wonderful memories made during our day in the parks, but one will stand out in my mind.

My wife fell on her ass. It was funny.

We had just explored Old Man's Cave, dropped down to view the lower falls, and then doubled back to the upper falls, and were going to head back to the car to do some caching. At the top of the upper falls, the water is very shallow and fairly slow moving, and there are a few small cascades that people were walking out onto. I started taking pictures, because it was very pretty, and Amelia started walking up the rocks to get into the picture. I got one or two with her there, and then as I was futzing with the camera, she decided to climb one more. I was setting up my shot when I heard a loud "THWAP" and I looked up to see Amelia ass-down, feet-up lying in a shallow pool of water on the rocks. My immediate reaction was concern for the well being of my wife (hence I missed a golden photo-op), but as soon as I realized she was OK, I was struggling to stifle a hellacious fit of the giggles. As we were walking away and I determined that she wasn't going to need medical attention, I burst out laughing. It certainly wasn't the best memory of the trip, but it certainly made the day brighter :)

Hocking Hills

A great midweek/birthday getaway to Hocking Hills in SE Ohio. Thanks Tom for a great time.


Ash Cave:




Upper Falls at Old Man's Cave :




On the way to the Lower Falls @ Old Man's Cave:

Lower Falls at Old Man's Cave

Question of the day

We had snow yesterday. It wasn’t enough to stick to the ground but enough to get the weatherman all excited. This change in the weather prompted me to add an extra blanket on the bed. The cats in true fashion were curious. What is this? What is she doing? Why is she doing this? Now you need to understand our cats, they love to help make a bed. They love to get under the covers while you are trying to straighten them, they move from corner to corner while you are working. They are a "big" help. This brings me to the question of this post. Who has trained whom? The cats taught me to make a bed with them on it or I taught the cat the importance of making hospital corners?

Fall Weekend

What a wonderful weekend. Tom and I spent the most of the weekend geocaching around town. The weather perfect- a great fall weekend. Geocaching is great sport/hobby. If you have, the opportunity- please try it or let us know and we will take you out for the day. Check out what we discovered this weekend on our adventures:

Who knew that just off a major road you could find some great city parks with such pretty scenery.

Thanks for a great weekend Tom.

PS - Finished the weekend off with a birthday dinner for Darrin- Hope you have a happy birthday!

Additional Weirdness from the Couch

Well, since Bec told me I had to, and since Amelia already did, I guess I'm obliged to confess five weird things about me...

1. I hate White Castle burgers. They make me nauseous and give me gas (like you wanted to know that). However, for some reason, I get a craving that can only be satisfied by eating a small handful of those gross little bundles of greasy fat-i-tude. I have no idea why.
2. I can neither play nor sing music from memory. It all stems from forgetting the words to the national anthem in front of 20000 people. As long as I have the words and/or chords in front of me, I'm fine.
3. I talk to myself aloud. Often. It's really the only way I can figure out how I'm doing and what's going on in my life. I try to do it when noone's around, but I'm always worried someone is listening in on me.
4. One of my most regular daydreams is that I'm a superhero. I'm not confessing to my super powers, however. A guy's gotta have his secrets :P
5. I hate wearing shoes. The worst part about winter is that I can't wear my sandals until spring. Of course, I only tolerate sandals because I don't want to step on anything pointy (well, that and my feet would really stink if I didn't wear anything). I walked around barefoot for an entire semester of college.

5 weird things about me...

At Bec's request I am adding my five "weird" facts about me...

1) I don't think it is weird but Tom does. When I buy something I will look at the one on top or in front, but will go to the bottom or back to get the one that I actually purchase. Tom just shakes his head. To me it makes sense. I can check out what I am getting but it isn't the one that everyone else has looked at/touched.

2) I love to sit outside and watching thunderstorms. Yeah I know it isn't "safe" with all that lightning but it it is pretty amazing.

3) I am terrified of deep water (aka anything over 5'7"). However I am fine if I am on a boat or any other flotation device. Odd I know - I guess trust them.

4) I still don't know what I want to be when I "grow up".

5) I am terrible at math. Example- how do I find the answer of 6+7= ? Well most people just have this memorized since 2nd grade. Not me- I have to do my "Amy math" One of the few math facts I know is that 6+6=12 so I go from there and add 1 more so in my head I literally have to do 6+6+1=13. You should see me trying to do percentages- that is a story all on it's own :)

It is your turn Tom...

Left Lane

Caution Rant Alert:

Dear cars in the left lane: You know that due to construction (that has been going on for OVER a year) that the left lane is closed ahead. But I forgot you are special. Since you are special, you don't have to wait in the right lane for 15 minutes while traffic slowly moves along.

Mr. & Mrs. left lane go right ahead- speed down the lane, pass the three warning signs, orange barrels and a HUGE flashing arrow- because you don't have to wait in line - you "deserve" to get in front of everyone. However, please don't cut in front of me... I am still working on my road rage management skills. Thank you.

New Job

I quit my job in May. With Tom's support, I took a break. I jokingly called it "my retirement". It has been a relaxing and reflective summer. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up but I do know that I have a great support system if I ever do discover myself.

Anyway...
I met Tom for lunch yesterday and had an impromptu interview! In my jeans and baggy sweatshirt! Well I am now a part-time admin/Girl Friday for his company. My first day was today- it was such a different experience. I can manage my own time (come in any day I want- leave when I want) so far a positive experience. Now is this "the career" for me? I don't think so but it is a job and one that I can do well and for that, I am thankful.

Thanks for the memories...

To Mom and Dad and the house on 23rd Street:

Thank you for so many memories:

- for the window over the sink- how many dishes were washed and dried while watching squirrels and chipmunks.

- for my "own" room with Peach Chiffon walls

- for the hours of our summers spent playing under the grape vine

- for yummy homemade grape jelly

- for every important picture taken in front of the blue spruce

- for Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter Dinner squeezed around the kitchen table

- for our small "bonfires" to make toasted marshmallows

- the endless games of euchre at family functions

- for the big driveway- perfect for riding our bikes or playing four square

- for the Amaryllis that bloom by the clothesline in August

- for the little garden behind the back porch- cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes

- for great neighbors- we were blessed with an extra set of "grandparents"

- for Alex and Max- two great "adopted" dogs

- for decorating Christmas cookies with flair

- for a time when it was safe to send your kids on their bikes "around the block"

- for a time when it was safe to send your kids out to play and they just needed to be home by dark

- for sitting in the front yard on a summer night with all of the neighbors coming over and shooting the breeze

- for finding 4 leaf clovers in the front yard

- for sitting under afghans made by grandma watching TV on a cold winters night

- for trips to the Open Pantry for ice cream and a newspaper

- for putting baby Jesus on the window sill so he can "arrive" in the nativity manger on Christmas day

- for the assigned seats at the dinner table

- for the little red cup that I used at each meal

- for all the memories - thank you. You were the house of my childhood

- for mom and dad- thank you for a great childhood. I hope you enjoy your new home. Looking forward to making new memories in your new home.

Hockey

Date: September 22
Location: Nationwide Arena overlooking the empty hockey ice
Time: 30 mins before game time

Tom: What are those black things on the ice?
Amy: hockey pucks :)

Lost Time

I'm learning more about my Mac by the minute. Actually, this particular lesson is one I had learned before and had forgotten, so I'm posting here so the next time I forget, I can come here and not spend three hours trying to "fix" my "problem".

You see in the image I've posted how the Documents folder has a thick, black border around it? For three hours this morning, that thick, black border appeared around every selected widget in every native Mac application running. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to turn it off. I even tried to use my favorite search engine to help me, but I couldn't figure out the magic combination of key words which would solve my problem. I tried things like "Mac border," "Mac highlight", "Mac assistive," but I never found anything that made any sense. I even tried reading the help manual (hey, I was desperate), but didn't see anything that looked right.

Know what it ended up being? You long-term Mac people probably already know.

It was the Mac's VoiceOver utility, which I had accidently turned on (Command-F5, for anyone who wants to know). I repeatedly missed finding this in the documentation and in my search results because I couldn't figure out why voice assistance technology would be drawing border boxed around widgets, but there you have it. Mystery solved, and I can go about my day now...

Stuck (Literally)

I've always heard that cast iron, when properly seasoned, is supposed to be nearly non-stick, requiring little in the way of fats when preparing food. If that's the case, then I'm doing something horribly, horribly wrong.

I have three cast iron skillets, and every time I make my potato rosti (what we here call "potato flip"), it sticks no matter which pan I use. I've thought that perhaps my pans weren't well seasoned, so I used my favorite search engine and found several sites with seasoning instructions. One site even recommended blasting off all the accumulated crud by running the cast iron through the self-cleaning cycle of the oven, which I tried over the weekend and then reseasoned. No luck. My potato rosti stuck again this morning. Maybe it's just that potatoes are somewhat sticky when raw (I use russets)? I'm using fats when I cook, so it's not like the pan is dry. Perhaps my pan is too hot? Is that even a possibility with cast iron? Anyone out there in the Interwebnetland have any suggestions?

Gramps

Amelia and I went to see Gramps today. He's really looking pretty good, much better than he has recently. We played a few hands of Skip-Bo with him, and just enjoyed each other's company. One thing that my mom suggested we look for to play with him is Yahtzee. I'm kind of concerned that he wouldn't be able to see the score cards, so we're looking for large-print score pads. We searched online and have so far come up dry. I've e-mailed Hasbro, but if any of our loyal readership have any suggestions where we might find some, we'd appreciate a pointer.

Comic Strip

We saw this Non Sequitur comic a few months ago and clipped it and hung it on our fridge, because it nicely summarizes our relationship. We're posting it for our good friend, Bec. Not trying to insinuate something, just suggesting that you keep the lines of communication open :)

I Learned Something!

These last few weeks have been, in a word, hellish. They've also been educational. Here's what I've learned over the last few weeks:

• Whenver I think things are going well, I need to be physically smacked back to my senses
• Never overestimate the intelligence of a customer
• There is no such thing as a "bug fix that doesn't touch anything else"
• When I'm the person primarily responsible for the quality of a product, I need to be an asshole and not cave into the business

Change of Stress

Well, one phase of stress has ended, and another one begins. Our product officially "released" today, which has no real meaning other than that our customers may now start having it installed. So, that stress is gone. Replacing it, however, is the stress of wondering what kind of horrible bugs they're going to find that I missed....

Holy Crap!

Five posts in one day!

Too Cute

Since I am posting pictures today I have two more to share. Our cute kitties. While we were busy documenting our canning adventure Tom snapped a few of the girls.

Kona:


Sidamo (aka Sid):