CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Farnum's 9th Birthday Cake

My nephew turned 9 years old on October 28th. Oh my god, that make me feel so old! Anyway, we were in Fargo for the Rob Zombie and Ozzy concert on the 29th, so I hadn't had a chance to make his birthday cake yet. I have made his birthday cake for every birthday he's had, except his 3rd birthday when Derek and I were living in Laramie, WY. "tear, sniffle" So better late than never! This was our dessert for our early thanksgiving dinner that we had on Sunday, 18th. My mom and my grandma came to town and Wendy made an awesome turkey dinner. It was delicious. I can't wait til Thursday, when I get to eat more with Derek's family.


These are lego blocks, if you can't tell. Made from 2 13" x 9" cakes.


Frosting was a little difficult because I almost ran out. But I think it came out ok.


Can anyone guess what the little knobs on top are made out of?
Hint: They're edible.

Here it is, in all it's Glory!!


View from the street...Exciting, huh?


Derek saying hello. He finally has a place to call home!


Crappy garage doors and an old time wood stove


An awesome work pit. A lucky workman crawls in here and someone else drives a car on top of him so he can work underneath the car - or - it could be used to bury a body!?


It's a 3 ft wide, 6 ft long, and about 5 ft deep...Creepy!

These pics were taken before we did any work on it. I'll have to get some new pics this weekend and post 'em . I'll keep you updated.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Finally, we're property owners!!

On October 23rd, we closed on a small residential lot with a 24'x34' garage on it. I'll post some pictures later. We started this process back in August and of course, nothing is easily done, so it took two months to finalize. Now we need to rewire, insulate, and cover the inside...all BEFORE snow falls. We don't have electricity in there right now because the wiring is pretty old and we need to get it replaced. But all the electricians are not available for another two weeks. So Derek borrowed a small generator so we could work on tearing out the windows and framing and boarding them up. We finally finished that last night. It's hard to get anything done, when you only have 2 hours of light to work with. Frickin' Winter!!!!
Anyway, I am going to Fargo this weekend with April and Karissa for a Girls Weekend Out. Only now I have caught myself a good cold. And I'm hacking and blowing and not feeling too well. I'm just gonna make myself better, so I can go and have fun. Hopefully, I don't pass my illness along to them.

Friday, November 2, 2007

It's been a long, long time...

I've been super busy lately, but I'll try to get everything posted sooner or later. I'll start with a follow up to my last post....

Karissa ended up not coming to Devils Lake with Doug on Oct. 19/20 cuz she wasn't feeling very well. So we just hung out with Doug for a little while on Friday and Saturday night. We just stayed at home and watched tv, surfed the internet, and I painted my toenails (orange with silver stripes, for the Halloween spirit)...exciting, I know! Derek and Doug discussed building a stand up bass out of a cardboard box and possibly one out of aluminum. They got there guitars out and had a nice little jam session. Sounded pretty good. I got a few pictures until my camera decided to crap out on me. It only turns on and works when it wants to...suppose Ill have to get a new one soon.

Derek and Doug jammin' out

Kitty wanted to play too!

Mr. Pumpkin meets Ms. Kitty

Ms. Kitty likes Mr. Pumpkin!
And his friends!!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Bars (including LAME OLD LOTTA'S), the Dentist, and Not Much Else

Here's a quick summary of my week...okay, it may not be so quick:
Last weekend April came to town, all by her lonesome - no baby and no husband. Which was pretty cool. It was nice to just hang out with her and not have anything to do. We pretty much just hung about at my place and watched TV. On Saturday, we decided that bar bingo may be fun...and boy, we're we wrong. We went to the Night Owl, and it just happened to be Customer Appreciation Day so they had free food. I didn't get any, but Derek and April did, and from what I tasted it was pretty, uh..not good. It was home made food; meatballs, deer sausage, cheese dip (that was cold), etc. Anyway, I did Bingo on one game, but the stupid people didn't hear me, but it was only for $15.00 and one other person bingoed too, so it would have only been for $7.50. Whatever, it was LAME and we left right after bingo was done.
Then we waited a while and went to the new bar in town called "Lotta's." Derek and I know the owners, and they actually have this older bar right next door called the "Ye Olde Tavern" that we really felt comfortable at. We got there and went to order a drink and everyone was so rude. One of the bartenders was Robin, who used to work for me in the bar at my hotel but quit there so she could go work at this new bar...but she wouldn't even look at me! I don't care cuz she was dumb anyway, but it's the point of the matter....Don't be a BITCH! Then the other bartender that got our drinks was very insulting when April asked if she could write a check. He was like "well, yeah, you can" like duh, are you stupid or something? Word for the wise, there buddy, not everyone takes checks, cuz people like you don't understand the concept of actually needing money in their account to write out a check. IDIOTS! We decided that we would just have the one drink there, since they were so LAME, plus we were waiting for April's friend Blake to show up. While we were waiting, April and Derek went into the Tavern (the two bars are connected) to get some cigarettes, and the got the stare downs and evil glares from there too. Plus, the owners (who Derek and I have known forever) don't even come over to say hi to us. One walked right by us with out even glancing our way, and we did get a wave from across the room from the other. To sum it up: I was extremely disappointed and will not go back there. Our new nickname for the new bar: LAME OLD LOTTA'S
Once Blake got there, we all went to the 11th Frame which is connected to the bowling alley and has become OUR bar of choice. The bartenders there are very nice, especially Sheila. And we are much more comfortable there. Plus it's right across the highway from our place. So we walked there and proceeded to get drunk. And it was fun. When we were all done, we walked home. I made sloppy joe's, Blake stayed in the room next to ours, got sick and went to bed, and April stayed in our room and we made a Derek sandwich...just kidding. She slept on our airbed. And in the morning...more like noon, I made toast for April and Blake's soar tummies. Derek made a breakfast pizza that wasn't very good. And we watched more TV. That was pretty much it.
On Wednesday I had to go to the dentist. I haven't been to the dentist in 5 1/2 years...probably cuz I hate going. It's worse than going to the doctor. I think I'd rather have a pap smear than go to the dentist. I absolutely hate it. But I went anyway. The nurse made me take out all my piercings to do this panoramic xray. So I took all my earrings out, my nose ring wouldn't come out and when I went to take out my tongue ring, she looked at me all disgusted. She said that they are just gross, and even with all that she sees there, tongue rings creep her out. I actually thought this was a little unprofessional, and felt a little angered by her comment. After all, if you can crack open someones jaw, rip out some of their teeth, and stitch everything back up, whether you like or dislike tongue rings you should be kept to yourself. I even wore a plastic bendy one, cuz I know they say tongue piercings are bad for you. Anyway, I have no cavities and no decay but I do need a good cleaning and my wisdom teeth out. I only have upper wisdom teeth, so I only have 2 to remove. They are already most of the way thru so they don't need to be surgically removed, they can just pull them. Not so sure if that's such a good thing. They are going to do it here, which will save me money. The extraction will cost about $280, which is mush less than the $800 I was expecting to have to pay. I haven't set a date yet cuz I gotta figure out time off of work and save some money.
Other than that my week was pretty boring. Work was work and sucked really badly on Friday. I have the weekend off and am very excited about it. Doug and Karissa are suppose to be coming to town. So we'll probably hang out...maybe we could take them to LAME OLD LOTTA's?!?! NOT!! We'll probably go to the 11th Frame. I'll let you know what happens.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Shop Kitty Helping with the Dishes

Okay, she didn't really help me do the dishes, but she did help entertain me while I did the dishes. Isn't she just the most adorable thing EVER!!!!!!! OMG, I love her to death!!


Checkin' out the soap suds.

She didn't really like the bubbles on her head...but I thought it was hilarious!

She got pissed at me and dissed me :-(

Ohh, don't tempt me to slap you! - She can be so feisty sometimes.

Geez, she takes horrible pictures. She always looks grumpy. I don't care, she looks so funny it's cute.

Blue Potatoes?!?!?!?!

That's right, you read it right....Blue Potatoes!!!! The cook at the hotel restaurant that I manage is a regular "Old McDonald" and has tons of animals (that he butchers himself, yuk!) and has a huge garden full of every vegetable you can imagine. Anyway, this year he tried Blue Potatoes. He's always willing to share his home grown goods, so I scored some. He also fried some up as french fries so I could try them, and believe it or not, they taste just like regular potatoes...But they're BLUE!!! It's so weird. So, Monday I really wanted pork chops...and I thought "what better to serve them with, than Blue Potatoes." So I made Blue Mashed Potatoes. They were pretty good. They were just a little bit more grainy feeling, and maybe a little bitter compared to regular "white" potatoes. And let me tell you, they definitely have a cooler presence on your plate!


Peeled, it's almost more purple than blue...

Cut open...this one had a couple of bad spots in it.

Cut up and ready to boil....

Boiled and mashed...

TaaDaa!!! Boneless Pork Chop Dinner complete with Blue Mashed Potatoes, Pork Gravy, and Extra Sweet Corn....Beat that Banquet TV Dinners!!!