Say Cheese

We took some glamour shots for the advertising inserts coming up in the next couple of weeks. I was just joking when I suggested we should put our hands up to our ears. . . .

Books I read after getting my BA in English, part A

Moby Dick

Pride and Prejudice

Emma

War and Peace

Atlas Shrugged

Fountainhead

Sense and Sensibility

Persuasion

Northanger Abbey

Yes. I honestly graduated without ever having read Jane Austen. (I did read Lonesome Dove twice, though)

A Tale of Two Turkeys

I think I've already established that I'm not the sharpest stick in the stack but here's an example. . . . We decided to host Thanksgiving a few days ago, and I didn't get a turkey until Tuesday afternoon. It was nearly 20 pounds. And it was frozen. I didn't even think about the thawing process. Yesterday evening I read on the bag the "quick thaw" method, which is to immerse the bird in cold water, changing it frequently. We figured we could get started at 8:00 at night and it would be ready in the morning (if you count ignoring the bird in water for the eight hours between 11:00 and 7:00 am). Well, at about 9:30 at night, I started checking different websites for turkey cooking hints. Again and again I read, "Don't leave the turkey in water; it's a breeding ground for bacteria"--(at which point I always wonder, "well, doesn't the 180 degree temperature we cook the turkey to kill all the bacteria?!) But finally I felt like I would be putting my family and guests in mortal peril if I used the bird. So I turned to my intrepid husband and asked if he could run to the grocery store and find a "fresh" turkey. It was past 10:00 at night, but he did.

So this morning I tried to follow a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com. It included directions for making a brine for the turkey, but as I checked on brining, I saw that if the turkey is prebasted you're not supposed to brine it. So I followed the instructions for the most part, cooking the turkey breast side down. I'm sorry to say that it ended up a very ugly bird. It tasted okay, and we have lots of leftovers.
The other turkey is in the freezer. I'll make it sometime in the future.

I do have a few vices

Okay, whenever I watch 24 I have to go check the Dave Barry Blog for reactions. They are always hilarious. http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/24/index.html

We survived!

Rob reinstalled the computer this weekend and hallelujah it's working so much better now. Initially he lost a lot of information (pictures and my journal entries for 4-7 years ago) but after a lot of sweat and tears (and 29.95) he was able to retrieve them. As I rechecked some of the files, I had a lot of fun looking back at what was going on when we lived in Simi Valley. I can't believe how the kids have grown and changed. It's a little disconcerting.

I took Beulah and Janey to see The Dark Knight last Saturday night. It was a very last minute decision and I can't believe we made it on time. It was good and fun. I think Christian Bale is the best Batman yet.

We haven't been able to see my grandma for a while and I feel bad. I don't know how much time she has left, but whenever we see her, she is always so grateful and good to visit with. Maybe this week when the kids are out of school.

I have to break down and buy a vacuum. I really want the Dyson at Costco for $350 but I think it's time that I don't get what I want (I always do, ultimately) and settle for a $100 vacuum, with the stipulation that we get our central vacuum system fixed in the upcoming months.

Not much is going on, I guess

It's been cold and dark and rainy today.
Goose gave herself a haircut last week while Husband and I were at Mamma Mia. I liked the movie okay but I wasn't totally thrilled with it. I did like the last scene ("Take a chance on me"--didn't Yaz or Erasure do a version of it?). Goose is still beautiful, BTW.
Husband is so busy getting his office ready. He is opening on Monday and so far has scheduled two appointments for tests.
Don't you with the Dow Jones would stop going down? Come on, already. Obama's been elected, the government is going to keep saving hemorrhaging business, and the sun will shine again so let's stop selling stocks and driving down prices!
I tried to listen to Michael Medved's conspiracy show today but it was just too noisy with the kids' coming home from school.
Oh, and I am cranky because Husband is paying a sign company to do the vinyl lettering for his office door instead of buying me a Cricut and having us do it ourselves. S0 what if the quality isn't as good; I think it would be fun to be able to have a vinyl cutter!