Quiet Evening

Just sitting around the house tonight. Chris went to choir practice so I am home alone.  Made a pot of decaf and it tastes pretty good.

This morning I got up and made Chicken Cacciatore in the crock pot.  It was pretty easy. I diced up an onion and a couple of mushrooms and a green pepper, threw in some chicken and other assorted ingredients and it seemed to come out fine.  It tasted a little differently from what I remember as a child.  The recipe called for burgundy wine, and the only thing that I had was a bottle of cabernet, and that might have made a difference.  But the recipe made plenty so I will have dinner for tomorrow night.

Today was pretty busy.   Had a “job shadow” day with a group of middle schoolers who came to see what a librarian does.  Gave them a tour, showed them the inner workings of the library and filled them in on all they needed to know.  Stopped for lunch at First Watch and had a turkey and dill omelet. Could have used more dill, but I liked it. The afternoon had me at a long meeting discussing picture books and that is always fun.

And right now I am a little tired and struggling with what to say on this post. So I will cut it short. Just needed to say something, a fond hello, my little voice calling out.  To anyone that listens.

Good night.

Celtic Dreams

 Here are Meav and Hayley Westenra singing “The Last Rose of Summer” from the Celtic Woman tour. It is just so lovely.  I don’t believe I was able to see Hayley on this particular tour, she is the newest Celtic Woman and the concert only had the original four.

But it was lovely.  I don’t know if I will ever get to see an Angel. But if I ever do, I know that she will sing like this.

I had a marvelous time!

Two amusing incidents happened at the concert.  There was a woman behind us who traded seats with a young woman so that the young woman could sit with her friend. This woman moved about two rows back.  After the intermission, she decided to move to her original seat, as one of her friends decided to leave because she was tired.  Now she is directly behind me.  She said she really didn’t enjoy the other seat, and that “there were two lesbians there and I did not care for that at all.”   It was all I could do not to turn around and say “Well, now you have the gay men in front of you.” But I held my tongue.  This is what happens when you let anybody in to cultural events.

 Then, on the way home, Chris in all his wisdom says to me, “I am really glad the chubby one was there. I really liked her voice.”  I said to him, “Chris, you really shouldn’t say things like that.  A person should not be reduced to his or her weight. It isn’t nice.”  He said “I didn’t mean anything by it, and she was chubby”. I told him “you could have said the woman with the long blonde hair. I would have known who you meant.”  I am not sure if this sunk in or not, but being a chubby person myself, I don’t like being referred to as chubby, or even worse, Big Guy.

Anyway.  I am just lounging around today. I wish the Celtic Woman could come over. I find them very soothing. I just want them to sing to me as I fall asleep… and dream good dreams…

No News is Good News

Been quiet.

I know.  Just haven’t had anything to say.  I think I am in a pre-Spring Slump. I am hoping for warmer weather.  I love Spring, the weather is perfect and it is not the intense heat of Summer.   Today the piles of ice are melting. You can park on the street easily again.  I have the day off as I have to work tomorrow.

And what am I doing?  I am reading.  Usual for me, and as I have about six books on the coffee table checked out from the library and waiting for me to get through I have work to do.  I finished one today and will write a review maybe tomorrow. That requires too much thought today.  And I am all about not thinking today!

Tomorrow two of my coworkers and I are going to meet at a new restaurant for breakfast. It is called First Watch and it has opened quite near the library and only stays open for breakfast til about two.  So, I have to crawl out of bed at the crack of dawn and somehow manage to pry my eyes open to drive and get there at 7:30.  On a Saturday, no less! But it should be fun.  I am looking forward to it.

Tomorrow night is also the night we see Celtic Woman.  I don’t know how long you have been reading my blog, or the previous incarnations of my blog, but if you have you might remember me talking about Celtic Woman.   Six Irish ladies with the voices of Angels.  Truly.  We went down to D.C. to see them last year and now they are back and coming to Baltimore with a new concert. I have the CD. It is just lovely.  I am so excited to see them.  It will be a wonderful night.

Now I have to go pick out some candles.  Yankee Candle  has offered me a 15 dollar off coupon, and I am all about using coupons.  I think I am going to get the candles called Willow Breeze and Island Spa.  Should make the living room smell nice.  And I am all about making the living room smell nice.

Have a grand rest of your Friday!

Something fun!

Year of the Pig!

Oink Oink!

Happy Birthday Morgen!

What better way to CELEBRATE than to wish Morgen of It’s a Blog Eat Blog World a happy birthday!  And you had better get over there because the MorgEpalooza is going on as we speak.

Today I am CELEBRATING President’s Day by having the day off to do nothing.

I started a new book called Gentlemen and Players by JoAnne Harris and it is a Killer so far. i will be sure to post a review in due time. I am at the halfway point now. Incidentally, this novel is up for this year’s Edgar.  The Edgar is an award given to the best mystery novel of the year, and this is not a mystery per Se, more of a psychological study with some maligned intent, but it is quite good.

Then I decided to made a tuna noodle casserole.  Chris told me he really likes them and seems most happy that I am making one.  This recipe was pretty easy.  You take some macaroni noodles, and add it to some tuna, red pepper, cream of mushroom soup, milk, mayonnaise and dry mustard and mix it all up with some cheese. Top it with bread crumbs. It should be quite yummy.

My cat Gigi nearly had a fit when I opened the can of tuna. I have never, ever, EVER, seen her so excited. I don’t usually have tuna, so I was unaware of the effect that it was going to cause. You could say that she really CELEBRATED when I opened the can and was kind enough to give her some.  I will have to get tuna more often. She really liked it! After all she is a cat!

Other than that, not much is happening at the Dartboard today. I hope y’all got the day off and accomplished much…

Adventures with Shutterfly and Book Meme

Happy Sunday! Day two of my three day weekend.  I get to sleep in tomorrow and do nothing, just like I did today. Not bad.

Tonight I am uploading my cruise pictures onto Shutterfly and will have an on-line album.  I have many pictures and it is going to take quite a long time.  I think that I can order prints of the pictures and take them with me the next time I visit my mother.  Then she can see the wonderful snaps I took!

I also have a Book Meme that Tiger Yogi wanted me to do.  So I am going to play along.  Here are the rules:

1) Take the book nearest to you.

2) Turn to page 123.

3) Copy the 5th, 6th and 7th sentence from that page.

So here goes.  The book is called Germ by Robert Liparulo.  It is a good book that I just finished. 

“The dome light was on and he was reading a paperback. Smart, she thought. Destroy your night vision and make it easy for perps to see you before you see them.”

I am not going to tag anybody, but if you want to play along, please do.

Germ was a pretty good book. If you like thrillers along the lines of James Patterson or Harlan Coben, you couldn’t go wrong. The Germ in question is a form of the Ebola virus that can target specific strands of DNA.  Just like being hit with a bullet, if you catch the virus and your DNA matches, you die.  If you don’t match, you get a common cold. But then you can still spread the germ.

Of course, there is a leak as a scientist escapes from the secret compound with data that can’t get into the wrong hands (or the right hands, as it were) and he tries to get to the CDC before his time runs out.  The FBI has agents in the CDC and they try to get the scientist back safely, but to no avail.  Two sets of assassins are on their tail, and will stop at nothing to get the data back from the FBI.

What follows is a cat and mouse game as the FBI takes the data and tries to find the main villain, and the assassins keep regrouping and turning up to fight the FBI.  Guns are blazing. Many guns, many blazes.  The suspense is nearly heart stopping and the book never really lets you up for air.   It is a wild ride with fights, frights and technological weaponry and even a gauntlet. 

Not normally my style of book but a good quick read and one that is being made into a major motion picture, I think even before the book was finished.  So you get a book meme and a review. Not bad for a Sunday!

New Shoes

Here is the music video for Paolo Nutini’s New Shoes.

I just picked up the CD and really like it. There are quite a few videos on  Youtube if you like this one.

I had a really busy day and I am tired.  So I will write more tomorrow, and I have a meme from Tiger Yogi that I need to get started on.  But tonight I am going to settle in and rest.

G’Night All!

Frozen Solid

Well, I went out at 11:45 to get my car ready to take me to work. The car is frozen in place.  First, I had to de-ice the top half of the car and I know I am not very strong but this was ridiculous. I scraped and scraped and scraped. Finally, my scraper shattered.  So I gave up.

I came inside and decided that I was not going to let the car beat me. So I went back out and got my umbrella. This is a large golf style umbrella with a long metal nose.  I used that to chunk out the remaining bits of ice and I finally got the windshield wipers working. 

Then I started the car and tried to move it. It won’t go forward, or back. It is frozen in place.  So I came back inside, ready to give up again.  And I thought that I was NOT going to let the car beat me.

So I went into the laundry room and got a hoe.  I went back out and started to madly chunk at the ice with the hoe (kind of like Joan Crawford with the axe in Mommie Dearest).   Well, after a bit of chunking the end of the hoe broke off.  But I did not give up. I used the handle of the hoe to start to poke and dig and move the ice. I hammered and hammered and hammered. I got in the car. Nothing. Not forward and not back.  And I could smell the tires burning. I went out and poked some more at the ice. Couldn’t get the car to budge. So now I am trapped at home until Chris can get here and maybe drive me to work at five. And I have to take a half day of personal time because I can’t get the car to move. Sigh. The car beat me. It really did.

Black Ice and Starbucks

This is a post about black ice.  I know, it sounds like jewelry, doesn’t it?  I would love to tell you that I got some black diamonds for Valentine’s day.  But I didn’t.  We did  have black ice.

As  you know, it snowed in Baltimore yesterday.  Snow is not a bad thing and we only received about two inches, but what happens during the day makes it worse.  The snow melts during the day and covers the roads with a sheen of water. The temperature drops, the sheen of water freezes. You have ice on all the roads that you can’t really see or tell that it’s there. Black Ice. And it can be dangerous.

The worst part about black ice is the other drivers.  You get some hotshot in an SUV traveling well above the speed limit, thinking his vehicle is not going to skid.  Then that self same vehicle causes a pile up.  So, you not only have to watch out for your own car, you have to pay careful attention to what everybody else on the road is doing.  It makes driving treacherous and uncomfortable.

Chris had the day off, the courthouse was closed, so he decided to drive me to work.  I did not complain. On the way to work we landed on the beltway, and of course there was a seven car pileup blocking all lanes of traffic.  Not only that, but cars kept whizzing past us on the breakdown lane.  And, one moron even became upset with the traffic, did a U-turn and drove the WRONG WAY back up an exit ramp, while others just threw there cars into reverse and reversed back up the ramp.  I could not believe it.  And, the police were all looking after the accident victims so they couldn’t be near us and pull these people over for a ticket.  It was just awful.

But we managed to make it to the exit and were able to have a Valentine’s Day lunch and then headed to Starbucks for a cinnamon dolce latte.  Not bad.  I usually don’t like Starbucks, but I sure do like the lattes. Yum.   Hope  you all got something sweet for Valentine’s day!

Half Day

Predicted snow. More like a fizzle.

But, my afternoon meeting was cancelled so I decided that since I was not required to be anywhere specific, I would take a half day off and hibernate.

It was a perfect day for hibernation.  It was dreary and cold and drizzly and I think the drizzle is freezing on the roads as we speak.  So I managed to nest in a great big blanket and grabbed a book, kept my dog at my side and a cat on my lap and was quite happy.

I am reading this new novel called Germ, in which a virus is spread throughout the world, and this specific virus uses strands of DNA to kill specific people.  If you are not a DNA match, you catch a cold. If your DNA matches, you liquefy.  It is quite thrilling thus far, and I would definitely put it in the “thriller” category.  It also involves the CDC and the FBI.  Quite enjoyable.

I set up the crock pot this morning with corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and onion and it was a very St. Patrick’s day meal. I will have to make it again in March.  It turned out quite well and was easy to do, and clean up was a breeze because it was cooked in one large pot.  Yay!

Other than that, not much happening on a Tuesday.  Just making it through the week. We have a three day weekend coming up with President’s Day, and I have a party to go to on Saturday night.  So, all in all it should be a great weekend.  Hope your weeks are shaping up!