I'm having a really good week.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I can’t remember the last time I had a week with this many cool thing happening. So far, my fiancee’s brother has left again for a few weeks, we bought a new tv, I saw a concert, work isn’t nearly as boring as usual, the weather has been wonderful for 2 days now and I have a family reunion to go to tomorrow.

Here are the details:
My fiancee’s brother has been living with us since his wife kicked him out in January. He recently started a new job as a truck driver so he’ll be gone for 3-4 weeks at a time and only home for a few days. Since I don’t really like him, this is a good thing. Though I must say, he is starting to grow on me.

We had a 19" TV for many years. This past Christmas, the future in-laws bought us a new one - thinking that it was bigger. It wasn’t. Well, on Sunday, Mr. Congo and I bought a 26" widescreen HDTV. It’s so cool. I’ve watched The Fellowship and The Two Towers 5 times total this week because they just look so much better. Now, we can replace the crappy TV in the bedroom with the one from the living room.

Last night, I went to my first Arlo Guthrie concert. Man, that guy is a good storyteller. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much. The music was great and I have a new favorite song - St. James’ Infirmary. What made the concert even cooler is that it was a fundraiser for Lorraine’s Kitchen (a food pantry). Since Arlo lives around here, he agreed to do the show. The tickets were only $5 each with a food donation. Of course they accepted donations at the show. I got a 2 disk set of songs. It’s a live concert with Arlo and Pete Seger. I can’t wait to see him again. I can’t believe I managed to go 24 years without ever hearing him sing. I’ve missed out on so much.

Tomorrow is Mr. Congo’s father’s family reunion. I love these things. There’s good food, nice people, raffles, a pool, a huge trampoline and shuffleboard. I’ll be making balloon animals again this year and the future SIL and I will be doing face painting. I’ve perfected my Spider-Man themed decorations so I should get lots of takers. All the money we raise goes into the family bank account and is then used for charities that the family supports.

Oh yeah, I forgot the weather. It’s georgous. I think it’s somewhere around 70° right now. It’s sunny and breezy. I love this weather. If the leaves were changing, it would feel like fall. The only thing better would be a booming thunderstorm.

One more thing: 24 Days 'til DISNEY!!!

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:dubious:

TAKE ME WITH YOU!!! :frowning:

Besides that, yay for you and your good week! (I’m still jealous! :stuck_out_tongue: )

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Land or World?

Does it make you nervous like something bad is around the corner…nah, I don’t wanna jinx you because I hope you have a good month or year.

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Which one’s in Florida? I’ve never been before and I can’t keep them straight. I"m so excited. I’m not excited about flying. I’m nervous about that. I’ve never done that either.

Harmless - you can meet us there. We’re going from 9/1 to 9/6. I’m going with my fiancee, his parents, his sister and his nephew. My favorite people (other than my mommy).

So, the reunion is today. I was going to make Tollhouse cookies but I decided at the last minute to make Toffee Trifle. It looks so good. I can’t wait to try it. You’re supposed to make it with Kahlua (sp?) but kids will be eating it so I used mudslide mix instead. My tastetesters said it was excellent.
If any of you are interested, here’s how to make it:

1 box of chocolate cake (use the one with pudding in the mix)
2 boxes of chocolate pudding (I used white chocolate)
2/3 cup of Kahlua (or mudslide mix). Supposedly you can also use Rum)
4 toffee candy bars (Heath or Skor are good) (crushed)
2 - 8oz tubs of Cool Whip

Bake the cake in 9x13 pan
After the cake cools, cut it into small squares.
Line the bottom of a trifle bowl with one layer of cake (I used a cake dish. One of the Tupperware ones with a flat bottom and a large top. I just turned it upside down and used the bottom as a lid).
Evenly pour half the Kahlua over the cake
Spread half the pudding over the cake
Spread one tub of Cool Whip over the pudding
Spread half the toffee over the coolwhip.
Repeat starting with another layer of cake over the toffee.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving (I let it sit over night).

Now, this recipe is open to interpretation. I doubled it so I used 2 cakes, 4 boxes of pudding, I actually used 16 candy bars because the ones I found were halfsize. I still used the same amount of Cool Whip because I don’t like it too much. I didn’t even measure the Mudslide mix. I used a turkey baster and just made sure all the cake was moist.

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Can’t you just smuggle me in a suit case?
I don’t currently have Disney Dough. :frowning:

Disney World does ROCK!
Make sure to take lots of pictures for us to see. If you have time, skip over to EPCOT.
It’s our favorite. :slight_smile:

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Oh, yeah.
It’s “Disney World” here in Florida.

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Arlo?! CDs of Pete and Arlo?! Only $5 bucks?! Curse you…

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Actually, the CD cost me $30. The t-shirts by fiancee and his mom got were $15. Still a great deal though. I would have to say that this concert was better than any I’ve ever seen. Not that I’ve been to many though. Aerosmith was good but too crowded and there was too much pot being smoked around me. Even the BSO and Vienna Choir Boys don’t stack up.

Harmless, I’m sure we will go to Epcot. I think we’re going to do everything while we’re there.

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Have fun, congodwarf. I don’t have any Disney Dollars, either, or I’d love to have a Disney Dopefest.

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If you go to the Animal Kingdom, I suggest you skip the dinosaur ride.
It was scary. :frowning:

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Was it really??? Everyone I’ve talked to tells me to skip all of Animal KIngdom. They say it’s boring. I can’t though. We’ll have a 5 year old with us. He has to see the animals.

Thanks TroubleAgain. I’m very excited about this. We planned this perfectly. We leave 1 day after my fiancee’s nephew’s birthday. We’ll also be there for his parent’s 34th anniversary and his mom’s birthday. We have a lot of celebrating to do. One of my fiancee’s friends from high school works there. He’s planning all kinds of stuff for us. He made us reservations at the restaurant in our hotel. I think it’s The Sky Room or something like that. We’re going the night of his parent’s anniversary. We should still be eating when the fireworks start. He also made us reservations at some kid themed place for the night we get there. This one is for the nephew’s birthday.

Everyone I’m going with has been there before, except the nephew. So, they all have places they want to take me as soon as we get there. I think our first stop will be the Tiki Room.

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My husband didn’t think anything of it, but I’m kinda got an irrational fear of dinosaurs. :wink:
The shows were cute, though.