Maintain! by Danielle

Sooo, I was talking to my Cousin's daughter Danielle tonight. Through the course of the conversation I discovered that Danielle posted some youtube videos where she mentioned me. Now, one was for my birthday...and I never knew about it. How does that happen. Anyway, I was laughing at them and told her that I was posting them on my site. She giggled and told me not to...but since when did I listen to anyone?! So here is Danielle in the bathroom, which doubles as her recording studio. You can catch a glimps of their toilet if you look hard enough. Oh and her Mom is in her nightgown in the Birthday video. Danielle just said that she is going to make a sequel.

It's A Small World Afterall...

I spent the day with Raine and Chris today. I always have a good time with them. Raine catches me up on the misadventures of her husband and we tease in a little or a lot, depending on what he's done this time. I don't seen them enough, but they live very busy lives, we all do I guess.
We watched a little bit of the parade and all thought the bull was cute on the Tibet float. Then we walked over to the Belasco Theatre to see Passing Strange which was a great show. Actually, it was up for 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical. It had fun music and it even got the old tear ducts working at one point. After that we went to Virgil's to eat a little Bar BQ...yummy.
After stuffing ourselves to the max, we walked up to Central Park. BUT, here is the "small world" part...As we were strolling up the street, I heard someone say my name. I glance around, half thinking it was for another Annette. Then I see a tall man coming toward me. It was a guy I went to high school with and his wife, Kelly who graduated with my Sister. Now if you figure that I graduated with 29 kids and that our home town was under 2,000 people...and in Nebraska...and we ran into each other on a busy NYC street, that's something to marvel over. Anyway, we chatted for a while, I gave them the number for another classmate that lives out here and we went our merry little ways. If I hadn't had plans for Sunday, I would have suggested that we get together. Anyway, I told them that the next time they were out this way to call ahead and make plans with me.
Anyway, off to the park I went with Raine and Chris. We strolled around, it was so lovely out, not to hot and a slight breeze. Actually, we saw a guy walking his kitties. How cute was that. The seemed to enjoy sniffing around the park. Chris went to pick up a golf club...and Raine and I chatted speculated why all these women were cutting through the park in high heels and fancy dresses so early in the day. We finally decided that there was a stripper convention in town or something. I mean, seriously, you should have seen some of the outfits. Chris met up with us again and we strolled around looking for an open coffee shop. All the fun places were closed so we settled for Starbucks...but hey, I love their iced Chia. Then I walked back down to Penn Station, jumped a train for home. Today was a lovely day. I need more days like this. Don't we all!

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose?Asia, yeah, definaltey Asia. There is so much to see there and lots of strange things to taste. Australia would be a second runner up though.

Soup

Which browser do you use to surf the Internet?Whatever pops up. Actually I guess it's Internet Explorer.

Salad

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country? Umm, maybe a 7. I'm sure I know a lot of stuff, but there is a ton I could still learn. I've always enjoyed history and I'm pretty good at random trivia. Those two things kind often go hand in hand.

Main Course

Finish this sentence: Love is… "Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness." - Oliver Wendell Holmes It has very little to do with this course, but this totally reminds me of the Tom T. Hall song: (check it out on youtube if you don't know the tune.)

I love little baby ducks, old pick-up trucks, slow-moving trains, and rain
I love little country streams, sleep without dreams, sunday school in may,
And hay
And I love you too

I love leaves in the wind, pictures of my friends, birds in the world, and squirrels
I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups, bourbon in a glass, and grass and I love you too

I love honest open smiles, kisses from a child, tomatoes on the vine, and onions
I love winners when they cry, losers when they try, music when it’s good, and life
And I love you too

Dessert

Have you ever been in or near a tornado? I grew up in Tornado Alley. I have never been in a tornado but they have been near. I've spent enough time in basements during storms, that's for sure....even on my birthday.

The recipe that Raine requested.

I'm not sure why, but for years, Raine has insisted that I make the best Mac and Cheese ever. I keep telling her that I follow the directions on the box. I don't think she believes me. Mine tastes different. Ummm...maybe its because its made with love. Awwwww! No, in all seriousness, I have no idea what I do to it that is so different from what anyone else does. Oh, wait, maybe its because I don't really follow the package directions. Yeah, I just kind of wing it. I use the boxes directions as a suggestion, that's all.
I'd only do this for Raine... How to make Netter's Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Boil the Noodles

1. Fill a moderately large pot with hot water
2. Bring water to a boil
3. Once water is Boiling add the noodles
4. Cook until pasta is Al Dente, or soft

Stain noodles

1. When the noodles should be done
2. Strain the noodles but do not rinse them
3. To save dishes you can put the noodles back into the pan

Get the suggested ingredients ready
You are going to need 1/4 cup milk,
You are also going to need 4 Tablespoons of butter or margarine,
You are also going to need the cheese

1. Now everything should be ready to mix together
2. Add the milk, butter, and cheese...but I don't measure anything out...I wing it and chop off a hunk of butter, I just dump in some milk and I add the entire cheese package.
3. Mix up until blended nicely
4. You are ready to eat


That's it, no special secrets, just dump and eat. Oh, and make it with love.

How the heck did I do that?!

Earlier I was chatting on the phone with my Mother and getting stuff out to make dinner. I was winging it. I figured I'd make some kind of concoction involving pasta. Sam only eats Prego. Gag...not my favorite but it could always be worse. Anyway, I take the jar out of the upper cabinet and sit it on the counter top. No problem. I then dink around with a few other objects and I washing my hands. Then I decide to take a look to make sure I grabbed the right flavor of sauce so without picking the jar up, I tip it back at a 45 degree angle. My hands were slightly damp and the jar just slid from my grip and tipped over the rest of the way. The entire top and a section from the side of the jar shattered. This is the result. There were tiny, tiny bits of glass everywhere and even big old chunks of glass in the sauce. It was a pain in the but to clean up.

After that, I managed to cook a pretty taste dish...not with the broken sauce, of course, but a new jar that I managed to empty before I had a chance to break it too. Anyway, if you want to make a yummy sauce, try this: Saute half a sweet yellow onion in olive oil. Toss in a bunch of freshly chopped garlic...don't scrimp. Once that is done, stick in a little sauce. I only used a half a jar of traditional Prego. Then with the heat still on, take a small roll( I used one that was about 2 1/2- 3 inches long) of goat cheese and slice it into the sauce. Keep stirring it while it melts into the sauce. I then dumped a heaping mound of fresh spinach leaves in the sauce and kept stirring it around. Once the spinach was wilted into the sauce, I poured it over some freshly made pasta. Sam was in heaven. He took a bite and his eyes bugged out and he said, "NETT! What kind of sauce is this? It's SOOOO good!" Yep, sometimes the best meals are the ones you wing. By the way, the kid went back for heaping seconds so there will be no leftovers for lunch. It's a good thing, I guess, but it still makes me kind of sad. I like yummy leftovers.

Beware when reading Raine's postcards.

I repeat, BEWARE! I was flipping through the mail yesterday and I just happened to take a big sip of diet coke as I flipped this postcard over. I read the first line and started to laugh and the diet coke went up my nose. It hurt! What possibly could have Raine written on that postcard to make me burn my nasal passages like that? I'll tell you...she wrote, "This guy is wearing Christopher's swimsuit." For those of you not in the know...Christopher is her husband. I would never in a million years picture him as a "banana hammock" bikini bottom wearer, but of course, I don't picture most men in that type of swimsuit. I just wasn't expecting that comment on that postcard and it took me off guard. Anyway, they had a great cruise, enjoyed the islands and I didn't have to ship their cats to them because they decided to stay. Which reminds me, I wouldn't have been able to ship the cats anyway, because I wouldn't be able to get into the building now. They have not given me a new set of keys now that the main door lock has changed. I guess the cat sitter would have had to ship them.

Katie...HUNGRY....

 When Katie gets hungry, she must be fed or she gets cranky. It's not a pretty sight. Not to fear, she didn't really eat the moon. Nope, she ate half of my burrito instead.

Keep ALL dry erase markers away from Katie!

She's quick and she can't be trusted to behave herself. No, seriously, she thought I saw her write this. I totally didn't or I would have considered beating her with the board eraser....or at the very least, sat on her until I was able to draw a mustache and beard on her. I guess, I could call us even. Once when she was at sleep away camp, I sent her a letter in one of those joke envelopes that says, "Pregnancy test results enclosed, Private and confidential" She was like 12 or 13. LOL...Oh yeah, she was a little embarrassed by that. You know, I shouldn't be annoyed by Katie's message. It's a well known fact that if she doesn't like you, she doesn't waste her time calling you names or insulting you. lol, It's how she shows her love. Well, Dip shit, I love you too!

Poor, poor Pops...

Well, it looks like my Dad...aka Pops, isn't going to be able to spend this Father's Day doing what he usually does on his big day. That would be sleeping or fishing. Oh, who am I kidding? He'll manage to squeeze both of those things in there. Yep and I'm sure he'll try to see his lovely granddaughter Rue. If he wants to eat, he won't be able to let Mom do all the cooking for him while he naps though. Nope, he's the chef on duty these days, at least until Mom gets her broken chicken wing back in order. Yep, poor Pops, he's not going to be spoiled this Father's Day. So basically, he'll be spending the day like Mom has to for Mother's Day....cooking for the napping spouse. I knew that sooner or later, that one would bite him in the butt. Happy Father's Day Pop! I hope you got up early and made Mom a lovely breakfast in bed.

Friday's Feast

OK, I'm starting something new. Every Friday, you can follow the link above and find out what the menu for the day is. I'll give it a shot.

Appetizer

Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist? Without a doubt, I'm an optimist but if you catch me on a bad day, when everything seems to be going wrong, I'll probably be joking around and sound like a pessimist, but I'm not at heart. My glass is half full.

Soup

What is your favorite color of ink to write with? I love green ink pens. Just plain old kelly green ink. More important than the ink color is the feel of the pen in my hand and how smooth it writes. You know, I have a lot of pens. I tend to be a pen thief and I walk off with pens all the time. I try not to, but it just happens, especially if I'm talking while I'm signing for something. I've gotten to the point that I try to slide the pen as far away from me as possible or I hand it back to the cashier and tell them to keep it away from me or I'll accidentally steal it. I have a history.

Salad

How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them? Not as often as I used to. I love treating myself to a mani/pedi but now that I have discovered the Ped Egg, I can handle the job myself...lol, plus I've always been good at painting my nails myself.

Main Course

Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it? Sure! I've won a few give-aways in my time. The latest was a whole box of homemade things from a sweetheart in Hawaii.

Dessert

In which room in your house do you keep your home computer? It's in the basement. We call the room the "computer room" even though there is some unused workout equipment in there and a ton of my crafty stuff.

While the neighbors are in Florida...

I've been letting their girls out for a bathroom break in the middle of the day. Lola and Marley normally go to work with the neighbors, so they have lots of attention and lots of people to take them for little walks during the day. Marley the labrapoodle (Did I spell that right? Ah, who cares.) is recovering form her third knee operation, so we are not going for walks, we are just trying to keep everything very calm. She's a high energy dog. Lola, well Miss Lola is very calm...her idea of a big exercise is rolling on her side so you can scratch her tummy. I stop over for an hour or so around noon and let them out for a bathroom break and then I fill up their water bowls with fresh, cool water. After that I sit on the floor and chat with them for a while. Today I spent a lot of time explaining to Marley why I didn't like it when she licked my ear. I told her it had nothing to do with her bad breath, but I don't think she believed me. She takes everything so personally. Lola really doesn't care what the topic of conversation is as long as you keep rubbing her tummy. Lola and Marley have people staying with them overnight so I only have to do afternoon duty. I love watching the dogs, but I'm not sure I'd want overnight duty...I have a feeling Lola snores and Marley probably chases stuff in her sleep.

He's going to LOVE me!

Last week, Sam lost his school ID and his learners permit. He thought he dropped his little wallet thingy at school one night when he was there for an event. He searched the school, checked the lost and founds, talked to all the janitors, nothing, nada,zippo. Seriously, he looked everywhere...so he said. He even searched the van, the car and his room. He REALLY didn't want to tell his Mom that he lost something else. Yeah, the kid has been pretty pathetic about keeping track of his stuff. He's lost his tenor sax, his tennis racket, a few books. The list could go on, but I'll be kind and stop at the ID cards. He managed to get a new School ID card, no problem but getting a replacement permit is tricky when you are still in school. He has his road test next Friday, so he really needs his lisc. Next week he has a few days off so we made plans to go to the DMV...my least favorite place on Earth. He asked me to keep it on the down-low so his Mom didn't rag on him. I secretly wanted to tell her so that we could torture him for a while. You know, have her ask him to drive because she has a headache or something and then watch him come up with excuses to explain why he couldn't. I know! I have never claimed to be anything but evil.

Anyway, I had to make a dish for a potluck function at the school tonight and Sam called and asked if I could drop it off along with his concert attire, the Hollywood letters and 4 liters of orange soda. He had decided not to take the bus home because by the time he got home, he'd have to turn around and go back. OK, Fine....whatever. I went upstairs and started getting his stuff together. I took his clothes out of his closet and put them on the bed so I could put everything on the same hanger. As I'm doing that, something strange catches my eye. It's Sam's little ID holder that he thought he lost. It's stuck on his bed, near the foot, just kind of hanging out. Now, seriously, I don't know how he could have missed this every night when he went to bed. The kid doesn't have a foot board.

When I dropped all of his stuff off, Sam came walking up to the van and I said, "You are going to love me FOREVER!" He looked at me and said, "Why?" So I said, "You have to ask why?! Well, I almost don't want to tell you now." Of course, at that point, I'm holding up his little wallet thingie and his eyes about popped out of his head. He started to ask me where I found it and then he decided he didn't want to know...because he'd be pissed at himself for not finding it himself. Oh, so true!

He told me to keep it and that he obviously coulnd't be trusted with it. I told him, he'd probably be a little more careful from now on. Then again...maybe not.

Just so you know...

Don't bother calling my Mom's house while an episodes of Little House on the Prairie is on that contains Almonzo Wilder. Oh sure, she'll talk to you but not with the usual enthusiasm that she usually displays after talking to you every day this week. It's just better to let her go and call her after the show is over. She really likes Almonzo. I think she might harbor a school girl crush on Manly...like Laura did. Remember that? Maybe she just likes the way Laura gets him all flustered and annoyed. That's what I enjoy.

Awww, good times.

I suddenly feel like putting braids in my hair. They might make it to the bottom of my ears. I just wish my hair was red, like it was when I was a kid.

Guess what I've been doing for the last two hours!

 

I love this thing!

Normally, I'm not into product endorsement. Holy crap, does this thing work really well. My feet were still in their normal, cracked winter state...it was scary. I even use lotion on my heels, its pathetic. I wanted to get a pedicure but I hate the idea anyone seeing my heels in the condition that they were in. I was in Walgreen's and they had the Ped Egg, just sitting there on the end of an isle. It was $9.99 and I was seriously debating if I should spend ten bucks on it or not. I figured, if it worked...goodie...if not, I'd send the company a hate letter or something and they could either ignore me or refund my money. I assumed they would ignore me...most people do. Anyway, I brought it home, read the instructions and went to town on my gross feet. I'm happy to tell you that my heels are so soft now. All that hard cracked stuff is gone. It didn't take long and it wasn't messy like some of those gadgets you use to scrape away the old skin. Nope, all I had to do was dump out the dead skin when I was done. It kind of reminded me of Parmesan cheese. Fear not, I didn't get confused and try it on my Cesear salad...nope it was destine for the garbage can. So, if you are prone to hoof like heels, like me....RUN, don't walk, and purchase your Ped Egg. A word to the wise. I have read online that some people who ordered their Ped Egg's online were scammed...so to avoid that, perhaps you should purchse one at the store. If you can't find one...let me know, I'll hook you up.

My Mother the klutz and my Aunt the Streaker...

Did I get your attention? Well, let's start with the story of my Mother and why my Pop says she looks like a rooster with two broken wings, standing on one leg on a fence post. You see, it all started in Kansas. I've always said, nothing good happens in Kansas and especially at a family reunion. After all, when you get a bunch of Kaster's together, its all fun and games until someone gets hurt. No, in all seriousness, my Mom tripped. They were at a town park and there were brand new sidewalks that still had the forms on them...they were that new. Anyway, Mom was walking along, heading to the playground to tell Dewey(my brother-in-law) and Rue that it was time to come eat lunch. She was stepping over the sidewalk forms and rammed her toe into a little piece of steel post that was sticking up, which caused her to slam down on the cement. She tried to catch herself with her hands and she said, it hurt so bad she wanted to cry but couldn't. Only one person saw this and they asked if she was OK. Mom totally lied and said yes. She was in denial. After sitting there for quite a while she managed to get up. She walked over and got Dewey and Rue and the managed to hang out at the reunion and even eat, but her arms were hurting. She thought she pulled a muscle or something. She was swollen and bruising. If I had been there, I would have dragged her a$$ to a hospital...but she was faking everyone out. My Sister called me to let me know that Mom had hurt herself because she knew I would harass Mom until she went to the doctor. I mean, when they left, she couldn't even open the car door herself. Dad took her home, iced her up and some of the swelling did go down but she didn't want to go to the emergency room on Sunday night so she waited until the next morning. She sent Dad to work and when I spoke to her I asked how she was getting to the doctor's office. She said she might walk....GRRR...I told her not to and to call Aunt Linda to take her because she's not back to work yet. Mom said she could always take the handy bus. In the back of my mind, I knew that woman wouldn't ask for help and she'd try to get there on her own. I was right. She drove herself with to the doctor.
After many x-ray's she found out that her left arm had a clean break about 1 1/2 inches under her elbow, so they put her in a temporary L brace-cast. They thought about putting a brace on her other wrist too, but knew it would be hard for her to do anything, so they wrapped it up. She has to go back on Thursday for more x-rays when the swelling goes down. Good news though, her black and blue toe, which she thought might have been broken as well, wasn't broken at all. She just jammed the toe nail. I told her that she needs to insist that they but full casts on both of her arms. Why would I suggest that? Well, you see, my Pop is acting as nurse mate. That means he has to cook for her, do the dishes, you know, things he hasn't done much of since they were married almost 39 years ago. Mom had to walk him through how to set up the coffee pot so he'd have fresh coffee in the morning. She had to tell him to wipe the grease off the stove with a wash cloth, not the dish towel he'd use to dry dishes with later. Yep, the old man is really getting a taste of what its like to work and come home and do all the cooking. Mom laughed and said, "Wait until he has to vacuum the house on Sunday." She wasn't sure she could get him to do it. I think she should go for it. Milk it for all she can get, then once she's better, keep him helping out. I know, I know...I'm dreaming now! I'll keep you posted on Mama Boom-Boom's healing progress. Right now, I can tell you that she is bored out of her mind. She can't even play video games...and she did manage to check her email, but that didn't last long because her arms started to hurt.

Now for a funny little story. I've heard it second hand, because the Kaster grapevine works just fine without my help. It seems as though it was windy in Kansas last week. Uncle Gary has been telling EVERYONE about this...sorry Aunt Carole, I've heard it from 4 people so I have to share it with EVERYONE. Anyway, it was really windy. Carole went outside and was chasing after the garbage can or the lid, as she jogged along, the wind grabbed a hold of her shorts...which were a little big...and blew her shorts down. Uncle Gary saw the whole thing and it was reported to me that he said, "She was wearing the prettiest pink panties." LOL, I bet the neighborhood has been buzzing all week. I was thinking about picking up a pair of suspenders to send Aunt Carole...but then I realized that Uncle Gary has to have a pair or two laying around that he could loan her.

In other news, Cousin Jeff and Marla have headed to New Orleans, leaving the "rent-a-baby" with Grandma Vickie and Grandpa John. Sounds like there is some spoiling going on in Lincoln, Nebraska...as well there should be. Vickie was going to ask Mom if she wanted to bring Rue up to go to the Zoo with them, but after finding out about her boo-boo's and the fact that Mom won't be watching Rue for a while...that idea was thrown out the window.