By Julie on 1/3/2009 12:23 PM

Returning from vacation

We have just returned from our winter trip. We left Texas on December 12 and returned December 30. We spent a week at Disney World followed by some time in Asheville, North Carolina. Then we stayed with family in Mississippi and Arkansas over the holidays.

Disney World was fun but very crowded. We had carefully researched and planned this trip so that we could be there during one the "slower" times of the year (before schools let out for the holidays.) We even checked the Disney calendar to make sure it was an off-peak week. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea as we did and pulled their children out of school a week early to go to Disney World. The weather didn't cooperate either: it was hot and humid the whole week we were there.

We had a good time in Asheville. We visited Biltmore House (which was also packed with people!) and took the tram tour of downtown. We went on the Great Smoky Mountain ... Read More »

By Julie on 12/11/2008 5:10 PM

 

Snow!

We had snow last night! It snowed about two inches at our house. The temperature yesterday only reached about 35 degrees. Snow here in Lake Jackson is extremely rare. It is about the equivalent of Los Angeles getting some snow.

We went outside last night while it was snowing and you could hear people all over the neighborhood laughing and talking. They were making snowballs and taking pictures. Danny got the urge for hot chocolate and since we did not happen to have hot chocolate-making items in the pantry, he insisted we drive to Bucees's and get hot chocolate. Somehow hot drinks and snow seem to go together very well.

Unfortunately, the snow has already melted off. But we'll definitely see some again when we are in the mountains of North Carolina in a week or so.

By Julie on 12/3/2008 7:20 PM

Bad Colds

The latest from our household: my husband and I are both sick with bad colds. I have a terrible cough and sore throat. I am feeling pretty awful tonight and will probably retire to bed early.

Yes, that is a fascinating close-up picture of a virus but I am not exactly sure which virus. It may be the common cold virus.

By Julie on 12/1/2008 12:55 PM

Advent begins

Here we are in December suddenly. It is the beginning of the Advent season and my daughter opened the first door on her advent calendar today. This is my favorite time of year. We have our Christmas tree up and decorated.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a place where we had snow and real seasons like in the picture above. But since I don't live in one of those places, I visit them as often as possible. I am sure all those people who live in places like Fargo or Anchorage sometimes wish they lived on the humid Texas Gulf coast. Maybe we could arrange to switch houses once in awhile.

By Julie on 11/25/2008 5:58 PM

Planning Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is drawing nigh. And I would hazard a good bet that the busiest websites right now are places like allrecipes.com, cooking.com, and foodtv.com. Everyone is frantically searching for the best recipes for some old favorites and maybe some new items to spice up the Thanksgiving table.

We are not having Thanksgiving at our house this year. We have no family visiting right now and we did not plan a trip home to Mississippi to be with my family. So we are going to the home of one of our best friends, to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family.

And no, I still have not decided what to bring yet. A couple of side dishes most likely. I do have a very good recipe for brussel sprouts sliced and sauteed in olive oil with onions and bacon. Or perhaps I will whip up one of my famous cheesecakes. I better get busy. Tomorrow is probably the busiest shopping day of the year at the grocery stores and I still need to pick up ... Read More »

By Julie on 11/24/2008 7:21 PM

Cookie Party

We have just received our much coveted invitation to our friend Sharon's 18th Annual Sick & Twisted Cookie Party. It sounds odd indeed. But it is great fun. And it is held in Austin which does its best to remain weird.

The cookie party involves building and decorating a gingerbread house and various offensive cookies. A few examples: Sponge Bob NO-pants, A-BONG-HIT-able snowman, and various amputee reindeer.

Among with the libations served is the ever-popular bourbon slush. But the party is also quite child-friendly since most of the attendees over the years have produced children and bring them along for the fun. I suppose I will be going up the day before so I can help with baking the many dozens of cookies required for the party.

By Julie on 11/23/2008 8:12 AM

Books

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero

Yesterday we put a serious dent in our Christmas shopping. Unbelievably now, we are almost done. A couple more items to buy and I will begin wrapping the gifts which is my favorite part of it all.

Our local bookstore was the place we found many great gifts. I always believe books make the best gifts. (And chocolate, also.) There are inevitably several people on everyone's list that defy gift-giving choices. To put it mildly, they are the difficult ones to buy for. Either they already have everything or they live in a small place and have no room for more or any number of other reasons.

So I tend to get books for many of my family and friends. I believe we all need a library in our home, even if it is just a small collection of books. I don't know how I would live ... Read More »

By Julie on 11/21/2008 7:10 PM

There were two outstanding vendors at the Texas Renaissance Festival when we attended last weekend. And they both were picture related.

The first: Whimsy's Muse. They take amazing photos with gorgeous props and costumes. The website is  WhimsysMuse.com. I would love to show you some examples of their work but I don't currently have their permission.

The second vendor: Poetic Portraits. The photographer Christine Angele takes a photograph and screenprints it onto a canvas. Then she proceeds to paint a scene using oil paints and weaving the real-life photograph into a magical scene. Please visit her website at 903smile.com

 

By Julie on 11/17/2008 8:45 PM

Tumeric

I read an article today about the great health benefits of tumeric. Apparently researchers are finding that compounds in tumeric aid in cancer fighting.
Here is a copy of an article about this from the American Cancer Society.
So this evening I worked tumeric into our dinner plans and it turned out quite well. This is my recipe:

Baked Butternut Squash

1 butternut squash peeled and cubed
2 teaspoons tumeric
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, mix the tumeric, olive oil, and black pepper. Add the butternut squash and toss well with the tumeric mix. Spread the squash on a baking sheet. Scrape any remaining tumeric ... Read More »

By Julie on 11/16/2008 4:15 PM

I am back in Texas and we spent yesterday at the Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville. It is normally a two hour drive from our home. But yesterday, when we were about 12 miles from the festival, the traffic slowed down to a crawl. And it crawled very slowly. It took a hour for us to drive the remaining 12 miles. Total driving time: 3 hours.

Parking was remarkably easy considering the large volume of traffic and people. There were thousands of people there. I have never seen it so crowded. I looked up the media fact sheet for the festival and they average about 23,000 people per day through the gates. It is the largest Renaissance fair in the world.

It honestly would have been so much more enjoyable if it hadn't been so incredibly crowded. The weather was cool and perfect.  The theme for the festival this weekend was Highland Fling and I was hoping for lots of great bagpipe music. Unfortunately, we only heard bagpipes once. And for heavens sake, ... Read More »