Ooooh, looky, it's the second annual springy MMP!

FCM–good lord, put your feet up! Glad your baby got “fired off” ok, but talk about stress.
Then again, I’ve never heard of a wedding that didn’t have some kind of hitch. In mine, the unity candle just disappeared between the rehearsal dinner and the event. In the one I just went to, someone forgot to put out the stuff for communion for the bride and groom. I’m amazes anyone actually gets through it all… :slight_smile:

Thanks for the kind words on the dress. It’s not a bad dress–it’s the body that must go in it that I’m most dissatisfied with. I am sure we will be going out to dinner or similar afterwards, so I have to wear something other than cargoes and a T shirt.
Off to work. Best of luck to those who face difficulty things today. <hopes that’s general, but sincere enough to cover all MMPers for today).

{{Soapy}}

I’m sorry. Hope things get better.

Heading to work. Buying breakfast on the way. Really don’t want a repeat of yesterday… ugh.

My Dad almost drove off with the flowers at mine.
((((Soapy))))

Argh. Listening to the baby crying himself to sleep isn’t good for my blood pressure. Poor abused kidlet, expecting him to fall asleep on his own after twenty minutes of rocking and nursing! How terrible! Sigh.

Mornin’ y’all.

Hugs (looks like a lot right now), yays, and boos as appropriate.

One little thing to crow about: at the Y this morning, I jumped on the [del]lying machine[/del]scale, and I lost a pound more than my what I expect in my normal variation, so maybe I’m finally losing again. My goal is to reach 199.5 long enough to document it, and settle for about 210. It’ll be a long fight to get there.

Back to the salt mines…

:: hugs for Prof. Rapunzel ::

Last day of class! w00000000000000000000t!

The thing I made yesterday was good. Here’s a sort of recipe:

Peel two sweet potatoes, a thingy of celery root, and two large regular potatoes… Slice them all thinly. Layer them (I just put the celery root on the bottom, then sweet potato, then potato) in a buttered large baking dish, scattering rosemary between layers. Salt and pepper it. Pour over two cups of cream (I used heavy because I’m not remotely dieting right now) and a cup and a half of chicken stock. Bake for about an hour and a half at 325F, or until it’s cooked through and the top is brown.

Makes a lovely not-low-calorie supper dish. Would probably be good with zuchinni and/ or ham or a bunch of other things added.

Also, Haze, don’t know if you’ve checked it out, but Robin McKinley’s blog is a lot of fun. http://robinmckinleysblog.com/

LiLi, your recipe needs just one thing to reach the apex of perfection… bacon. :slight_smile: Or at the very least, some Bacon Salt. It sounds quite delicious, though, even in its current bacon-free incarnation.

Breakfast has been consumed (well, to be more accurate, wolfed down in about three bites) and caffeination is progressing on schedule. At least now I won’t kill someone as a result of hypoglycemia-induced crankiness.

Off I go to make myself useful. Or at the very least, create the semblance of being useful.

Morning, all.

{{Mumpers}} and {{Soapy}} in particular.

You know, we all really need to try hard to stay healthy and whole for just one week. And not have any bad stuff happen. That would be a lovely change, even though this is a wonderful support group.

I stayed up too late last night so am still caffeinating this morning, without much success. Today will be another thrilling and exciting day of work. Oh goodie.

That recipe sounds heavenly, LiLi. I adore sweet potatoes in almost any form. Except buried in brown sugar and marshmallows; why so many people feel obligated to assault perfectly decent sweet potatoes with all that sugar is beside me. But a baked sweet potato, topped with butter and a little cinnamon? Lovely. Topped with heavy cream? Sounds to die for! Alas, no heavy cream in my diet. ::sniffle:: That’s the best thing about nursing, isn’t it? Not dieting, I mean?

Back to caffeination and work. Oh, goodie. I am deeply offended by stupid people, and even moreso by stupid criminals, and most of all by people who give stupid criminal millions of their dollars to “invest.” I guess that’s why I’ll never be a crook – I can’t talk people out of large sums of their money to “invest” that I will then proceed to spend on my own lavish lifestyle. :rolleyes:

Potatoes and cream, mmm.

Yeah, the eat-anything-all-the-time nursing diet. It’s fabulous.

Woke up this morning and got myself a gun…um, I mean vacuumed my bedroom. When I’m sick-n-tired of a mess, I deal with it immediately.

scatters hugs, good wishes, relaxation, and health around

picks up a few pronouns on the way out

I was going to help identify the flowers, NoLa, but it looks like **Muppet **and **gt **named all the ones that I could. There are still a couple that I don’t think anyone’s named, but I’m not sure what they are either. We definitely had some of this at home, but I don’t think Mom every called it anything other than “that plant with the thick rubbery leaves” or something like that. Not terribly helpful, sorry.

{{Soapy}}

Boo for the Twins loss, Haze. OK, so I don’t really care, but I’m in Twins country so I like to keep up appearances. And sorry you’ve got such a short time with That Guy before you leave. That’s going to be tough. (I think we need a better name for him than That Guy now though!)

There’s a bunch of stuff I should get done today… so why am I totally unmotivated? I do a lot better when I’ve got firm deadlines instead of lists of stuff that should get done sometime.

I’m back after working like crazy for the last couple of hours. Salad bars aren’t terribly difficult, but there are many, many steps and it can become time consuming. I’ve got something that I’d like to ask everybody their opinion on but it will have to wait until I pack the delivery bags for the drivers who will be here in about 1/2 hour.

It’s raining here.

Buckets. Biblically, as in go build an ark and choose two cats to take.

I just watched a small town float past my window.

{{{More hugs for the Mumpers}}}

I’m actually having a sort of ok day! I feel pretty good, work is progressing smoothly, and I made an awesome dinner last night, which I just ate leftover for breakfast.

Pork Marsala

1 lb thin sliced boneless “breakfast” pork chops
salt and pepper
2 tbs olive oil
4 oz baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup onion, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup marsala wine
2 tsp capers

Salt and pepper the pork chops. Brown them over medium heat on both sides. Remove to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Add sliced mushrooms and onion and saute until almost done, then add garlic. Cook for a minute more, then deglaze with wine and add capers. Stir up the brown bits and reduce for a minute. Put the chops back in the pan and keep warm.

Serves 4.

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

1/2 pound pasta (I like farfalle for this)
2 tbs butter
4 oz sliced baby bellas
1 cup cream
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Cook the pasta until al dente. Saute the mushrooms in the butter. Whisk the cream and cornstarch together. Add cream mixture to mushrooms and simmer until thickened. Add the parsley. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the parmesan. Add the cooked pasta to the cream sauce.

Serves 4.

Gah, I KNEW I should have brought an umbrella this morning.

taxi, I think I’ll just start calling him The Guy from now on. :smiley: He should be flattered by the use of the definite article! (And yeah the Twins sucked ass yesterday. :stuck_out_tongue: It was embarrassing.)

Rebo, I’m intrigued by the concept of “breakfast” pork chops… I’d heard of steak and eggs, but pork chops for brekky? That’s right up my alley. :slight_smile: I’ll save the Marsala version you posted for din din, though.

I just realised it’s supposed to pour buckets this afternoon. Guess who didn’t bring an umbrella to work today? Yeah, that’s right.

Ooooh, I have some snarking to do later (regarding Elton John concert, Ticketmaster and scalpers) but right now I just pulled FCM’s french toast casserole out of the oven, skiffman is frying bacon, and Brother Brad is coming over for breakfast, so for now I am just checking in. I’ll catch up after Brad leaves and fill you in on my rotten Monday. (It’s all better now, but man, I was pissed!)

Howdy Y’all! I made an executive decision to do some work from home today just cause I can. Well, I made the decision after goin’ in. Didn’t really need to be there to do what I’m doin’ and well, didn’t wanna be there, so I came home and changed into shorts and a tshirt and am now sittin’ here in front of puter postin’ up in here instead of workin’. :smiley: Actually I will get busy after this post. I swear.

Since I was out and about anyways, I went to WallyWorld and got gift cards for mom and sis. Yeah, I know… WallyWorld gift cards for Mother’s Day. How thoughtful. However, sis lurves WW, so that was a no brainer. Have I told y’all that this is my sneak around way of buyin’ my sis a birthday present? Most of y’all know that my younger brother (sis’s twin) died six years ago. Since that time she will not let me or anyone acknowledge her birthday because she says it’s kind of a sad day for her now without Gary. So, she gets a gift from me on Mother’s Day and she can’t say anything cause it’s not a birthday present. It’s the rule I made up. As for mom, well, see, she leaves on her trip to Bermuda (btw, I think I said Jamaica earlier, but it’s really Bermuda) week after next. I talked with her yesterday and she said that she was makin’ up a list of stuff she needed to buy for the trip (sunblock, that nose cream stuff, dramamine and stuff like that) and she and her cruisin’ buddy were goin’ shoppin’ next week for it. Thinks I… hmmm… WW is a good place to buy that there kinda stuff, so I decided on a W*W gift card for her too. It’s all logical. Oh and I bought her an orchid corsage to wear to church on Sunday. Speakin’ of my late brother, he always got her an orchid corsage for Mother’s Day along with this strange commemorative Mother’s Day plate thingy, both of which mom just always loved. Since his death, I’ve been buyin’ the corsage and sis has been gettin’ the commemorative plate. Just sump’n we thought should continue. We’re sweet, adorin’, lovin’ childres like that.

Here’s the recipe for super easy nummy chicken 'n dumplin’s.

SUPER EASY NUMMY CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

2 1/2 to 3 lb. chicken
Salt & pepper to taste
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
Sm. pkg. flour tortillas (cut into strips)

Boil chicken with salt and pepper until done. Let cool and debone chicken. Chop deboned chicken and set aside. Add can of cream of chicken soup to chicken stock and bring to a boil. Drop in tortilla strips a few at a time. Cook until the tortillas are done (two minutes at the most). Add cut up chicken and stir well.

NOTE: I usually boil the chicken the night before and debone it once it’s cool. Once the broth has cooled down, I cover it and stick it in the fridge overnight. You can use plastic wrap, aluminum foil or whatever you think makes a good cover, I don’t judge. If one desires, one can lift off most of the fat from the broth, which as we all know, will pretty much rise to the top of the cold broth. I usually lift off about half of it. I throw the fat away. You do with it as you please. Then I reheat the broth on medium high heat (I have an electric stove. If you don’t have an electric stove you’ll have to figure out for yourself what that means) and when it’s warmed up, I add the cream of chicken soup and bring it to a boil.

ETA: Muppet pork chops 'n aigs are one of God’s greatest gifts to breakfast. kai I am on pins and needles here! You know I love me a good p.oed. story!

And I think these might be Snapdragons.

The others almost look like Hens and Chicks but aren’t. Hmmmm. Some kind of succulent.

Appropriate hugs to all. Like the dress rigs.

More later.

Tupug