big-week-end

Friday afternoon, T-bone was at a neighbor's house and A-Corn is playing volleyball with her friend Meredith. (Meredith gave A-corn some clip on earrings. She looooouuuuuves them.) I used the alone time to fabricate a box to make an ice slab for this year's ice sculpture.



Saturday-Eggs and omelets for breakfast, everyone on earth calling, emailing to pick up tickets for tonight.... We went to the grocery on to get cream and more blue food coloring (for Sunday's activities). (oooohhhh,,,,,, I bumped into Andrea and Carter at the grocery. Did I mention that T-bone won the pinewood derby?)

Anyway.... A-Corn lost her earrings at the store. And then she lost her mind. And then she cried. And then she lost her mind again. And she cried again. And she asked me if we could get more earrings from Meredith. Sad.

So I have so much time on my hands, I started another batch of cheese. I'm swinging for the bleachers. 0 for 3. I'm pointing to the outfield. STILTON!


Evening rolls around, time for MONSTER JAM! Not really my cup-o-joe, but 9 of 10 kids in our Den wanted to go, so I went, decked out in full uniform, me and 60.000 strangers. It was interesting.... and I lost Acorn's hat.

We got home at about 10:00, and the kids were out by about 10:30. Time to work on the cheese again!

Straining the curds.

Still draining... 12:30am.

Tie off the curds and press them with milk jugs filled with water.

Sunday- We survived. Bedtime was crazy late, but all feet were on the floor by 8:00. A-Corn wants pancakes. Dad says, "maybe ." A-Corn asks again. Daddy caves in. M&M PANCACES!!!!! I feel like Oprah on the 'everybody gets a car' episode!

Pre-lunch..... Dad is Great..... We start making ice cream. T-bone reads the instructions, gets ingredients out of the pantry and the fridge. We mix the ingredients by the book.... and it overflows! Pre-lunch desert for the kids!

Blue vanilla ice cream. GO COLTS!

After lunch T-tone went to a friend's house, A-corn and I went shopping and found some great bargains, including a new hat on clearance! Hurray!

Back to the cheese..Broke up the curds, this time they look different. A bit rubbery. More cheesy. I have confidence. This time I will have real cheese. This is going to be a long 60 days.

Broken curd.


In the molds.

Time for dinner. We moved Steak night to Sunday because of MONSTER JAM!

T-bone for T-boneOf course, blue vanilla for desert.

Worn out.

"And when the morning light comes streaming in I'll get up and do it again, Amen." -Jackson Brown

Change I can believe in.

Tomorrow morning I will change my underwear.

Tired

Of Washington Bull$hit.

I propose, I propose, I propose. I propose that we all live a life filled with unicorns and rainbows and sunny days and wet puppy dog noses.

I don't think that the government is not responsible for providing anything for me except for aircraft carriers, jets, bombs, and missiles to keep the bad guys away from me and my family.

Formage

As in "to cheese." I'm talking about that I'm into trying to make some cheese, (Raising Arizona anyone???) and I am reluctant to report:

Cheese - 3
HappyIdiot - 0

This is my third attempt. First batch went into the trash. Second batch- half of it made a tasty garlic/herb spread for crackers, the other half I'm trying to age, but I think that it will be very crumbly.

So I did some research. Bought the Calcium Chloride. Got the good milk from Trader Joe's. TRIPLE checked my temperature. Followed the instructions. Looks like I achieved a clean break. Cut the curd. Started stirring....

Then, the Motherf$*#@cing curd tunded to mush.

What am I doing wrong? Old milk? Stirring the rennet in too long? Letting it sit too long before I cut the curd? Not enough rennet? Too much buttermilk? Just an idiot? HEEEELLLLPPPPP!!!!!

Nothing has EVER kicked my a$$ in the kitchen, and I'm not about to let cheese be the first.

Someone, anyone.... please help.

Redundancy.

Now I'm mad.

So that is how it is in their religion...

Big thanks to Uncle Hardhat, who brought this to my attention. People who bought this also bought....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805470859/ref=s9_pop_gw_ir01/185-3336238-4144036?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1QA8JNXE2AGRDHX3CAYZ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=493379291&pf_rd_i=507846

Redemption!

Receiving the hardware.

Last year he finished 6th among the Tigers (First graders).

This year, he was 1st in Wolves and 1st overall! T-bone and his marvelous racing machine beat out 54 other cars, including some heavy-hitting 4th graders. I'm proud of you T-bone!

Gee, Andrea, you made a hasty exit after the race.....

Fear This

Fear this Pack 358. For pinks, Dunkerly?