Are You Trying to Sell Stuff...To Me???

I know, I know, we are consumer whores. But we love commercials. Watch the Jimmy Dean's commercials that Eric posted below and then go here:

http://www.shaa.com/

I am crazy, I know, but I think this is a great ad campaign. As someone who spent a lot of their childhood trying to make food into animal shapes, I am fascinated by these commercials. Also, the guy who sings the tag line at the end of the commercials? Brilliant.

Sci-Fi Apples

So, after spending hellish hours at David's Bridal, I am happy to report that my sister is now the proud owner of a fantastic wedding dress. I didn't think that David's Bridal would be able to produce a dress that lived up to my sister's (high!) expectations, but even I was shocked by how beautiful it is. I am not allowed to post a picture of it, since Nick reads this blog, but if you want me to email you a picture, let me know!

In other news, we gave away our entire batch of apple goodies! So, we took to the orchards this weekend to gather more bounty to subdue by force into sauce form. We attempted to bring Brian, Andi and the twins, but Andi convinced us that it might not be the best place for the kids. It turns out she was right and it was far more muddy than we had anticipated. But we stopped by their place anyway and dropped off a bag of apples for them. We got Amish Friendship bread starter in return, which I thought was a pretty good trade based on the taste test that Andi gave us of a batch she had already made up. It looks fun, and we are mushing and feeding it according to the directions. But honestly, does it really need all that work? And what is in that starter anyway? It tasted like a quick bread instead of an actual bread loaf that would need a starter (like sourdough) and the recipe looks as if it could stand on its own without the "starter" that we will spend 5 more days preparing. I am tempted to make two batches, one with the mush and another batch without to compare. Is that nerdy, or what?

Speaking of nerdy, we are all excited about the new series "Heroes" that premiered last night on NBC. We recorded it with our DVR and we are planning to watch it tonight while peeling a bushel of apples. God...what a boring sentence that is. How dull are we? Oh, so dull that we sit at home and peel apples while watching a sci-fi show. Ooooo...that is pretty dull.

By the way, I was running the blogger spell checker on this before posting it and it has to be the worst spell-checker of all time. The first word to come back as a misspell was "blog". BLOG! How can a spell-checker on a blogging website not know what "blog" is?!?! It blows my mind. I am going to watch TV, real life hurts my brain too much.

The Amazing Rollercoaster Post

Sooooo...yeah. There is no way to post this in a delicate way. Apparently, The Black Dahlia blows. The critics said it was confusing and disappointing, and didn't really make any sense at the end. Which is sad, because I had high hopes. Especially after L.A. Confidential ended up being so GOOD. Are we still going to see it? Yeah. Am I going to pay full price for it in the theater? Hell no. I won't even pay $8.50 out of my (still fanatic) love for James Ellroy. We are going to wait for it to go to the Silver Cinema budget theater. From what I have read, it shouldn't be a long wait at all.

That was the low part of the post, but this is the high! I am pumped about a new book. I know, I get excited about a new book every other week, but this one looks really good. It is a book of short stories called St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell . It has received a huge heap of praise from critics and regular readers, so I am crossing my fingers for this one. The ten short stories in the book are magic realism-type fairtales, and the stories are supposed to be fantastic and funny. I have had my book budget drastically reduced (to zero) in anticipation of future home repairs, so I have had to rely completely on the library to fill my literary needs. I am number 8 on the hold list for this one and hoping everyone remembers to return their books on time....

Another Week...

Eric is doing a lot better. His hands need mostly band-aids now instead of gauze bandages, which is great in terms of the time it takes to get him all fixed up in the morning. For disgusting details, all his blisters have drained and are flat and pink/brown. Which is good. Or something. Anyway, he is downstairs playing the drums right now (no guitar yet), and he is happily pounding away. No gasps of pain can be heard, so I am assuming everything is fine.

We finished the apple butter this weekend, so we defeated the apples!! It actually ended up tasting really good. I was shocked, since neither of us have even attempted anything like that before. It was relatively easy thanks to the modern marvel of the crock-pot and my disgustingly expensive cookware I received for our wedding. I guess that applesauce/butter is extremely easy to burn, but we never even came close to browning. Our sauce that we made on the stove ended up a pale gold. We made the apple butter in the crockpot and cooked it on a low heat overnight, so no burning there either. That turned out fabulous.

You know, I have no explanation for all the domesticity that is taking place at our house. We seem to really be into this homegrown food thing, and I have no idea why. I tried to ask Eric about it today and he shrugged and said, "At least we have a hobby. And it is nice to do stuff together. Hand me that lid." And that was the end of that.

And I say to you...HOLY CRAP

Uhhhhhhhhh...what a terrible weekend. It is amazing how much two days can suck.

On Saturday we went to a wedding. The wedding itself was beautiful, but the reception was at Panos Charhouse. Yuck! Yuck! The food there is.....not the best. But at least we were spared from eating most of it. We were seated at the last table in the reception hall, so by the time we got up to the buffet, it was mostly empty. And there are apparently no refills at Panos's. So, we ate mashed potatoes and buttered noodles. But I think it may have been a blessing. The creamed chicken and beef tips looked a little...abused, if you know what I mean.

Sunday started out well. Eric and I went to Barthel's Fruit Farm and picked apples and plums. This was to be the first of two trips to the orchard this year. We were working towards the ultimate goal of homemade apple butter, which calls for quarts and quarts of homemade applesauce. We started out strong. We picked our apples, found a food mill, and we were on our way to our first finished batch of applesauce when tragedy struck. I was scooping cooked apples into the food mill, which was being operated by Eric, when I accidentally hit his knuckles with a spoon full of hot, hot, hot! apples. He jerked back, as anyone would who had just been burned, and the mill full of apples splashed onto his left hand.

It was pretty bad after that. We ended up going to urgent care and Eric came out with his left hand completely wrapped and his right hand mostly wrapped up. I was so guilty and freaked out, I felt terrible. It is amazing how much a little inattention can cost you. At the urgent care they were talking about scarring and physical therapy, and how he might lose some movement in his left hand. By the time the vist was over I was a total mess. Especially because of the fear of the loss of movement. If Eric couldn't play his guitar, he would be devastated.

But the next day Eric went to his doctor and it wasn't nearly as bad as all his bandages indicated. He finally emerged with only one small bandage on his right hand a three small bandages on his left hand. The worst is a blister the size of a nickel on his left pinky and a small spot on his left thumb that blistered and burst almost immediately. The burns won't scar or impede hand movement in any way, and in two or three days he will be able to cover them up with regular bandaids. His pain has reduced dramatically, too. He doesn't even need to take Advil anymore. The doctor even released him to play volleyball next Monday, so he is well on his way to recovery.

But I still feel like shit! And I am not sure if we will continue with the applesauce making....

Mmmm...plums....

 

Yummy

Apples at the orchard, straight off the tree 

Stupid Bug!!

One of the little jerks who has been eating my tomatoes... 

What the?

No, it is not a nicotine patch. This is Eric trying out one of Frank's floor protectors for the kitchen chairs. 

Kobi-Dog

Kobi enjoying the newly refinished floors. 

Mom and Dad's New Floor

A shot of the new wood floor at the Remfrey house.... 

Birthday Fun

Saturday we had a small cookout, and had a few friends over. It was a lot of fun. Ruth got a cheesecake from Simma's, and all was well. It was a perfect day for it.

Despite going to bed thinking that we had done a good job cleaning up after ourselves, I woke up on Sunday morning to find that there were soda cans and beer bottles still in the yard. And bees. Lots and lots of bees. One decided to sting me in the face. That pretty much ruined my day.

Monday we met Vanessa, Dan and my parents at the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I was glad that I wasn't allergic to bees earlier, but after going to this place I was glad I was not allergic to peanuts. The floor was covered with peanut shells, and there were barrels of peanuts about every ten feet. The whole place made me feel like that crazy Texan from the Simpsons.

The food was good, and everyone had fun. After we left we promised each other that we would never go back.

Mmmmmm bee stings

The worst part of birthdays is when you get stung in the face by a bee while cleaning up empty beer bottles in the back yard.

Mmmmm cheescake

The best part of birthdays is cheesecake.