I can't believe it's been so long...

Since my last post. I've been busy, some of it not so good busy, as in dental pain, but still.

We just had a nice dinner at the Cajun Crab, a new place right around the corner. It's our second visit and it was still fabulous. I had a cup of seafood gumbo, though DH and I agreed that the cream of crab soup is waaaay better. We also both got the 2 crab cake platter with mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was really good. I ordered bananas foster for dessert and didn't share - ha ha. DH and DD shared a strawberry shortcake. We had another couple with us, so he didn't gloam onto my dessert like he usually does. He did ask if that was ice cream on my plate - I said yes, and continued eating it all up. Good stuff.

Well, that was my mother's day gift, and that was fine by me. I really like that place, and by the looks of the crowd there, word is getting around. I hope they are there for years, because I love having a good place nearby that serves decent crab cakes.

Well, G&M's makes bigger ones, but they are in Linthicum, which is 50 miles away. We can't move back there now, although it would be closer to DH's job. I love Frederick too much anyway.

Happy Mother's day!!! Oh, btw, Puffy, your name came up at dinner. I won't tell you who we shared dinner with, though. You will just have to guess.

I survived a teenage slumber party!

The good thing about it is that we finally cleared out the family room. I'll try to post some pics in a few days. There were 9 teenaged girls, but most of them could not sleep over. Before we served the pizza, they all sat around in the family room and, after deciding not to play Mystery at Hogwarts - it was a Harry Potter themed party - they sucked helium out of the 30 balloons and entertained each other with their funny voices. DH thought they should be playing a game, so they could all interact, not just the more verbal ones who tend to take over. I have a good game that I could have led them in, but I was icing a cake and baking pizzas. The cake turned out yummy - chocolate with mint frosting. I wrote Happy 16th Caitlin in green frosting, put 16 candles on the cake, and lit them. When the kids saw the cake, naturally they sang Happy Birthday. The pizza turned out yummy too. My secret is to add extra cheese to the Weis market self rising crust pizzas. They always taste like take out pizza. The only problem with baking pizzas is that it heats up the kitchen! I wanted some pizza after the girls had settled down in front of the TV to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and so did DH, so I broke a piece off a frozen pizza and baked it in my George Foreman roaster. It has a small baking pan that can be put on top of the regular roasting area to bake cakes, etc. It turned out good. I know this little roaster will come in handy when we are camping. It doesn't take up much space and it has a grease pan to catch the grease. I like to cook a small chicken in it. It's better than a rotisserie because you don't have to tie the chicken up in string, just sit the chicken in the pan and turn it on.

After the party was over and the 2 sleepover girls left, DH took me out to lunch at this new restaurant in our neighborhood called The Cajun Crab. It is right around the corner from our house. We each had the cream of crab, which had a lot of crab meat and was spicy. I would have preferred less spice, but I still enjoyed it. I ordered the crab cake sandwich with red beans and rice, and fresh green beans on the side. The crab cake was delicious, and I was so happy to find one that was full of meat, no filler, and was so tasty. It was not overly spiced, but the red beans were too spicy for my liking. The waitress overheard me complaining about it and brought me some cole slaw. The slaw was nice. DH ordered the caesar salad with cajun shrimp on it. He said he would have been happier if he had ordered the crab cake. The waitress was quite attentive to our needs, so I gave her better than 20 percent tip. We will probably go back for our anniversary in June for a crab cake dinner.

Can you tell I like to eat out?

High Fructose Corn Syrup in my Tomato Soup

The other day a doctor on PBS was talking about high fructose corn syrup (and hydrogenated oils or trans fats) being the reason there is an epidemic of obesity in our country, so I started paying more attention to food labels. Since then I have discovered that the Campbell's tomato soup I like so much has HFCS, and it's the first ingredient in my favorite salad dressing and my favorite barbeque sauce. I have tossed out the salad dressing and the bbq sauce, but I had stocked up on the tomato soup while shopping at Sam's club a few weeks ago.

I also felt inclined to throw out a bottle of pickle relish and noticed HFCS in my pickled beets and applesauce.

I am left wondering - who thought of putting something so sweet in soup? If you were making soup from fresh tomatoes, I don't think you would grab a bottle of karo syrup and pour it in.

Also from Campbell's - chicken noodle soup with monosodium glutamate.

Soup, anyone?

I have about 20 cans of tomato soup and at least 13 cans of Chicken noodle, and 8 cans of Swanson's chicken broth that has MSG in it. I guess I'll be donating to the soup kitchen around here.

My sister called me Monday, and told me my mother is in the hospital with an abcessed foot. She is a diabetic amputee, so the foot is her right foot, and she is in danger of losing it. It will be hard if she does. She stays in bed pretty much most of the time, anyway. I don't expect she will live out the next year, especially if she loses that foot.

I have been trying to set up doctor's appointments, but had to cancel my eye doctor because of this cold. Also had one today to talk about my latest blood test results, and she had to cancel because of some emergency. I have a Monday apptment for 3:30 instead. I think I will have some medication changes.

We had the funeral last Wednesday, and it was a nice funeral, if you can really say that about such an occasion. People sang beautifully, and the deceased was a talented singer, so I think he would have loved it. One of the women who sang hit such a high note, all I could do was say "Wow".

My friend was upset when they wheeled her husband's body out of the building. I went to see her Wednesday night this week to bring her some chili for dinner and some marble cake. Her house needs cleaning and she seems overwhelmed a bit, but we are going to a Women's conference tomorrow, and I'm hoping it lifts her spirits a bit. We like to go shopping for clothes together, but I haven't had the money for it lately. I already have some clothes, and have more clothes to make when I get down to sewing more. I love spring clothes. I want a chocolate brown top to go with one of my skirts. I'll have to check my fabric inventory.

Goodbye, I love you

Last night my friend's husband died. I was told by DH just as I was trying to catch a few zzz's before waking up for church.

When we got to church, the Bishop made the announcement that J had passed away. I heard audible "Oh nos" from the front pews. It was not expected that he would pass this soon.

Our church service was a fast and testimony meeting where everyone has a chance to testify. I sat there thinking I didn't want to testify, but finally I had to give in. Many people before me spoke of the death and the family of the deceased. They all are just getting to know the family, and I guess in many ways, so am I, but I think I know my friend better than most of the peeps at church. The peeps at church are great when it comes to compassionate service and when I testified I told them so. I am grateful to know that when something comes up, there are people there who are willing to help. Meals, cleaning a home, whatever is needed - the people at church are very generous with their time and talents. As I walked away from the podium after bearing my testimony, my friend S and I clasped hands and she told me she loved me. I said I loved her, too.

The Bishop closed up the meeting by talking about his final words with J Saturday night. J told the Bishop "I love you" and the Bishop said, "I love you, too." It was very moving and emotional. I felt the love of the peeps in the ward was hyped up over this passing of a new member, which made it a special sacrament meeting for me.

J was baptized last Saturday, and he was the newest member of our church. His wife and 2 children were baptized last August. He sang "How Great Thou Art" in his terrific voice, vibrating the room with it's rich tones. I cried then, and we didn't know he had cancer at the time. He had been sick and lost a lot of weight, but the doctors had not found the cancer yet.

J sang again at the talent show in October. It was the same song, but this time I knew he had cancer, and I wept. I did not know he was terminal, though. DH told me about the terminal part in January and I was so dissapointed, even though it was evident at Christmas time J was very, very weak.

Well, it's over and I guess that could be good for him to be out of his misery. Now we have the task of funeral and all that goes with it.

We celebrated DH's birthday by going out to Isabella's Tavern and Tapas on Friday. It was very good. The service was good, the food was good, prices were good, and I loved the atmosphere. Isabella's has an online menu, but I'm too lazy to link it. DH ordered the asparagus fries, which I loved and will order the next time I go. There were 3 big stalks of asparagus fried in a crunchy batter with tiger sauce for dipping. He ordered some salmon, a portabello mushroom dish, and I ordered shrimp in spicy oil with caramelized onions (there were 4 pieces of garlic in with the onions), beef meatballs, and chicken breast in a sauce made with sesame and chocolate, but it didn't taste like chocolate. My favorite out of the three was definitely the spicy shrimp. The chicken was too dry and the meatballs were not anything special. I ordered a piece of raspberry cheesecake for dessert and DH helped me eat it, of course. He never orders dessert, just shares with me. That was fine with me. We will return to this place, but while we were in downtown Frederick, DH noticed the other fine restaurants in the neighborhood, so we have so many new places to try.

Well, the 3rd bedroom is now settled, except we really need to get a new mattress to make the bed more comfortable. DH and I had a furniture moving contest. I won in the end, with the best configuration. He kindly conceded that my furniture placement was the best arrangement. *Whew* On a side note, I had to move the stuff without the furniture sliders I bought because he lost them. *grumble* He can't borrow my stuff anymore.

DD and I had a few laughs Thursday morning when she described going to the bathroom at a residence with thin walls. She was making gassy sounds and was embarrassed because she knew they could hear her in the next room. She could hear the sound of chalk writing on the blackboard, so she knew they could hear her!

I'll be back with more later. Have to go out the door.

I'm getting the 2nd bedroom ready for the bedroom furniture. Currently I use my computer in this room and it has my sewing supplies in it, but we will be moving the computer to the family room by Saturday and using this room as a bedroom. I guess I should call it the 3rd bedroom, but it's the 2nd bedroom upstairs. Our 3rd bedroom is downstairs where my DD sleeps. She is happy that we bought a house with a downstairs bedroom. She has more privacy that way. She also has her very own bathroom, and the family room is right outside her bedroom. She could sneak out at night if she was ever that kind of kid, because there is a sliding glass door in the family room. The family room is also connected to the garage, but I doubt if she could sneak out that way since the garage door is right below our bedroom. Anyway, she is a good kid, and I trust her.

I need the extra bedroom to sleep in sometimes, as it gets noisy in our bedroom with my husband's snoring most nights. I sleep better when I sleep alone. I know a lot of couples who have separate bedrooms for the same reason. I love him, but the noise can be a bit too loud at times. I know I snore too, but that is because I carry around too much extra weight, which is the result of not being able to sleep. I am looking forward to snoozing blissfully soon.

If you're reading this, have a great weekend!