Swine Time

I'm afraid we've all come down with the Swine Flu! (insert gasp here)

I was the first one to get it. Without regard to anyone but myself, I neglected to wash my hands and then subsequently gave Anthony a hug. Obviously the virus transferred to him. Being the irresponsible twits that we are, we let him go to school anyway. He goes to the same grade school as his younger brother Matthew and even though they are in completely different classrooms, they use the same cafeteria at different times during the day. Matthew must have contracted the virus there. While having lunch, Matthew sneezed and forgot to cover his mouth. When Lisa picked him up a few hours later he high fived her and thereby transferred the virus yet again.

The CDC, WHO and a host of other acronym based agencies should be at our door any minute.

I took a picture of us so you can see what we look like now the we are all infected.

Should you notice any swelling of your snout, please seek medical attention immediately!!!

Howda Abouda Some Chowda

Apparently spring and summer have come and gone here in the great Pacific Northwest. Don't get me wrong, it was a great week, but alas, it once again feels more like winter again.

We had a few days with temps in the 70's and even managed to get one day where the mercury topped eighty. The last couple of days, and for at least a few more, it has and will continue to only top out in the fifties. The good news is the tulips are in full bloom and will keep in their spectacular display with the cooler temps.

We had planned on going out to the coast for the first camping trip of the year, but opted to stay put when we heard the forecast. Good move on our part too as it was drizzly and generally blechy out there. Instead, we had some good family time around home. Went and watched "Monsters vs Aliens" at the theater. (good choice if you have young ones) We also bought a puzzle to put together. That was a lot of fun too. I'll have to post about all the puzzles mom and I used to work on when I was a kid. Plenty of great memories there.

So what does all of this have to do with the title of this post? Nothing yet, but I'm getting to that.

One of the meals we had was clam chowder. Thought I'd share what I like to do to make store bought soup taste soooooo much better.

Please excuse the less than great photo

Quantities intentionally left out - Use as much or as little of the following, depending on your taste, or, as my grand mother would have said, "Pour it in until it looks right."

Cube and cook a couple pieces of bacon (not crispy)
Peel and par boil some potatoes
Cube some celery stalks and red onion

In a large soup pot melt a small amount of butter and add the celery and onions. Cook till tender. Add canned soup, bacon, par boiled potatoes and additional clams. Add a bit of whipping cream, half and half or milk to thin a bit. (Let your own calorie count be your guide here) Heat slowly until hot all the way through. The only other seasoning I add is a bit of black pepper.

Ladle into a bowl and add some oyster crackers and/or dip in sour dough bread. Eat a bowl full, then go back and get another one. Eat that one and even though you'll be stuffed, have just a wee bit more cause it tastes so darned good. Lay back on the sofa and complain about how full you are and tell the person next to you, "I shouldn't have had that last bowl." Watch as they nod in agreement and tell you the very same thing.

Trust me, canned soup never tasted so good.

The Return of a Blogger

I'm glad to announce that the funk has given way to a brighter, lighter me.

Time for the era of no obligation and no rules blogging.

In my absence I looked back over several posts and realized how many times I said something similar to, "Sorry I haven't posted lately" or "Sorry I haven't been by your site to read lately". The sentiment was sincere in each case, but I came to realize that I was starting to blog out of some sort of feeling of obligation rather than for the pure joy of it. This more than any other reason, led to burn out.

So how do I avoid falling into that cycle again? Simple. I will post here or read other blogs when time allows and I feel like it. By no means do I say that in a callous way, just as a statement of how I wish to proceed.

Now, all of that sounds so serious after reading it again, but rest assured, I'm the same old guy beneath it all.

Thanks to you that have commented lately or sent emails with your well wishes. Each and every one of them are appreciated.

Not Feeling It

I'm not deleting the blog, but I'm also not feeling motivated to do anything with it either.

I'm in a funk of late. Don't feel like writing, nor much like reading.

I'll keep the site on the airwaves in hopes that motivation will strike again.

Until then, Ciao.

Airing Out My Laundry

What do we have here?


That would be a spiffy new washer and dryer. Not that we necessarily wanted to buy these, but considering our old dryer had been slowly becoming less and less efficient at doing its job and the washer decided to completely die the other day, we were more or less forced into it. I talked to a couple of different repair techs about the old set and they both said, given the age of them and the price of repairing them, we'd probably be better off biting the bullet and going new.

Oh well. I suppose we would have just used that money for something frivolous like food or clothes.

So much more fun dumping into an appliance don't you think? NOT!

~~~

Remember the ridiculously expensive light bulb we bought for our TV a few weeks back? Guess what? About a week after installing it, the TV died. We took it into the shop and of course they couldn't find anything wrong with it. We brought it back home and it worked for a day or two and then died again. GAAAAHHHH!!!

~~~

Did I mention. . . at the beginning of the month, Lisa was hanging up the shower curtain in our downstairs bathroom, lost her balance and came crashing down, bruising both her leg and her pride, along with sending a small flower vase into the pedestal sink. All in all she was fine, but the sink ended up with a rather large crack in it.

~~~

Anyone see a theme here?

I don't know about you all, but I for one am quite happy the month of March is behind us for this year.

~~~

I've been doing some research on some different flooring products to use in my business and as a result, my internet time has been spent doing that instead of much blogging. If you haven't seen me by your place lately, that's why.