Friday, and No Baby Yet

Here it is, Friday night, and we still have no granddaughter:( We're trying to be patient...trying to keep ahead of all our work/chores so that if we have to head south, we'll have no worries here at home.

We had our friend Katie and her family over last night for dinner. Served grilled steaks, brats, and mahi mahi; peel and eat shrimp; rosemary new potatoes; tomato-mozzarella-basil tomato salad; and my made-up strawberry cake. Everything was delicious (Allan is the grilling KING!). Katie's new baby, Seth, is an angel.

I had a question about Wednesday's post from Jennifer about fried pickles. These are easy to make at home, so I thought I'd share my recipe. It is from the only good cooking magazine (in my opinion) - Taste of Home. The August/September 2004 issue to be exact.

Fried Dill Pickle Coins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3 cups thin dill pickle slices, drained
Oil for frying
Ranch salad dressing for dipping

In a shallow bowl, combine the flour, salt, and pepper.
In another bowl, beat eggs and milk.
Blot pickles with paper towel to remove moisture.
Coat pickles with flour mixture, then dip in egg mixture.
Coat again with flour mixture.
Fry pickles about 10 at a time for 3 minutes or until golden brown, turning once.
Drain on paper towels.
Serve with Ranch dressing.

Tomorrow we'll have our small scale garage sale to try to get rid of the last of our big things from the garage (especially that monster grill guard which didn't fit Jacob's truck - please someone want that!). I'm more concerned with people taking things away than with the $$$.

I looked at books at Wal-Mart yesterday, and boy are there some good ones out right now that I can't wait to get to take on vacation. New ones by Catherine Coulter, James Patterson, John Sandford, Lee Child and soon Janet Evanovich. I'll be totally worthless as far as chores are concerned!

Mid-Week Update

This has been a busy, but productive, week so far. Sunday was a great afternoon - nap and all. We enjoyed lazing around with nothing to do. Monday, we discovered that our friends from CA, Katie and her family, had arrived at 3 a.m. after dropping her son Paeton off at Scout camp with Jacob. We went to meet our new Godson, Seth. He is an angel. So cute. He smiled:) We went back to visit later that evening and took a dip in the pool. That day, I began my garage purge. Was very proud of my progress. Allan liked the idea, so yesterday afternoon, he decided to get involved, and now our garage is purged! We filled the dumpster, and have a pile in the middle for an impromptu garage sale on Saturday. I am listing items on ebay as I come to them (eliminates stuff AND boxes!) We had a small group Bible study last night. Folks were talking about a burger place in town (Big House Burgers) that we hadn't been to *gasp* and all were shocked by that. So we went there for dinner. They have fried pickles (our favorite) YUM says it all. Over at They Grew in My Heart, Jennifer posted a great list of Christian ways to ease stress. Check it out! Everything was really good. I have gotten no emergency call from camp, so I'm assuming that Jacob hasn't fallen off the mountain. Always a good thing. We still aren't grandparents...it's really hard waiting.

Act of Treason

"Act of Treason" by Vince Flynn is great. Awesome. 5 stars. Absolutely loved this book. Mitch Rapp is the character he writes about. He is a CIA agent. It is election time, and the presidential/vice-presidential candidates are on the campaign trail. A terrorist is hired to kill them with a car bomb. Mitch's assignment is to find the bomber, and who hired him. Flynn's books are always outstanding. Can't put them down. Mitch Rapp is a great character, as is the CIA director, Irene Kennedy. Only one of these books have been hard for me to get into...the pages keep flying on all the others. After two duds that I've had to quit reading in the last few weeks - this was a joy. Sorry that it's over.

Update - Already

For some crazy reason, I just looked at the web site for the Scout Camp Jacob is going to. I found this picture, with this caption - After a week of training, the Scouts’ Climbing Merit Badge experience will culminate at “Graduation Rock.” Wow - not too sure I like the idea of that being Jacob about to hop off the top of that rock. (However, I think he'll love it, but boy - I'm a little nervous now!)

Also forgot to mention that I'm reading a totally awesome book! I'm thrilled, because I've been very frustrated the last few weeks with my reading material. I started an Iris Johansen book that was a reprint of an early romance novel. Quit 1/3 of the way through - not a big romance novel fan. Then started an early Alex Cross/James Patterson book - big mistake - do not like his early Cross books at all - way too much awful violence - ick - made it 12 chapters (about 25 pages :) and quit. This one I'm reading now 'rocks.'

Where Did the Week Go?

What a week! We finished VBS on Thursday. Had an awesome time, though not as many kids as in previous years. I'm not sure what that's all about... Jacob didn't get to start his job after all - we had rain on Tuesday, and the fields have been too wet to harvest. Apparently, if you can't harvest, there are no melons to stack :) He is off for a week at scout camp in the Davis Mountains. He is meeting up with his best friend, Paeton, there. They are our friends who live in CA and are coming for the summer to visit Katie's folks. Can't wait to see them, and meet little Seth. Our daughter, Sarah, had a Dr.'s appointment today, and nothing much is happening with the baby - maybe another week :( It is so, so, SO, SO HOT here. Thursday, I think it was 105 or something. Just going back and forth to the garage to do laundry has about killed me. I hate, HATE, HATE hot weather. (Once Katie gets here, we can go have pool time at her parents', and that will be awesome!) Tomorrow will be our first Sunday with a free afternoon in 7 YEARS. I'm not sure exactly what we'll do?