We have a "new" trailer

We have had a 24' travel trailer made in 1972 for about 20 years. We've pretty much worn it out over the years, but it served us well. For about three years now we've talked about replacing it with a newer and smaller trailer.

A week before Christmas Mr. Scottie dog called me and had me check out a trailer on the GSA (Government Surplus Auctions) website. There was a 30' travel trailer up for auction in a couple of hours. The trailer looked to be in great shape and was located in Lakeview, OR at the National Forestry Services office. This is the same place we got the Chevy Tahoe I drive. We knew that this particular office was in a very isolated part of South-eastern Oregon, about 8 hours from where we live. Probably not a lot of people bidding on that trailer. Bill was the successful bidder (and at a VERY good price!) so we had to pick up the trailer by Dec. 22. On Sunday, Dec 21 we took off hoping to beat the rain (and perhaps snow) on the trip. We made it to Lakeview by dark, spent the night in a motel and picked up the trailer. Other than being pretty dirty inside, the trailer is in great shape.

This trailer is larger than our old one...it is a 30' Starcraft with a front and a rear door.

It has large windows that let in lots of light.

The kitchen is quite nice and large. Plenty of storage, a large refrigerator & freezer. A 4 burner stove, built-in microwave, built-in music system. I am not happy with the blue curtains, trim & upholstery (it is stained & old) so I'm going to re-do everything in Chocolate & taupe. There is a wonderful porcelain double sink, nice counter space and a dinette with an electrical outlet that will make sewing on my featherweight sewing machine simple!

The sitting area has a couch (soon to be recovered!) that makes into a double bed and a swivel rocker. TV, cable hook-ups, storage, stereo speakers, the works. Next is the bedroom and a wonderfully spacious bathroom. It has a tub for my grand kids & shower, storage and more. I feel so pampered and I haven't even used it....well, actually we did sleep in it one the way home.

I am blessed. I see many wonderful trips & memories in our future.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! Here it is nearly 8 o'clock on Christmas Eve. I have a half hour before we go to church for Christmas Eve Service. It is one of my favorites, always a bit different, but always full of Christmas Carols, songs thanking God for sending a way for an imperfect mankind to live with Him forever. None of us is perfect, and the Babe we see at Christmas grew to take our sins away....if we only ask Him to.

We didn't do much shopping this year. Just a few things for the Grandchildren and kids. As usual, Mr. Scottie Dog and I will exchange a small token. Our real joy comes from seeing the joy in the Grandkid's eyes. Today Beka Skyped me from Ottawa, Canada where they are spending Christmas with Jason's family. At one point Jakob (nearly 4 now) ran up shouting over and over again, "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas," as if tomorrow morning would come faster if he said it a certain number of times. He did throw me a kiss and his eyes lit up when he saw my face on the computer screen.

Today I did a tiny bit of grocery shopping, went to the Scottie Dog Store and helped Liz out for just a bit. She's cooking most of tomorrow's feast...breakfast included. I came home and made a Banana Cream Pie.....a pretty awesome one too. My secret....use half & half instead of my usual skim milk! Tomorrow's a Feast Day...splurge a bit! Funny how for years I've used skim milk for everything and they always turned out OK. Not fabulous, just OK. Now they turn out fabulous. But only for Feast Days.

I cheated and bought an apple pie and a Christmas Stollen. Stollen is a family tradition in Bill's family. I've made it many times and it always turns out great. But the recipe starts out with 12 cups of flour. Do you have any idea how much stollen 12 cups of flour makes? I have tried to half the recipe twice with poor results. Joan, one of our quilting budies owns Cherry Blossom Bakery in Henderson Center, Eureka and she told me last month they were making Stollen this Christmas. AHA! This year we'll have our Stollen sliced thin and toasted with coffee or tea while we open the gifts tomorrow morning. Liz is making berry cobbler so we'll have a feast. Sydney most likely won't eat, she'll just open gifts.

After making tomorrow's pie I fixed a special little dinner for Mr. Scottie Dog and I to eat in front of the Christmas Tree. I got a crab, picked the meat and made Crab Melts on Sourdough Bread and home made clam chowder. Umm, Ummm, Good!

Off to Church in just a few minutes so let me wish all of you a very Blessed Christmas. May the Christ child find you this season! God Bless you all.


Love,

Who Doesn't Love a Giveaway?

When Liz and I were at Quilt Market in October we were walking purposely down an aisle when we had to alter our path due to a crowd gathered around a booth. I looked up and standing in front of us were Rebecca Yanker & Patricia Hoskins, the authors of the new smash hit: One Yard Wonders. We had a chance to chat with them a bit and see sample projects from their book. They were gracious enough to autograph a copy for us. And thus we come to our subject...We're having a Giveaway! You can win our autographed copy for yourself!


One-Yard Wonders is chock full of delightful projects that all take only one yard of fabric. Directions are clear and the book is spiral bound with a pocket inside to hold the patterns.

How can you win? Just click Here.

You'll be taken to our FaceBook Fan Page. Just write "Enter Me" and leave your name. If you want an extra chance to win, recommend us to your friends and have them also put your name after theirs and you'll be entered a second time.

And while you are at it, you might just want to click on "Become a Fan." If you want the latest news from Scottie Dog Quilts you'll get it here. We update nearly every day with pictures of new fabrics, books and sometimes there are FaceBook only discounts.

I'm Not Famous

I've never been one to seek fame....my personal 15 minutes, an hour or a lifetime. I am quite content to be who I am....a pretty-much unknown gal who loves her husband, has wonderful children, was raised by fabulous parents surrounded by the best friends anyone could ask for.....all in a normal world lacking fame and certainly fortune.

BUT....BUT.....BUT....I do admit to living vicariously through friends and family who have been in the limelight or at least have some quite glamorous accomplishments. My thoughts on this have been brought to forefront today by my cousin Janis posting this picture today on FaceBook:

Here are the Andersons: My Uncle Walt, Aunt Hazel and cousins Jill, Janis & Glen. Can you tell it's 1976? Love Jan's Farrah hair do & Glen's "I just want to look like a surfer" do. They were on Family Feud. If I remember correctly they didn't win the big money, but they did win some wonderful prizes some of which they refused as the taxes would be more than the prize was worth to them. Jan received some fan mail after the airing and later went on to be a contestant on Joker's Wild (At least I think that was the name of the game show). In 1976 I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter, making my own bread, tending a huge garden & raising a pig or two for consumption. Nothing remarkable about that.

Several of my friends have become very, very successful authors. My friends Mike Phillips & Judy DeMiere (Judy uses her maiden name when she writes) were just beginning their careers in 1985 when they teamed up and wrote, The Heather Hills of Stonewycke.I still cannot believe they dedicated this book to me! I can remember being in a town about 900 miles away from home and we saw the book on a book rack. Liz was then 9 years old and she told some lady passing by, "This book is dedicated to my mom!" The lady looked at us as if we were crazy and kept on walking. No fame for me, just a sweet expression of friendship from two people I admired. Both Mike & Judy went on to write many, many more books....all of which I can highly recommend.
My friend Nick Harrison has written a couple of novels, but he mostly writes non-fiction. His book, Promises to Keep is a men's devotional for Promise Keepers. My husband reads this through every year. Nick is currently working on a biography of a famous (as yet unnamed) woman. Nick is an editor for Harvest House Publishers.....and introduced me to the works of some of my favorite authors.

Some of my quilts have been pictured in various Quilting Magazines. I've even written a couple of articles. But no one would remember my name.

I know many of those famous in the Quilting World...most are just famous people I've met: Mary Englebreit, Lynette Jensen, Alex Anderson, etc. But some I consider friends: Pat Sloan, Beth Ferrier, Jo Morton, Karen Montgomery, Karen Snyder, Sandy Brawner, Dixie McBride, Deb Lutrell, Debbie Welch and so very many more. I've met Jay McCarol of Project Runway Fame, Marie Osmond, Marianne Fons & Liz Porter.

When I was a teenager I met Mickie Dolenez of Monkey's fame (and several years earlier I met Davy Jones at a musical he was in at the Music Center in LA). I also shook hands with Morey Amsterdam when I was 15.

Brushes with Fame....that's all. I'm happy with that.

Our store, Scottie Dog Quilts is famous, though. We've been featured several times in the local newspaper and each of the two Quilting Trade magazines have featured our store in them. Liz has produced several patterns under the Scottie Dog Quilts logo they are sold far and wide in Quilt Shops across the country. People know the Scottie Dog name. When we go to Quilt Market and someone reads our name tags they comment on positive things they know about our shop. I like that.

So that's it....I think a good reputation is far more valuable than fame. I don't want to be a celebrity, I just want to be a good wife, mom & grandma. A faithful friend. A woman of good report.

Christmas Parties

One of the fun things of the season is the Christmas gatherings with friends & family. We've been to one party at our Church and one at Liz's house for the Trucker's Parade. Friday I get to go to one of the local Assisted Living Centers with Sydney's Pre-School for a Christmas Party and performance by those little angels!

At Scottie Dog Quilts Creative Sewing Center I teach two drop-in classes every week. The Tuesday morning class is cohesive group of women many of whom have been in the class for 13 years or more. They often have pot luck lunches, brunches, birthday parties and more. They've had a Christmas Party for at least 10 of those years. This year it was held at the store. First off, I want to tell you these ladies can cook...boy, can they cook! None of us went hungry at this party. We had three stations....appetizers, main dishes & salads and a big table just for desserts.

We were celebrating three birthdays. Here are the three Birthday Queens: Margie, Del & Barb.
Everyone brings a gift for the exchange....we play that "stealing" game. Sydney was really excited to get to play the game this year. Here she is helping Sheila open her gift.

Here's Jan showing us that the bag the gift comes in can be a gift too...Great hat, Jan! Although I had my hands on 3 or 4 gifts, I think I went home with the best! Two jars of Jan's home canned Albacore Tuna. What a treat!

Sydney steals a gift from Del! Doesn't she look proud of herself!
Three hours flew by and we had to pose for a picture. Don't we look like we had fun!
Thanks ladies....I'm so very thankful for each and every one of you! You are a blessing to me.

A guest for dinner.................

See the crab. See the crab run across the counter. See the crab grab onto the grill.

We're having a guest tonight for dinner. Actually, we named him. Named him "Dinner."

Mr. Scottie Dog and I have had a full day. Made it to church on time at 9 am. Picked up our Christmas photo cards at Walgreen's and came home in time to pick up a bit, doodle away some time on the computer. Mr. Bill dressed in his tuxedo finery and drove to Fortuna where he and a bunch of other Accordionairs played Christmas Accordion music at the Fortuna Christmas Music Festival. I stayed home to make some cookie treats for a book signing later this week at our store (Thursday, Dec. 17 from 6:30 - 8 pm Pat Durbin will be signing her new book during our store Christmas Open House. YOU are invited). On Tuesday night we'll all be going to The Humboldt Accordionairs' Christmas party concert. You are also invited to that at Swiss Hall in Loleta.

After Mr. Dog came home, he got out the Christmas tree from the attic. He put the colored lights on it (I prefer colored to all white, I guess I'm not in fashion). It was 5 pm. "What do you want for dinner?" I asked. "Crab?" he queried. "We don't have any crab," I answered.

So we left for the Marina...mind you it's now dark. As we pulled onto Woodly Island we nearly hit a deer slowly crossing the road. There on our left in a small grassy area were 8 deer eating quietly. I guess that small wildlife refuge located next to the marina has been a great habitat for the deer they placed! They are multiplying.

The lights were on in the cabin of the Jenna Lee, the crab boat that sells live crab....you see, Mr. Scottie Dog prefers to cook his own crab so it's fresh, REALLY fresh.


So this is the big, 'ole crab we ate for dinner.....yum, yum. Took just a few minutes to pick the crab meat out of the shell and I had mine on a bed of romaine with green onions, avocado, celery & red pepper....Mr. Scottie Dog put his over a cheesy potato.

I guess tomorrow I'll put the ornaments on the tree.

Only in Eureka...

Only in Eureka do we have The Christmas Trucker's Parade. It's been going on for years now...I don't know how many, since my kids were in Jr. High I think. I remember the second year or so Mr. Scottie Dog loaded me up in his pick-me-up truck (I had been released from the hospital just the day before after having emergency gall bladder surgery) and we'd parked in the old "Burger Time" parking lot and watched the parade go by on Broadway (Highway 101). I could hardly walk, but he wanted me to "get out for awhile."

The parade doesn't go on Broadway anymore and they tore down Burger Time ages ago and built a Jack-in-the-Box but the Parade lives on! For a fee (which goes to charity) truckers can outfit their trucks with lights, reindeer, Nativity Scenes, snowmen, Santa & the like, blare their horns...."Jingle Bells" sounds like this: Honk, Honk, Honk....... Honk, Honk, Honk........ Honk, Honk, Honk, Honk, Honk. Really....one tone blasting over and over and over. One van was playing Christmas Carols but I couldn't really tell what they were playing.

I "borrowed" this picture from my friend Amanda's Facebook page (thanks, Amanda!) of one of the better decorated trucks.

Most of the trucks were fire trucks or tow trucks...the parade route is one block from Liz's house so we were invited to come for the parade and dinner. It went by early so we watched first, loading the kiddies into Steve's pickup bed, Mr. Scottie Dog & I in a tandem chair and the other adults standing behind. The street was 2-3 people deep as far as you could see. One enterprising lad was selling mistletoe and hot cocoa (I'm assuming not in the same cup!).

After the parade we made it back to Liz's where she & Larissa had made sushi....yum! Sushi, a salad and I'd made a Christmas tree out of stacked sugar cookies. We all ate too much....wouldn't have been a Christmastime event I guess if we hadn't.

So goes another Christmas tradition in Eureka, CA. Does your locale have any interesting Christmas traditions/events?

Brrrr...........

It's been cold in our neck of the woods....I understand it's been cold all around the country, Beka in Minnesota has snow, more snow and a blizzard coming tomorrow (what does this bode for Global Warming?)............... (that's a joke, I don't need to be educated on either side of the issue!) When I got in the car tonight after class the digital thermometer located on the rear view mirror said, "ICE" and then "32" degrees. Hmm, I'd never seen that before. It kept flashing between the two all the way home (although the temp. dropped to 30 before I got home.

We cut wood yesterday again, this time in a different place. Actually in the opposite direction. Last week we cut wood on National Forest Lands. The wood we cut was mainly trees that had naturally fallen...fir & pine. Last Tuesday we heard about a place out in Redwood Valley where the Bureau of Land Management has cut down all the oak trees in one area because they want to encourage the evergreens: fir, pine and redwoods. What is odd (to me anyway) is that there was an enormous acreage not too far away where they had cut down the evergreens so as to encourage the growth of the oaks. Go figure! Anyway, BLM was allowing 2 cords per day to be cut with a $20 permit. The prospect of getting oak was encouraging as it goes farther when burned as it's a hardwood.

This time they used a chain and a rope around the long oak logs and hooked it to one of the trucks. Then someone would drive & pull the big logs down the hill to a staging area. Kind of like a cowboy would lasso a bull and pull it to where they wanted. Sydney and I had our fun time. However at one time she asked me to sing to her. She was cold so I wrapped my quilt around her, help her tight to my side and I began to sing Christmas Carols. She soon fell asleep. With nothing else to do, I took a nap too! Hard work for Grandma!

And that's wood cutting for 2009. Now to get it cut, split and stacked.

It's All About Heating the House

We live in rural Northern California. It's still quite legal to heat your house with wood, so a trip to the National Forest Lands with the proper permit will help to heat one's house...with a LOT of sweat and hard labor. For the second year, we joined up with Liz & Steve (Sydney too, of course!) and made the drive up to Watt Lake, the site of our Father's Day Camp trip. Last year we couldn't go the last mile as the snow was too deep for the trucks to go and they just cut wood (downed logs & trees only) off the road. This year there was just a bit of snow here and there.

Here's Liz & Bill working on cutting up a tree with the chain saws. This makes it look like there was lots and lots of snow but really just enough for Sydney to play....for about 5 minutes twice!

I had to put in another one of Liz....master of the chain saw, a real Super Woman! Oh, what did BrendaLou do, may you ask? Was I busy hoisting logs, lugging wood? Maybe I was arranging wood on the trailer? No, I had a VERY important job....one the others said I was perfectly suited to (and I dare say, they all would rather leave to me anyway!).....it was my job to keep Sydney occupied for the entire day. It was colder than we expected so Sydney and I stayed in the cab of Mr. Scottie Dog's truck. We played "I Spy" for hours, read books to each other...over and over and over again. "Gwandma...I'm hungry," was Sydney's mantra. I had brought some fruit for snacks, hummus & crackers & veggies, Cheetos (Mr. Dog's favorite!). Liz had a sandwich for Sydney and I think she ate enough for all of us...that 4-year old ate all day long. And then some days she hardly eats at all!
After Liz & Mr. Scottie Dog cut the trees into four foot sections, Steve went to work.

Here he is with a brutal burden. The largest logs were pulled by chain and lifted with a pulley & winch system Bill had devised. Steve and Mr. Dog loaded up the trailer.
Now THAT'S a trailer load of wood to be taken home and split later. Two plus cords. Liz & Steve filled the bed of their truck too. Another trip to happen this weekend....but Sydney and I are staying home and making Christmas Cookies.

Thanksgiving Blessings

The house this morning smells of pies....pumpkin & dutch apple....cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger & cloves. No turkey roasting at our house as Liz is doing it this year. But aromas I relate to Thanksgivings past. Let's see, this is my 57th Thanksgiving. I remember when the stores would go all out and decorate for Thanksgiving. Pictures of Pilgrims & Indians sharing with each other. Respecting each other. A time for Giving Thanks to God. Decorations of Fall Leaves, pumpkins, Indian Corn, gourds. Now it seems that the end of August the Halloween Decorations go up and then the day after Christmas Decorations go up. It's not the same at all. It was a time to gather together with family and friends. I lived in Southern California then with scads of Aunts & Uncles, tons of cousins, shirttail relatives, friends and Thanksgiving was always celebrated with a groaning table of foods we only had a Thanksgiving. I remember the first year I was allowed to set the table! Did you have a "kids" table? The year I turned 13 I moved up to the "adult" table and found out that the kids table was more fun! By the time I was 14 I was helping cook most of the meal. I enjoyed cooking more than my mom did, I think.

In school we learned all about the Pilgrims and how they came to America at great cost so that they could worship God as they wished. They made great sacrifice to do so and life was not easy. Each year we'd have little skits or plays and we'd all make pilgrim hats. Now in school they talk about being Thankful but not being Thankful TO GOD, the provider of all we have.

Of course I am so very grateful and thankful to God for my wonderful family. I come from a family who dearly loved and appreciated each other...my grandparents had great influence in my life...I miss my Mom but am so very thankful for her love and devotion to me and my brothers. My Dad is the best....still loving me, encouraging me and making me laugh. His wife Willa Mae is a delight and the next best thing to having my Mom.

My loving hubby, Mr. Scottie Dog. He's my partner, the love of my life, a real rock in my life. Thirty seven years of marriage and he still lights up my life!

I am so thankful for my wonderful daughters...Beka, pregnant with her 3rd, she makes me proud as she's grown up to be such a lovely woman, a wonderful, caring mother, a woman of principles. Liz, my right hand woman, partner in business so smart it amazes me. My grandchildren delight me, each one is so uniquely lovable.

I'm thankful for my health (especially after 17 horrible days of illness this month), my home, the fact that I am able to live in such an absolutely beautiful place as the Northern CA Redwood coast.

I'm thankful for friends...this year I was able to connect with a group of gals whom I met in kindergarten. We were Blue Birds together and best buddies until we all moved in 7th grade. Some friends come and go, some stay.....I am grateful for the input of all of them.

I am Thankful for my work which seems more like play sometimes. Scottie Dog Quilts is a little store that has introduced me to hundreds, perhaps a thousand of wonderful, creative & artistic people and I get to be a little bit of their lives.

Thank you, Lord for all my blessings. And thank you that they are too numerous to count!

A blessed Thanksgiving to you all!

Guitar Orchestra of Barcelona

Tonight we had a wonderful evening with a couple of friends. Thanks to my friend Lynn we were able to go to the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts to experience the Guitar Orchestra of Barcelona. This was night two of their first American Tour. I didn't really know what to expect. First Mr. Scottie Dog, Lynn and our friend Katie had dinner......I had the salmon. Yum, yum is all I can say. Then off to the Arkley Center....the old Richard Sweasy Theatre that Rob & Cheri Arkley refurbished into the beautiful venue for Eureka's cultural events. Here's a picture of the restored front.
And here's a great shot of the fantastic mural on the back of the theatre...it amazes me every time I see it as it really looks as if the sky is showing through the arch.

Here's a shot of the Orchestra led by Sergi Vincente. This evening's program was entirely of Spanish music (from 1640 on). Some of the guitars seemed to be used like a mandolin, other times the strings were slack. They picked with their fingers mostly, occasionally using a pick, and sometimes fingernails tapped on the sides, thumbs thumped, sounding like an entire orchestra.

Imagine our surprise on the fourth number when two beautiful flamenco dancers came out. I never knew you could do what they did with their castanets. At times the dancers were mere props for the Orchestra, other times the guitars were just props for the dancers. It all flowed in and out. I wish I knew more about music. But I loved it! Music that stirred my heart and kept my feet tapping. Classical Spanish music. Who knew?

Listen to them here.

Sadly they only played one encore, I could have listened for a much longer time. As we left the theatre we had a chance to greet Sergi and many of the players. Thanks Lynn for the tickets and Katie for a wonderful evening. I feel cultured. If you have a chance to hear them I encourage you to go.

Potato Corn Chowder

Every Fall I end up making Potato Corn Chowder. This morning Sydney was delivered to the house about 9 am. She and I were going to make Potato Corn Chowder and Corn Bread. YUM! First of all we put on our aprons and then washed our hands.

Here she is with some of our ingredients. You can't see the onion and garlic cloves.

Sydney had never peeled potatoes but she did a pretty good job, didn't she?
As I cut the onions and potatoes, she put them in a pan with some chicken stock.
After the potatoes & onions had cooked we put it all in the crockpot and she stirred it all up. We turned it on high and made our cornbread.

Syd can really stir good! She also loves cracking the eggs.

After the bread was out and the soup was done we loaded it all up into the car and went to Scottie Dog Quilts. We'd made lunch for the Thursday Sit & Sew Class. Fun, fun!

Sick!

Today is .....let's see, November 12. November 1, I woke up sick. Been sick for 12 days now. Bad sick...not swine flu but whatever animal/bird/insect/plant flu I've had is now severe bronchitis. Beka and the kids arrived on the 1st. Poor Grandma under the weather all this time.

I am getting better. SLOWLY, but better. Thanks for the emails. I WILL return.

My Tuesday

Tuesday began as any other Tuesday for me. I got to the store early for the large Drop-In Quilting Class I teach at Scottie Dog Quilts. These ladies celebrate birthdays, have pot lucks, gab about their children & grandchildren and even do some quilting! The UPS man came and delivered 6 huge boxes containing our new GO! Cutter display, several machines, dies, tote bags and more. This is the home version of our big AccuQuilt machine. The Go! Cutter will cut perfect shapes using up to 8 layers at a time in just seconds. To learn what I'm talking about Click here. We'll have the display up by next week. We are now distributors of the Go! Cutter.

We also got several boxes of fabrics...new flannels from Robert Kaufman, a gorgeous red, black & white line of Poppies from Fabric Freedom, blenders and more. Be sure to check them all out.

Then I had to go to the doctor for my annual check-up. I was anxious about it. Nearly three years ago we discovered I had very high blood pressure (a new thing since for most of my life my blood pressure bordered on too low) and my cholesterol levels were sky high too. I had originally gone in for severe knee pain (osteoarthritis). That is pretty much under control...I have some stiffness and pain but haven't had to use a cane as I did a couple of years ago. So first thing I got weighed. Every woman's nightmare, right? I was less than last year...not as much as I'd like, but the evil scale did record a loss. The verdict: I was in great health! My BP is quite normal and my cholesterol levels are also in the normal range. Success! Dr. W had suggested in January 2007 that I go (permanently) on the South Beach Diet. I was leery.....wasn't that a fad diet? One of those crazy no carbohydrate, high protein diets? I picked up a couple of books and did a study on-line and found out that this diet was designed by a heart specialist in Florida and had been successfully tested by millions. I've tried to be pretty faithful and after nearly three years I know what & how to each. No white flour, white potatoes, white rice, refined sugars. This diet is based on glycemic index of all you eat. Took me a couple days of reading to be convinced that it was a very healthy alternative diet. I found Kalyn's Kitchen, a blog that Kalyn Denny writes for South Beachers and her food is fabulous, quick and easy and for the most part uses foodstuffs you can get at any grocery store.

Dr. W's assessment was that I was in fabulous health. He felt that it was apparent that there had been a huge change since last year and he was proud of me. I was pretty proud of me.Made me feel pretty fabulous too!

After work it was the Humboldt Accordionairs night. Sydney and Liz came too (see Liz binding a quilt in the background?). This picture is of Sydney and her "beau" Caleb doing the Cakewalk up and down the aisles to "When The Saints Go Marching In." I danced several dances and got my exercise in for the day!

Here's what I had for dinner tonight (sorry about the glare...I don't know how to Photo Shop it out yet). Grilled chicken breast with garlic & parsley, steamed asparagus and some broiled tomatoes (first spread with a very grainy Dijon mustard and then topped with fresh ground pepper and fresh shredded Parmesan cheese. I was stuffed and satisfied! All South Beach Heart Healthy! Delicious!

And that's the way it was.