Baking

I search Cooks.com whenever I'm looking for a recipe. So here I sit eating a Florentine Lace Cookie. It's scrumptious! We enjoyed some at a recent Lindstrom gathering and loved them so much I made myself a batch. I also made some no-bake butter, powdered sugar, peanutbutter, graham cracker bars smeared with milk chocolate. Pure sweetness; Madison loves them.

This afternoon MJ and Chels had a beach fire so they roasted marshmallows and made S'mores. Even more straight sugar. All washed down with Peach Mango Fuse's. More sugar.

Neighbor A. O. is replacing the wood trim on the outside of our windows, adding caulking and insulation as he goes. The girls' bonfire was the old window trim. Nice hot fire.

Once the trim is replaced and as the weather permits, we will begin painting the house and the trim. We have lots of black spots on the street side of the house where we got bombarded with eggs last winter. That's how bored the kids were around here -- egg-throwing in the middle of the night and just about every weekend, all for their entertainment. But costly for the paint jobs onthe vehicles.

First Tom will power wash the egg drippings, not to mention the bird droppings! We also hope to power wash the deck and re-oil it. Lots of projects!!

The corn is coming up. Tom is waiting for a rainy day so he can transplant some plants but we've been about 3 weeks with no rain! Can you believe it??!! We had some clouds and about 70 today so that is some relief from the 10 days or so of 80 to 90. The prediction is for the same, clouds and 70 or so for the next 5 days.

Tonight we all went to Rinconcito's for dinner: Tom and I, the M's and the C's. Very fun.

I printed a recipe for caramel cookies that I'll try to make next weekend. It calls for a full pound of caramels. I hear that unwrapping a pound of caramels can be tedious! But tasty!!

Lovely Priest Point

Yes, we're still here! The sunshine is glorious, the skies are blue and the mountaintops are white. Even Mt. Rainier!!

Saturday we drove down I-5 to Aberdeen and Mt. Rainier was out in all her glory. Awesomeness.

It's wonderfully sunny and warm. Angelo swims every day. Of course he does that whether it's warm outside or not!!

Tom and I are cranking thru a lot of little chores that have been nagging at us. His corn is planted and coming up, as is his dill. His garlic is 8 inches high!!

All the flower baskets and pots are flourishing and colorful. One day soon we will have to move them all to power-wash and stain the deck. We also hope to get started on painting the house. Just a little start on everything before the Fourth! I'm in the process of finding a kennel for Ang for the duration of the fireworks; he's totally gun-shy.

The Canonica's have been out for a couple afternoons of burgers, sunbathing and sand-digging. We hope to see more of everyone as the weather continues!

Ramping Up for the Annual Spaghetti Dinner

Tom and I are gearing up for the spaghetti feed sponsored by the Sons of Italy, Mille Cugini (A Thousand Cousins) Lodge #2659, Marysville, WA. Tom buys all the makings for the meatballs and he buys all the Italian sausages -- which is part of what we did today. He caused a little stir at the Costco when he checked out with all the sausages. It was very obviously an Italian thing and another form of advertising. Those at Costco today started dreaming of garlic and red sauce to go with the sausage so we may see them at St. Mary's on Saturday!

Tomorrow at 9 AM the meatball crew will be at the church for the pounding of the garlic and the crying over the onions. 400 meatballs by noon! Meanwhile, I usually get the task of parboiling the sausages, about 300 of them. It takes hours!

Saturday morning, the day of the dinner, the sauce makers appear and the pasta water boilers get it in high gear and Presto! Spaghetti dinner!!

Rolls, salad, sodas and wine, and cake for dessert are also included.

We also have a raffle and every year the main prize is an umbrella. It used to be an Italian Cinzano umbrella but they've gotten expensive so we just get a nice patio umbrella with a stand. The umbrella hovers over the raffle tables all day and is usually the last prize given away. This year's umbrella is neon green and pretty cool!!

Join us for a bite! Mangia!! MJ and Chelsea are serving. Denise and Chris are cooking and cleaning. Tom is the Emcee. See you there! 2 to 7, St. Mary's Church. $10

More doings-- on the sad side....
Purchasing the umbrella along with survival food and water for us and the dog took up the rest of the day. We hopefully have a ten day supply of everything should disaster strike. We hear rumors that a few Washington schools are closing and maybe by next week we won't want to be out and about. We'll keep a positive outlook and just know we'll fall under the radar on this one!

Home Sweet Home

I can't seem to wrap my head around writing a post about the last legs of our trip home. Suffice it to say we made it and all is well. Angelo went directly into the bay then sat on the Cox's deck about 12 hours until Joe came home as well. And, Angelo has since been in the bay every hour on the hour and now smells like his usual, awful self again!

Tom and I are napping a couple times a day, recovering. You say you're on vacation and relaxing but you know that doesn't happen until your feet are once again on familiar terra ferma.

More sunshine tomorrow!

Indio to Bishop

We spent two wonderful days and nights with Fred and Lori in Indio. Friday night they took us to a great little Italian place, Saturday we had a fantastic Kosher breakfast at Sherman's and we cruised Highway 74 to the top of the world. Angelo spent two days swimming in their pool and playing with their miniature Schnauzer named Rainy. (He may have had more fun than anyone!)

Easter Sunday we got on the road by 9 intending to drive a few hours to Mojave, but it was only 1:30 when we got there so we kept going, and going, and going. Finally about 6:30 we found this nice RV spot in Bishop called Highlands RV. As you can tell, it also has WI-FI. But, Tom is exhausted and sleeping it off. Tomorrow promises to be a short drive to Reno. We see there is a KAO at the Hilton so maybe we'll be there.

Many thanks to Fred and Lori and many good wishes to all our friends and family hoping they had a wonderful Easter!

The Final Yuma Post

We're latching all the windows and rolling up the carpets, it's time to head down the road. The weatherlady promises us high winds and dust tomorrow so we hope to pass the Imperial Sand Dunes early and before a sand storm can build up. We're heading north on 86 to Indio to visit Uncle Fred and Lori in Indio. Plan to leave Indio Sunday and head north to Reno then E. Wash. on 395. We've never pulled the 5th wheel up that highway so it's an adventure. We have traversed it in the truck and in the Honda on earlier trips. This will be different, trying to find RV spots, but we've slept on a slant before and on a downtown street -- once we slept in the Honda in a gas station parking lot. It was of course Easter Sunday and there was no room at the inn. How ironic. We'll see what happens this Easter!

MJ and Frank are happily sailing out of New Orleans. Chloe, V, and friends are heading to the manga convention in Seattle. If you haven't seen Chloe looking very manga-nificent, go to http://www.zombieprincess.blogspot.com/.

PS...I'll probably be without wireless and unable to post again until 4/18 or so. Call me!! mc

Wind and Dust

Tom and I are trying to pack up in preparation for heading out on Friday. I cleaned house most of the day and I even bathed the dog! Got rid of lots of desert dust.

So, don't you know, after a 90 degree day today, it's 77 at nearly 10:30 PM and the wind is blowing 30 mph. The dust is kicking up so we're trying to close up some windows and vents. We'll have to clean and de-dust all over again!!

Friday we'll head to Uncle Fred's for a night, then meander north eventually winding up in Eastern Washington. The plan is to leave the 5th wheel there for Memorial weekend while we drive the truck and trailer contents home.

We plan to be home for the big Marysville Sons of Italy spaghetti dinner at St. Mary's on Saturday, May 2nd. $10 for a great dinner. We'll make meatballs the day before and cook the Italian sausages, then help out at the dinner. Join us. It's lots of fun! (And, let us know if you'd like some tickets!)