Almost ready!

For Christmas, that is. It's been a month since my last post. Time sure does fly by so quickly these days. I've had some amazing things happen this month. I signed onto a family search program that my church has, and I am adding to my family tree. It's so much fun, and I've done some of the temple work for my family. My parents have been gone since 2002, and 2007, so I've started them off one November 20th by doing their baptisms and confirmations. It just so happens that November is both of their birthdays, so happy birthday, Mom and Dad.

I also started the work for one ancestor who had her work done previously by someone who erroneously did the work as though she was a man. I know she was a female, because I've been to her grave. She is buried next to her husband on the Evergreen Cemetery on the Gettysburg Battlefield in PA. I've been there several times. I need to get those pictures of graves together in one place in a scrapbook.

I also had a great Thanksgiving with a lot of the family in attendance over in Harpers Ferry, WV. It was good to see all of the youngsters.

I also got a new laptop computer, and a new 7" television to set next to the computer. I originally thought the television would make a good kitchen tv, but it does not pick up the on air channels very well, so it's hooked up to cable, and gets quite a few channels. I can also detach it from the cable and play videos though a USB port or using a SD card.

Post Halloween

There is still too much candy in the house, and my resistance is low. Eeek!

I am looking forward to seeing family at Thursday's wedding in the DC Temple. Then afterward we are going to the Cheesecake Factory for linner (that's the meal between lunch and dinner). I haven't been to the CF since my Baltimore days, so it's been about 10 years ago, at least. The one at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore is usually hopping with so many people, but since we will be dining (or is it linnering) at the White Flint Mall location in the middle of the day, it should not be too crowded. The reviewers at Yelp say that service can be bad at that location.

DD had fun on Friday at a church single's barn dance. She dressed up like a rocker, took the guitar hero guitar as a prop, and did her hair and makeup. She doesn't usually wear makeup. She looked really pretty, as you can see in the photo.

Spring Vacation planning

Well, I've been looking at places to stay in Orem/Provo Utah this Spring, and now that I have the dates for DD's spring break (March 29th - April 4th), I guess we can start making reservations. I have a few places that are quite reasonable, and they are not actually hotel or motel rooms. They are apartment style rooms with full kitchens in a house. One place is right in Provo, where MIL lives, and the other is in Orem, which is right next to Provo. We are going out there to celebrate MIL's 90th birthday. Her birthday is actually on the 8th of April, but school is very important to DD, so I'm sure family will understand.

Now we also should figure out which classes DD will be taking, as that will impact our travel plans. This past semester, she to spread out her classes over the week, so she doesn't get into a crunch time with papers and projects all due on the same day. It has worked out well for her, and she's getting good grades. We will start the registration process this weekend, so we can be sure she has the classes she needs, and that we can choose our travel times according to her classes.

Books

I've been reading Moss Hart's Act One. It's the rags to riches story of his journey to becoming one of Broadway's top playwrights. It's a good read, but I wish there was more. He died not long after writing it.

I've also read Kitty Carlisle's memoirs, Kitty. She was Moss Hart's wife. I saw quite a bit of her on television. I did not know that she sang, because I never saw her sing anything. She was on a popular game show.

In the Dark

For Tummy, I present a picture of a Wooly Bully.

The "In the Dark" title refers to us yesterday, and we didn't have tv or internet for a while, either. It just helped realize how much we depend on electricity. I think our next house will be solar, with maybe a windmill assist, if it all works out.

There are so many things you cannot do without electric power. Like get some decent sleep, because you rely on a CPAP machine, or vacuum you house, or turn on a fan, or the stove. You get the picture.

I'm glad it's back on now.

First post of October

Because Tummy said so!

I've been kind of busy or tired or a bit of both. I'm doing okay most days, but the right knee joint and the left arm rotator cuff make me scream out sometimes. I've been asked to be a secretary for the kids group at church, so that is taking up my time as well. Not paid work, but I do enjoy data and reports.

The big problem came up my second Sunday on the job. My church has had a lot of families move into the area, and I don't know the kids' names. It's been frustrating. Some families are easy, because either the kids look like their parents, or all of the kids look somewhat alike, or sometimes both.

Made my doctor's appointment, and tried to switch from my ho-hum doctor to a nurse practioner, who seems to care more, but the lady at the desk said I could not do that. DH reminded me that I could, because he did it. I think the NP is busy, but the doctor is probably losing patients because of her table side manner. Oh, well, I'll need to get a referral for an endocrinologist and another for the joint problems anyway. I may shop around for some other doctor's office after the first of the year.

DD is doing great art work in her 2 art related classes, just like I knew she would. She's still nervous and anxious, though.

Lucky Corner Vietnamese

Well, we finally found a restaurant that we really can rave about here in Frederick. It's called the Lucky Corner Vietnamese.

Since restaurant.com was having a sale on certificates at 90 percent off, I used the opportunity to buy 16 certificates, and the Lucky Corner was one of them. It is in downtown Frederick, about a 5 mile drive from where we live.

We started with shrimp spring rolls, which were both hot an delicious. We shared the 2, but I could have devoured 2 all by myself. It was 2 PM, and we were both hungry.

DH ordered the shrimp curry, and I had the chef's special chicken, which was supposed to be fashioned after General Tso's chicken. I've eaten in quite few chinese places in this town, but this was the absolute best I have ever tried. My chicken dish was very good, with lots of different veggies. I'm really into veggies, and it looked a lot healthier than any of the offerings of General Tso's chicken I've experienced in other restaurants anywhere. I ate about 2/3 of it, and only half of the white rice, so I took the rest home in a box. I deliberately saved some room for dessert, though the serving size was generous. It was spicy, and included broccoli, baby corn, cauliflower, red bell pepper, bok choy, and maybe a few other things I can't recall at the moment.

DH's curry shrimp was tremendous as well. He had quite a few shrimp in his dish, and they were in the 26 to a pound variety. He grabbed for the water frequently. His vegetable was green beans, and his dish was a little spicier than mine. I think I liked my dish better, but I do want to try new dishes each time I return here.

So we ordered dessert, and at first I was going to try the fried bananas, but I asked the waitress before she left what the chocolate truffle was like, and I changed my order to that. DH had ordered the pineapple sorbet. When it arrived, it was contained in a half of a baby pineapple shell. It was so cute, and dang it, I forgot my camera. I usually take pictures of every meal we eat, so I can remember our food.

Anyway, the chocolate truffle was more like a chocolate ice cream with vanilla center, coated with cocoa and small pieces of nut, accompanied by whipped cream and a cherry, which was placed on the flat dish that was holding the parfait dish containing the truffle. I enjoyed it immensely, and even let DH have a couple of bites. I tried his sorbet, and it was like a pina colada sorbet. You could taste the pineapple and coconut.

We ordered some chicken curry for DD, who decided to opt out and stay home. She missed out on dessert though. Her loss.

I went back to Restaurant.com for more certificates while their 90 percent sale is still going on. They were out of stock for the $25 Lucky Corner certificates, but they still had the $10 certificates, so I ordered 4 of them to use during the coming year. You can use one per month, and you have a year to use them up.

The prices for thier food was also reasonable. Our total bill came to just under $35, with tip included and the certificate amount subtracted. We've paid at least 3 times that much for meals we didn't care for at premium restaurants. The atmosphere was just okay, but they made up for it with their friendliness.