Suzy's Blog

   Art and I were sitting here watching tv and there was a Chevy Commercial on with Country Group Big and Rich.   I was not a fan of theirs until a few months ago.  In fact I was not too fond of their song Save A Horse Ride a Cowboy.  Now I actually like it.   Speaking of Music I am patiently waiting to see Duran Duran on tv on nbc New Years Celebration with Carson Daily.  I think that will be the highlight of my evening.  Art will be leaving soon to go back to work since he volunteered to work tonight.   Happy New Year to all.

I ran across this link on another blog that I read regularly. Art and I were talking about the earthquake and tsunami earlier tonight. I was saying how I thought that we should make a donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. I have never made a donation before so I was not sure how that works if you donate online. Here is another link that I discovered thanks to my better half.

I Hope Everyone is having a Merry Christmas and enjoying the Holiday with their families.

Exelon the company my husband works for is merging with PSE&G out of New Jersey. I heard this on the news the other day and I think that Art wrote about as well. I know this is a short post but I really don't have much to say tonight. Art is at work and may possibly be working some tomorrow not sure about that yet. I guess I will find out more when he gets home or emails me back. Merry Christmas to everyone.

I was telling Art that this sounds like a good movie. I have never seen the Broadway version but would like to see it. I have heard the music from it and really liked it. Earlier this year we went to The Mark and saw Sarah Brightman in concert. That is a show I would pay to see again. We even bought her CD before her concert and really liked it. I have never been one for classical music which is what I thought Harem would be as it turned out I was wrong on that assumption. If you have never heard her music I encourage you to listen to Harem it is a very good album.

Art and I just finished watching Van Helsing. This was not a bad movie. I am glad that we did not pay to see it in the movie theatre. Art and I went grocery shopping today. He does not always go shopping with me but he does when he can. As we were driving home he commented about how the older folks park their carts in the middle of the shopping aisle and chat. Now he knows my weekly shopping nightmare, and why I am in such a foul mood when I return from the store. Our grocery store is not far from our house, but everyone that lives in East Moline, Silvis, and Colona shops at the same grocery store. The aisles in our store are not very wide in fact they are very narrow so if more than three people are trying to go down the same aisle it becomes chaos. I was talking to my dad earlier today and he was asking me about cooking a pasta recipe. We were chatting when he asks if when I cook pasta do I throw it on the cabinet to test to see if it is done. I told him no I just taste it. We...

Art and I just finished watching Face Off. As I have said before Nicolas Cage is one of my favorite actors. So is John Travolta. They both play a bad guy very well. I am not sure who I like better in this movie. I was driving home from work this afternoon down John Deere Rd when traffic was slowing down to 20 mph. It stayed that way for a couple of miles. After awhile it came to a dead stop. I saw that there was an accident near Wal Mart. As I was driving upon the scene of the accident I could see that the car was off the road in the median. There was a policeman directing traffic I could see that he was wanting traffic to get by at more than 2 miles per hour. By the time I got home I was pretty disgusted after having a hairy day at work. Anyway, I am glad it is Friday. We had Pizza from Papa Murphys Pizza. They have really good take and bake pizzas. They are reasonably priced too.

I first read this on technodaddys blog. Wonderful Christmas Cookie Recipe Christmas Cookie Ingredients: 1 cup of water 1 tsp. Baking soda 1 cup of sugar 1 tsp. Salt 1 cup of brown sugarlemon juice 4 large eggs 1 cup nuts 2 cups of dried fruit 1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the Cuervo is still OK, try another cup ... Just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit, Pick the frigging fruit off floor... Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who g...

Last night we had my company Christmas party to attend. We had a good time it was held at the Quad City Botanical Center. When we arrived home just after midnight I opened my birthday present from Art. My parents wished me happy birthday and so did my sister, brother in law and Niece Olivia. Art's mom called soon after we arrived home from going to get ice cream this evening. All in all it has been a nice day. I went to the Salon today for a haircut and perm as a treat to myself. Tomorrow will be grocery shopping day. I received a Christmas greetings from an old friend from high school. I have not heard from her in a few years. It was nice to hear from her. I will keep this short and sweet. More tomorrow. Since it will be a fairly cold and windy day I plan on staying in as much as possible after I do my grocery shopping.

I first saw this recipe over at ichef.com. I wanted a copy of it and it was no longer on the ichef website. It is a very tasty and very filling salad. I will be keeping this recipe for quite a while. It has a lot of ingredients but is simple to make.

Art and I tried this new restaurant over in Davenport. The food was very good. We were planning to go last night but, the snow kind of changed our plans. I will be returning to this restaurant. Art had steak very flavorful and I had Salmon Oscar. It was tasty as well.

Art and I watched White Oleander last night. It was a slow moving story but yet it was interesting. It was not one of the best movies I have seen lately but It was not my favorite either. Art did not seem to interested in the movie. I am glad that we watched it on cable and not in the movie theatre. It is a movie that is definitely an acquired taste.

Art and I were sitting here watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann. They had this story on the show. I thought it was a current story the way it was being presented. The only thing we could find happened around 1996 or 1999. I got a good laugh out of it anyway. I think maybe the woman should keep her chihuahua out of the kitchen next time she is preparing a turkey. Anyway, not much here to say today. Edward Scissorhands is on now so I will keep this short.

Today was a nice day to have off from work. I thought well I will sleep in. Nope, that was not happening. I woke up this morning when Art's alarm clock went off. I tried to go back to sleep but was unable too so I got up about 7:30 or 8:00 am. So much for sleeping in on a day off. Went to the grocery store and bought a Chicken so I can make chicken n dumplings for dinner tomorrow night. Art has a long day at work and we will probably eat later than normal. I like fall and winter weather so I can cook my favorite dishes like Chilli and Chicken n Dumplings. I will keep this short and sweet. I need to check on the chicken on the stove stewing.

As I promised earlier today I am posting my Grandmother Oliver's recipe for Veg All Casserole. I don't think that it was any good because there is none of it left. My Turkey and dressing turned out good. We made a mushroom gravy that was tasty too. We just finished eating and now looking for a movie to watch. 2 cans Veg-all (drained) 3/4 c. mayonaise 1 c. chopped water chestnuts 1 stack of Ritz crackers (crushed) 1 c. chopped onions 1 stick of butter (melted) 1 c. grated cheddar cheese Mix first 5 ingredients and pour into a buttered casserole dish. Mix crackers and butter together and sprinkle over vegetables. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Well I was talking to my family earlier today to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. About an hour after I hung up the phone rang. It was my parents calling back. My brother in law was trying to remove spyware from their computer. He was walking my mom through it. She would check the object and then she would un check it so it was not being removed. I talked my brother in law through it fairly easily. My brother in law said earlier this year he had problems with pop up spyware on his computer at work. He said everytime he tried to remove it more would show up. He finally had to have tech support come and remove it. I guess about once a year he has to have tech support come and clean up his computer as he put it. I am going to cut this short because I need to go into the kitchen to fix our turkey breast, cornbread dressing, and vegall casserole. I will post my casserole recipe later today. I am not really using a recipe for the turkey breast. I made some garlic herb butter to put under the ...

Well I just finished making cornbread for dressing tomorrow. I am cooking Turkey Breast, Vegall Casserole and Cornbread dressing for dinner tomorrow night. Art has to work tomorrow during the day so I will be here working on Dinner for tomorrow night. I have tomorrow and friday off. No cooking tonight we had leftover Chilli for dinner so I could make cornbread. I will keep this short since Tim McGraw is on nbc. Happy Thanksgiving.

Art and I are sitting here watching $40 Dollars A Day. Rachael Ray goes to a different city each week and eats out on $40 Dollars. This episode she is in Boston. Not much to say here today. One more day and I am off for a long Thanksgiving Weekend. Art has to work on thanksgiving this year. I will keep this short and sweet as I am tired and will be going to bed soon. Art just told me about a fairly new restaurant in Davenport that we need to try sometime. I was looking at their menu. Their dinner selections sound tasty. Maybe a trip for our anniversary or my birthday next month would be in order.

Earlier today I was watching Low Carb and Lovin it. They were doing an episode on trimming your turkey. He made a sausage herb stuffing that sounded pretty good. The chef used turkey sausage. He also made green bean casserole. Since my sister cannot eat pork or corn products, I thought that my dad would want to make something as an alternative dressing for her. Well I guess I was wrong on that note. No, I do not normally watch Low Carb and Lovin it but, they were talking thanksgiving dishes so I thought that I would watch and see what they made. I am just making turkey breast, my aunts veg all casserole and cornbread dressing on Thursday. Tonight I am making my dads chilli for dinner. I have not made it in awhile but, since it is getting colder here I figured now would be as good a time as any to make it. They say we may get snow on Tuesday Night and Wednesday during the day. It is also going to be colder too. My dad was saying it was going to be freezing down there. We are...

Last night Art blogged about going to Coralville Ia to meet with the local Mensa group. We ate dinner at Saigon to Bangkok which is a Veitnamese Thai restaurant. We had good food and met some interesting people. I was not going to go because I have had a busy week helping to train new hires at work. We had 2 training classes yesterday. I was tired and so were my feet. I ran around more yesterday than I did all week long. Enough about that I will make this short. Iron Bowl Kickoff is 20 minutes away. Roll Tide Roll!

You are 53 % Sagittarius How much do you match your zodiac sign?

Not much to say here today. It has been a busy week. I have been helping to train new hires this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday we had our first class at 6 am, a 9 am and then a 12 noon class. Thank god we only have a 8am and an 11am tomorrow. I do not usually mind going in early but it is a long day on your feet from 6 am to 2:30 pm. To top it all off I did not know until Tuesday morning at 9am that I would be helping to train so I only had 1 hr notice. Anyway, I have enjoyed doing something different this week. Enough about work. Art and I are sitting here watching Flatliners. Have I said before how much of a hottie Kevin Bacon is in this movie? Oh, I can't forget Kiefer either he is a hottie too. You know that you have seen a movie too many times when you can quote the lines. At the beginning of the movie Kiefer has a line today is a good day to die. Before he even said the line I knew what movie it was. How sad is that?

So I was surfing the web tonight looking for blogging material. I was reading Ponzi and came across one of her links and discovered that Alton Brown has a blog. I was reading his latest post titled Between a Grit and a hard place. Being from the South I pride myself in knowing my grits but, I actually learned something that I did not know before about Grits. I learned that there is a difference between hominy grits and plain grits. Speaking of Grits I think that I will make Shrimp and Grits for dinner this weekend. Yummy. Classic Southern Breakfast Shrimp 1lb of medium shrimp 2 tablespoons of lemon juice ? tsp salt 1/8 tsp ground red pepper ? Cup finely chopped onion 1/3 cup finely chopped green bell pepper 3 tablespoons of bacon drippings 2 tablespoons of flour ? Cup shrimp stock or chicken broth Peel and devein the shrimp. Combine the shrimp, lemon juice salt and red pepper in a bowl and mix well. Cook the onion and bell pepper in the bacon drippings in a ski...

Art and I are sitting here watching Bruce Almighty. It is a funny movie. If you have not seen it yet I highly recomend it. I think that I will keep this short. I need to get to bed fairly early tonight. I have to be at work at 6:00am as I am helping to train new hires.

I was doing my daily blog reading yesterday and came upon this little post from Sarah. All I have to say is I was once a loyal viewer and have been highly upset with the direction that G4 has taken with the screensavers. I believe that Comcast and G4 have made yet another mistake by running reruns and yet again revamping the show. I feel like they have treated the screensavers like a the redheaded stepchild of the family. I am past the point of I could take it or leave it. I was at that point a long time ago. Now I don't care if I watch the show again or not.

Well it looks like John Ashcroft is not the only one leaving the bush administration. Secretary of State Colin Powell is resigning as well. He and 3 other cabinet members resigned today. Kind of interesting that in the middle of Bush's war on terror key cabinet members like Colin Powell are resigning.

Earlier tonight Art and I were watching 60 minutes. They had a report about Vioxx. What I find disturbing is that Merck knew about the risks 4 years ago. We were talking about it earlier and think that they were putting their profits above everything else when they knew that the drug was unsafe. I hope they get taken to the cleaners in the lawsuits that are being filed against the company. If you know that a drug is not safe and have known that it was unsafe why keep selling it?

Art and I are sitting here watching Gone In 60 Seconds. I really like this movie. I have always been a fan of Nicolas Cage. He is just a funny guy. Even when he is in a serious movie he is still a comedian. Speaking of Movies we watched Basic earlier today. That is another one of my favorite movies. The weekend has flown by. It is hard to believe that November is already half over. Speaking of November tomorrow is the 15th anniversary of this little tornado in my hometown. Even though I was not in Huntsville the time that this happened I remember it like it was yesterday. I was away at college south of Birmingham when it hit. We had tornado warnings that afternoon as well where I was. We were in the Cafeteria getting ready to eat dinner when the tornado siren sounded. We had to drop what we were doing and go to the nearest shelter which happened to be my residence hall that was right next to the cafeteria. Anyway, we remember that sad day 15 years ago.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Art and I are sitting here watching Rachael Rays Thanksgiving in 60 minutes. I don't know about most people out there but,someone like me it might take 90- 120 Minutes to do a 60 minute thanksgiving meal. No I do not make a lot as it is just Art, Myself and the cat. I just have to put everything together myself which is work. I usually make chicken or Cornish game hen. Her recipe for turkey breasts looks tasty and easy. Maybe I will try that this year that is if Art is going to be home for dinner. He is scheduled to work daytime hours and I am off Thursday and Friday for thanksgiving. I will keep this short for now so I can watch the rest of her show.

On my way home from work this afternoon I was listening to my local country station and the new Travis Tritt song was on the radio. It was a duet with John Mellencamp. I have been a fan of Travis Tritt for about 12 or 13 years now. I am a fan of John Mellencamp as well. I have noticed lately that there are a quiet a few 80's rock and country collaborations going on. I do not think that is a bad thing. A few weeks ago I read an article in our local paper that Bret Michaels of Poison has released a country album. He actually has a song in the top 40 on the country charts called All I Ever Needed. Art said it sounded like a cross between Every Rose has it's Thorn and Something to Believe in.

Well it looks like Gmail users will soon be able to check their email in outlook. I like that idea. Not that I use outlook on my laptop but, I do use outlook on my desktop. A few months ago I reformatted my hard drive on my laptop and never reinstalled outlook. Instead I downloaded Mozilla Thunderbird and it rocks. It is so easy to set up. I like it better than outlook. The only reason I keep it on my desktop is to sync my ipaq that I got for Christmas. Art and I decided to go get a shake from Whiteys after dinner. I got the peppermint oreo shake with chocolate flavoring. It is very good. Art got an Eggnog Shake.

Thanks to Shelley for this quiz. Normally I do not post these but, since I am from the MTV generation I figured I would post this one. Good. You know your music. You should be able to work at Championship Vinyl with Rob, Dick and Barry Do You Know Your Music (Sorry MTV Generation I Doubt You Can Handle This One) brought to you by Quizilla

I heard this story on my local news today. I like Green Bean casserole but not in soda form. There are some strange flavored sodas out there but this one takes the cake. I don't think that I will be trying these anytime in the near future. I think that I will stick to my traditional thanksgiving meal this year. Who knows next time the company may come up with cornbread stuffing flavored soda?

I ask you how can you not like this guy? For the most part I like his music. There are some of his songs I can take or leave, but those are few and far between. As Art has stated before he is not a fan of country music. He also does not like my other favorite country music artist Toby Keith. I can't figure out why that is. He has no problems with the Dixie Chicks. I am going to make this short and sweet since Las Vegas is coming on. I do not normally watch this show but it is a continuation of the storyline that started on Crossing Jordan last night.

I was doing my nightly blog reading and came upon this post from Medicmom. There was an earthquake in Alabama. It was a 4.0 on the richter scale. That is big for down in that area. You do not hear much about earthquakes in that part of the United States. They do happen but not often. I told Art that it was near Tuscaloosa and sure enough it was 25 miles sw of Tuscaloosa.

Art and I are watching this movie. It is a good one. Richard Dreyfuss is very good in this movie. I actually don't have much more to say tonight. If you have not seen Mr Holland's Opus before you should check it out

I know this has been a long time in coming but, I finally uploaded some pictures from our trip to Gnomedex. I also put a new picture of Isabella on there too. If someone had taken more pictures on our trip I would have added more pictures. I have not put all the pictures from our trip up but I will post a couple more tomorrow. We have a digital camera but don't use it as often as we should.

Yes I am upset with the outcome of the election but I will not go to this extreme. I have said numerous times that I was never a fan of Dubya but my way of handling my dissatisfaction with the situation will be posted here. I will not go to the extreme of killing myself in protest. As I have said before I would not vote for Bush or Kerry and I did not. As I posted before my family thought that I was nuts for not voting republican being that it was the most important election of our lifetime. My candidate did not have a snowballs chance of winning but that is not what bothers me. What bothers me is that there enough people out there who felt that Bush is the lesser of two evils. The other thing that scares me is when Bush said just days after he was re-elected that he had earned capital and now he is going to spend it. He did not earn my capital. I say if the democrats or republicans had a candidate running that could and would actually change the way the nation is run. I would be mor...

It is hard to believe that this movie came out 20 years ago. I just love Tom Hanks. He is a funny guy. His appearnce has not changed much in 20 years I don't think. This movie screams of the 80's. It is funny. How wrong is this movie I ask you? It has been awhile since I have seen this movie but I still like it. We just finished watching the Movie Mona Lisa smile. Actually we watched the Alabama Game and Mona Lisa smile. When Art would go outside to smoke I would flip it to the Alabama Game. I liked the movie okay but I am glad that we did not see it in the movie theatre.

Well we needed that win bad this season. I say give em hell every week. Roll Tide. I just had to say that since I grew up hearing that saying every week during football season. Art thinks that I am nuts for watching football. I am forever reminding him that growing up in the south that Football is it's own religion. Art has never been big on football since he did not grow up in a house where football was constantly on the tv or radio. Last weekend I had to go to the eye doctor for my annual eye exam. They dilated my pupils. Boy do I hate having that done. The Dr asked if I had someone to drive me home after my eyes were dilated and I said yes my husband was there with me. She asked if he was missing a football game I said no he does not watch football. She was surprised by my answer.

Well, Art and I went to the polls early this morning. I got there at about 6:05 am and Art was not far behind me. We had to wait about 15-20 minutes. I was surprised to see a line at 6 am. Anyway, I am glad that I went early instead of trying to do it after work. Our local paper is saying that it may be a record turnout for our county. Well, I just had the conversation with my dad about voting. He was surprised to hear that I did not vote for Bush or Kerry. I guess that I am now the official black sheep of the family. When I was leaving the polling place this morning to go to work I was listening to my favorite morning show. They talked about these voters I cannot remember where they were from but the man they were talking about was George Kerry and his neighbors name was John Bush. I thought that was kind of funny.

It is a wonder that this company is still in business. Art and I were watching TV and this commercial came on. It is the one where they say you can get the video professor for free. The catch is it is not free you pay shipping and handling charges. In the commercial even in the fine print say they take visa, mastercard etc. I don't know why they have not been hauled into court for misrepresentation and spamming. I don't know what irritates me the most the fact that they say it is free or the fact that they still show the outdated commercial. Speaking of Spam I got my first gmail spam today. It was an offer for herbal cigarettes. I have had gmail for 4 months with no spam. So far it is only one but you know how that multiplies. Funny thing is I do not use my gmail address for anything. I do not sign up for things with my gmail address specifically for that reason so I do not get spam.

Let's hope that the superstition behind the winner of this game is true. If it is then Shrubby's days in office are numbered and I for one think that is a good thing. The past few days I have blogged about a political email that I sent to my family. Well, all I keep hearing from my family is how I should vote for Bush and how I should not be picking on Bush. My sister being one of the ones who think that I should vote republican and that I should not waste my vote on the libertarian candidate. Guess what I do not think it is a wasted vote. She even pointed me to a hardcore libertarian supporter who is voting republican this year. As she put it now is not the time to lodge a protest vote but I differ I think now is the time to show Washington that we do not want to reelect Bush. I can't support Bush and I know I can't support Kerry either that is why I chose to vote Libertarian this time. Speaking of Politics the other day I saw some funny anti Bush bumper stickers....

Art and I just finished watching this movie. It is interesting. I was not sure if I wanted to see it when it came out earlier this year. I was wrong. I am glad we did not see it the theatres but overall it was not a bad movie. We ate dinner tonight at Exotic Thai. I tried the exotic shrimp and it was very tasty. I will more than likely be ordering this dish again. Art had the crying tiger grilled beef. Both dishes are spicy.

Last night I posted this little Political Psalm. I also emailed it to my Pro Dubya family. Today I received a reply from my sister that said did this mean that I was voting for John Kerry. I sent her reply that said no I am not I am voting Libertarian this year. The candidate is Michael Badnarik. Anyway, so after I answered my sisters email I received a reply from a good friend of mine who asked the same question. Why is it that the media outlets only talk about the 2 main parties? Every so often you might here a tidbit on Ralph Nader but nothing about Badnarik. I am hoping that the media would give equal time to other parties rather than just democrats and republicans. If you are undecided there are other alternatives to the mainstream out there you just need to look at them.

I received this today in the form of an email from a former co worker. I thought it was funny seeing as how I am not fond of Dubya. Psalm 2004 Bush is my shepherd, I shall be in want. He maketh me lie down on park benches, He leadeth me beside the still factories. He restoreth my doubts about the Republican Party. He leadeth me into the paths of unemployment for his cronies' sake. Yea, though no weapons of mass destruction have been found, he maketh me continue to fear Evil. His tax cuts for the rich and his deficit spending discomfort me. He anointeth me with never-ending debt: Verily my days of savings and assets are kaput. Surely poverty and hard living shall follow me all the days of his administration, And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.

The other night I blogged about watching the 100 greatest one hit wonders on vh1. I was surfing the vh1 website and found that they have a radio station just for one hit wonders. How scary is that? Art will tell you that I am nuts for classic rock and 80's music. He does not listen to much of the stuff that I do. While I was watching the show it was like a trip back through my childhood. Speaking of childhood we went to Red Lobster for dinner tonight and while we were eating Rick Springfield was playing on the radio. All I have to say is wow age has been kind to him.

It looks like the Governor Of Illinois wants to make up for the flu shot shortage in our state by buying the Vaccine from Europe. If the federal government had planned ahead and made more vaccine than we needed, then the affected states would not be shopping for extra vaccine to replace what was contaminated. I suppose this is a good idea if it will truly benefit the people that need it the most like hospitals and nursing homes.

The other day my sister took my niece to get her flu shot. There was a little girl ahead of Olivia who was crying and screaming. My sister said that Olivia wanted to go see about the little girl. Stacy tried to keep her in the waiting room. Anyway, after all that Olivia looked at my sister and said Mommy I am not going to cry I am going to laugh. How cute is that? I have not seen her in over a year but I hear all the stories from my parents about what Olivia does. I don't tell many Olivia stories but maybe I will tell more later. I am going to make this one short because I am tired and Crossing Jordan comes on in about 40 minutes.

Art and I watched this movie this afternoon. I have seen it quite a few times but I am never tired of watching it. Kiefer Sutherland is in the flick. All be it a very young Kiefer. I just love the soundtrack to this movie. I was telling Art that I wanted the soundtrack on CD. I used to have it on cassette tape. I am a sucker for 80's music. Speaking of Kiefer I am patiently waiting for the next season of 24 to start. It looks like they have moved 24 to a new night. Mondays instead of Tuesdays.

I was looking for something to watch on tv tonight and found 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders on. Too bad they were one hit wonders. Art thinks that I am crazy for watching stuff like this but I like to see some of the bands from the 80's that I liked. They had bands on there like Falco , Dexy's Midnight Runners and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The Kicker is it is hosted by William Shatner.

The other day Art kept asking me why people were commenting on my blog and not his. Blog Explosion is the reason. I joined after reading about it here. I have found quiet a few interesting blogs there. You ought to check it out. Well Art just left for work and the phone rang. I let it ring a few times to make sure it was not the fax machine. The person on the other end asked for Art I said I am sorry he has gone to work can I take a message. The caller left his name and wanted to confirm that he and Art would be golfing tomorrow. Well, anybody that knows my Art knows he detests golf. They also know that when my husband works on weekends it is a 12 hour shift. Then I told the caller that my husband does not golf which prompted him to ask did my husband work for MidAmerican Energy. When I told him no he realized and so did I that he had the wrong number. We have figured out that there are other Metcalf's in the area and we knew that there was another Art in the area. Anyway, tr...

A few days ago Art blogged about some good news from Huntspatch. Congratulations to our best friends on the upcoming addition to their family. I guess this means that I need to hurry up and get started on a family before I get old and gray. Oh yeah I am already old and have plenty of gray hair. On another note Roll Tide. Alabama Tennessee kickoff is just minutes away now. Go Bama!

Well I got some good news at work today. I found out I no longer have to work weekends anymore and boy am I happy about that. I did not say anything earlier about it because we were not sure if it was going to happen this week or not. All I have to say is time to do a happy dance. I no longer have to leave my house at 5:30 am on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Art and I just got back from seeing Team America. This movie is wrong in more ways than I can say at the moment. I laughed pretty hard and so did Art. If you thought the South Park Movie pushed the envelope think again.

Art and I were just watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann and this story was on there. I have seen a lot of things stuffed into a hatchback but never a Shetland Pony. Maybe this is an article for Fark?

I was reading webgrits and she was talking about how the democrats are upset the Dick Cheney got a flu shot. Correct me if I am wrong here but he meets the CDC guidelines for a vaccination. I think that our congressmen and senators should have to fall under the same guidelines as the general public. Congressmen and Senators should not have their own special set of guidelines. If you are a healthy congressman or senator do like the president is and forgo your shot this year. I do not agree with a lot of what the president has to say but I do agree with him on the forgoing your flu shot if you are a healthy adult under age 65. I know that I have harped on this subject a lot lately but why should congressmen and senators get special treatment.

Art and I were watching The Screensavers last night Sarah talked about this website. I checked it out they have some interesting recipes that I would like to try sometime. I used to really like The Screensavers but it is just okay now. I am to the point of I could take it or leave it now. I don't freakout if my replay tv doesn't tune correctly anymore. I miss the old screensavers when it had Pat and Leo on it and Megan and Cat.

I remember when this song came out. I find it hard to believe that it has been 20 years already. I think it is neat that they are going to redo the song. I am always nostalgic for the 1980's.

You Know You're From Alabama When... You have a party or a barbeque whenever Alabama plays Auburn in football. You go to Gulf Shores every summer. You call the Atlanta Braves baseball team "us" like they're actually from Alabama. You would much rather visit Florida than California. You don't "take", you "carry" or "tote"... as in "You want me to carry you down to the 7-11?" A soft drink isn't soda, cola, or pop, it's Coke. You call it a "buggy" and not a shopping cart. You've said "fixin' to," "might could," or "usetacould" during the last week. Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date. You know the meaning of the phrase "Fobbed again." You can properly pronounce Eufaula, Opelika, Bayou La Batre, and Oneonta. The Talladega 500 is the biggest sporting event of any sort during the entire year. You know exactly what ch...

This is a pretty neat link check it out. What Happened the Year You Were Born ? In 1970 (the year you were born) Richard Nixon is president of the USA federal jury finds the "Chicago 7" innocent of conspiring to incite riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention The lunar spacecraft Apollo 13 splashes down in the Pacific after near catastrophe The first Earth Day is marked by millions of Americans participating in anti-pollution demonstrationsAt Kent State University, National Guardsmen fire into a crowd killing four student antiwar demonstrators A powerful earthquake claims 50,000 lives in Peru 18 year olds are given the right to vote in federal elections Tidal wave driven by cyclone from Bay of Bengal hits East Pakistan, killing hundreds of thousands An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland Queen Latifah, Mariah Carey, Andre Agassi, Uma Thurman, Jennifer Lopez, and Matt Damon are ...

The past couple of days I have been blogging about the shortage of the flu vaccination and how real it has become here in the United States. I think I keep harping on it because it irritates me that Americans would have to wait in long lines just to get a shot. Someone had commented on my blog today about how the military is getting their shots first Below is a copy of the comment that was posted. "From my understanding the armed forces are getting their flu shots first. Still it doesn't make sense that there is not enough shots for everyone who might need it. There should have been better planning as the vaccines were being made. Better to have a slight surplus than a deficit." I am not disagreeing with everything that this person said but I did come across an article that seems to disprove that the military is getting their shots first. Apparently, the military is feeling the effects of the shortage as much as the general public is. I know that this is kind of repetitiv...

I find it hard to believe that someone out there would want to sell the flu vaccination at 10 times the cost. There is already a shortage out there why create panic and why price gouge the ones who need it the most. If the small supply that we already have were being directed to nursing homes and hospitals first then people like my dad's friend would not have to leave the nursing home to get his flu shot. Why do places like Bruno's, Costco, Publix and even some churches have the vaccinations when the Madison County Health Dept is still waiting on their supply ? I think what outrages me the most is that some senior citizens are having to stand in line for hours just to get a number and hope that they are not too late. Why are there young people out there with underlying medical conditions who are having to call some of these places and are being told that they have already run out of the vaccination because they only had enough for 60 people? I was reading some of my daily b...

This afternoon I was chatting with my dad on the phone and he was talking about the shortage of the flu shot . He has called around town to find out where he and my mom can get a flu shot. Brunos, Costco and places like that will be giving shots if you meet the criteria of under 2 years old over 65 or with a chronic condition. Well I can understand rationing for the elderly or chronic patients. My dad found out that a friend of his who is in a nursing home for rehabilitation from a stroke will not be able to get a flu shot from his doctor or the nursing home. So, my dad and his friends wife will have to wait in line at Costco tomorrow between 10:00 am and 2:00pm so his elderly friend can get his flu shot. I think that if you are going to ration your flu shots then someone in a nursing home recovering from a stroke should not have to be packed up in a vehicle and driven to Costco and then wait in line half a damn day to get a flu shot. He cannot even go to his doctors office to get it....

I find this article interesting. I guess this product is for the caffeine dependent people out there. I am not sure if I personally would like this but it does sound like an interesting concept.

Earlier this evening I received an email from an old friend of mine. I had not heard from her in awhile but she said that she would be making a long move tomorrow back to Alabama to be closer to family and friends. I have known her and her sister for 19 years now. It is hard to believe that it has been that long. She is a great person now if only we can get her to blog that would be cool. It has been a few years since I have seen her but I am glad that she is making the move. I can't wait to get together with her next time I am home. I do not know when that will be but I will be looking forward to it whenever it is. Speaking of old friends. Another Old Friend of mine sent me a funny email yesterday. I may have sent this email to some of you but others I did not. So for those of you I did not email it to check it out. It is pretty funny. Art is sitting here watching the presidential debate. I personally think it is kind of boring but then again I have to work tomorrow. The...

When we were at Gnomedex this past weekend Adam Currys name was mentioned more than once during the panels. Who knew that a former mtv vj would someday have a blog? The scary thing about that is I remember when he was on MTV. In fact I was big into MTV from about 1983-1992.

It sounds like Mount Saint Helens will be erupting again. Everytime I look at the TV or look at the news on my computer they are always talking about Mount Saint Helens I was almost 10 years old when it erupted in 1980. When I was a kid I had a bottle of ash from Mount Saint Helens I thought that was pretty neat. I am kind of wiped out. We have been really busy at work since I got back from our trip on Sunday night. Some idiot called our fax machine last night at midnight and woke me up. You can ask Art about it he answered the phone. People keep calling here and asking for the same person named April who obviously does not want to be found. We keep telling the people that they have the wrong number but they keep calling back. I hope the person calls back tonight so now he will here the annoying noise of the fax machine. I will sleep well tonight because tomorrow is the end of my work week at least until Saturday when my new work week starts again.

Well Art and I made it home safe and sound last night. We were both wiped out pretty good when we arrived home. Our day started early headed to the airport then it was about a 3 or 4 hour plane ride and then 3 more hours in the car from Chicago. We arrived home about 8:30 pm last night. We had a good time in Tahoe this year. I am glad that we were able to attend this year. I think a big thanks goes out to Chris Pirillo , Lockergnome and everyone else who made Gnomedex 4 possible this year. Included would be Yahoo, Google, Paypal, Via and Major Geeks. Also, thanks to Jim from Noded who made mention of Art and Myself on his blog. I enjoyed meeting and talking with Jim. Well that is all I will say for now.

We are about half way thru the daytime events here in Tahoe. We just got back from lunch about a half hour ago. We ate lunch at Baja Fresh Mexican Grill. Wil Wheaton is the keynote speaker today. He is very funny and entertaining. I highly recommend you check out his blog. This years Gnomedex has been awesome. It has been a different format than previous years but I liked it anyway.

Well our sessions ended at 5:45 this afternoon. There were some interesting speakers today. I am looking forward to tomorrow when Wil Wheaton will be speaking. Right now this band is playing. They are pretty good. All in all we are having a pretty good time here in Tahoe. Although our trip is short we are enjoying ourselves and meeting lots of interesting people. More later. As soon as I can get some pictures off the digital camera I will post them.

Well we just got back from lunch about 45 minutes ago. We are back in Session now. Woz is speaking right now. He is interesting to listen to. Our Hotel is right on the Nevada California border. We ate lunch in California at a place called Cecils Steak and Brewery I think that was the name. The food was good. Art and I both had what is called a blta which is a blt with avocado on it. I am not one for avocados but there is so little on the sandwich you can barely taste it. This morning we had breakfast here at the hotel. More later.

Well we are in a break right now. Chris Dibona was a moderator on a panel about security. It was quite interesting to hear about the future of security. I think the next session is in about a half hour not sure. I will have to check the schedule. This place rocks. Although if you need cash the atms are kind of expensive. I have found the atms in the hotel casino tend to be more expensive than the ones a few blocks down the street.

Well here we are in Nevada at Gnomedex. We had a good flight out here and it was on time. We were treated to an in flight movie on the way over. We have had a good time so far. The hotel we are staying at is top notch. I could enjoy this place. We have a king size room and it has 2 bathrooms not 1 which was a surprise to me. As soon as Art takes some pictures I will post some on the old moblog. I am looking forward to tomorrow when the keynote speaker will be Steve Wozniak.

Well Art and I made it to Chicago in one piece. It took us about 3 hours from our house to the hotel in Des Plaines near the Airport. Tomorrow morning we fly out of O'hare International to here. I am so ready to go to Tahoe and have a good time. This is where we are staying in Tahoe this weekend. We ate dinner at a Mexican Restaurant tonight. It was fairly close to the hotel. I had Pollo Chihuahua. It was a lot of food and it was inexpensive. I will post more as I am able to from Tahoe. Art remembered the digital camera so I will post some pictures for everyone to see.

When I came home from work this afternoon I was doing my daily blog reading. An Old Friend of Mine Mike had posted that he and his wife went to Atlanta this weekend for a Braves Game and he was saying that they left at the buttcrack of dawn. I laughed so hard I almost cried because I had not seen or heard the term buttcrack of dawn in a longtime. He goes on to say that they went with another couple who work on a different time schedule than most people. Anyway, if you want to talk about early in the morning try this schedule that I have been working for the last month. I work Sat-Wed. Saturdays and Sundays I have to be at work at 6:00 am and Mon-Wed I don't have to be there till 7:00am. I did not think that an hour would make that much of a difference but it does. When I get home on Saturdays and Sundays I am ready to crash since my day starts so early. Early is Saturdays and Sundays when I leave my house at 5:30 am and it is still dark when I arrive at work and it stays dark a go...

A few weeks ago I blogged about Tears for Fears releasing a new album. They were on the Today show this morning. Art was thoughtful enough to tape it for me since I had to work today. Well, Art also told me about an Article in Entertainment Weekly that listed new albums coming out this year. I found out that one of my favorite 80's band is releasing an album on Oct 12. Yes all five original members of Duran Duran are touring and are releasing a new album. Simon Lebon, John Taylor Andy Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor. I will have to check out the album sometime to see if they sound the way I remembered that they did. I was interested to find this out. I never liked Duran Duran much after John, Andy and Roger Taylor left the band, but I am glad to hear that it is the original members touring. Speaking of 80's band as I was surfing the net I found this pretty neat link. You ought to check it out.

As I blogged about briefly last night we are headed to Tahoe next week for Gnomedex. I was reading Chris Pirillos blog tonight and found out that Patrick Norton formerly of the Screen Savers will be in Tahoe too. My first comment to Art was would Pat be wearing his utilikilt. 2 years ago we drove to St Louis when Pat and Leo were there. It was fun to meet them and that same year was our first trip to Gnomedex where Leo was a keynote speaker. Anyway, I am going to make this short since I have to work early tomorrow.

Art and I ate dinner last night at the Machine Shed in Davenport. Check out their menu it is in pdf format. Anyway, for those people not in the Quad Cities area the Machine Shed is a restaurant along the lines of a Cracker Barrel. They have a country store like the Cracker Barrel does. Anyway, on the subject of their food. It is served with bread, coleslaw and cottage cheese. As a kid I hated cottage cheese and up until last night I thought that I didn't like it but I tried and it is not so bad after all. I would eat it again. We ordered their white sheddar melts for an appetizer. They are like fried mozzarella only it is white cheddar cheese and it is served with barbque sauce or ranch dressing. Anyway, they are really good. Art ate the burnt ends and I had beer battered fried shrimp. The shrimp were huge. Well this time next week we will be in Tahoe for Gnomedex . I cannot wait. I am ready to go tomorrow if I could but I do have to work for 4 days next week before w...

When I was growing up we used to visit old friends of the family who had a beach house on Okaloosa Island. They do not live there now but have kept it as a second home for a number of years. Unfortunately, Hurricane Ivan decided that he did not like the decor and redecorated it. In his wake he left 18 inches of water in the downstairs mixed with some slime and some fish. He also sent debris into the roof of the upstairs bedroom and left even more water. From my understanding there is quite a bit of damage but they are going to redo the house yet again. They had to make some repairs to the downstairs 9 years ago after Hurricane Opal. Well anyway, I was just remembering the last time that I visited the beach house was 15 years ago. I had just graduated from High School and my parents took me and my best friend Teresa to the beach. That was a memorable trip we stayed in these condos. The condos are not far from the family friends beach house. They have had this house as long as I can re...

I heard this story on the news the other night. This gives new meaning to showing your school spirit. After the story was over the news anchor made the joke at least they didn't name one of the children hawkeye. The joke reminded me of our next door neighbors who have a black lab who is named hawkeye.

The other day I was ranting about how I can't get any good stone ground grits in the middle of the cornfield that we live in. Well I was wrong. I made the shrimp and grits for dinner and used the yellow corn grits. It was very good. I would use them again. Last time I made this dish it did not turn out so good because I overcooked the shrimp. Not this time. For anyone who loves grits and has never tried this dish it is outstanding. The other night I was watching this new show on nbc called Medical Investigation. It is actually a pretty good show. At the end of Friday nights show this song was playing. I told Art it is kind of interesting that this song was used in the show. It was the same version that is on the Donnie Darko Soundtack. Oh and Before I forget Roll Tide.

The other day I was complaining because you cannot buy white stoneground grits around here. The reason why I complain about this is because we live pretty much smack in the middle of a cornfield and grits are made from corn. There are cornfields on nearly every corner. You can buy yellow corngrits , quick grits or those godforsaken instant grits. I finally settled on buying the yellow corn grits to make shrimp and grits for dinner this weekend. I will let you know how the recipe turns out with the yellow grits. I either am going to have to order what I want online or import them from another state. My money is on importing them.

I just told Art that I probably was not going to post anything tonight and then I read this article. Well anyway needless to say I found blogging material when I was not even looking. I liked the original movie. It might be because one of m y favorite actors was in the movie. Anyway, it might be interesting to see an updated version of the movie. It is hard to believe how technologically advanced the world has gotten since this movie was made.

I have 2 gmail invites up for grabs. Please email me at suzy1270@yahoo.com and put Gmail in the Subject line and I will hook you up. Or you can comment here either way I need a name and email address to send the invite.

Well on the way home from work today I saw something interesting. I was driving down avenue of the cities in Moline on my way to the grocery store. I passed by this restaurant that we really like called Yadi's. It was a fast food Greek restaurant owned by our neighbors across the street. Anyway, when I passed by I noticed the name on the sign had changed. It is now some family diner type place. I should say that when we moved here 3 years ago it was a diner that was open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I also noticed the sign says open breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Maybe this is a good thing. Unfortunately, they do not have a website that I can post. Art does not know this yet because he was asleep when I got home today. He will be stoked. We used to go to breakfast at this restaurant when it was Two Young Brothers. It just changed to Yadi's late last year because Art and I remember when they were remodeling the place. Tonight for dinner I am baking Salmon. I know we eat a ...

When I came home from work today Art was watching Grosse Point Blank. After it went off Donnie Darko came on so we watched it again. It is an interesting Movie. While watching the credits I heard a song that sounded familiar, but I couldn't figure out who did the song the first time. The Song is called Mad World. Well after some looking around Art figured out that the song was done by Tears for Fears in 1983. It was off this album. Well color me shocked when I had the information right in front of me. What are the odds that I would blog about Tear For Fears last night and then see a movie today that has a song from one of their early albums?

I used to listen to these guys in high school. It is hard to believe that their last album came out over 15 years ago. I sampled some of the songs off the new album. Not bad but not how I remember them 15 years ago. This album was one of my favorites. Sowing the seeds of Love was another good album from Tears For Fears. I think I just aged myself with this post but anyway, it is good to hear that Tears For Fears are back recording again. I wish some of my other favorite bands from the 80's were still together. Speaking of 80's bands Duran Duran was another band that I liked back then. I haven't kept up with them but I was a huge fan of Duran Duran in middle and high school. Anyway, I am just sitting here on amazon.com sampling some old school Duran Duran. I made this tasty dish for dinner. Thanks to a post from webgrits for putting the recipe on her blog. I am going to cut this short since the Alabama game is about to come on TV. Roll Tide.

Texas Roadhouse Art and I went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. One thing I like about the place is they play country music. While we were eating dinner a song was playing that sounded familiar. It was an Old Elton John Song called Tiny Dancer. After listening to it I told Art that sounds like Tim McGraw well low and behold it was. After much searching to find the song online I realized that I have the album that the song is on. It is a pretty good album. Anyway, after dinner Art had to stop at Borders Books and Music searching for a song we heard in Texas Roadhouse it was called Cotton Eyed Joe and apparently there are quiet a few remakes of the song. The version we heard was by a group called Rednex. Anyway, Art actually liked the song. I had heard a version of the song a few years ago but not sure who did it. I would describe the music as country meets techno. The scary thing is that I liked the song too. Art and I tend to disagree on most music. There a few artists that we bo...

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate...... As Art Blogged the other day the bunnies are doing fine. They can see now. Art had them out and was playing with them this afternoon. Today was a half day at work for me because of the holiday. It was a voluntary shift. Yes, I worked on a Holiday if you can believe it. Tomorrow is another day and my week is already half over. I was doing my daily blog reading this afternoon and read this article courtesy of webgrits. Sounds like Jeopardy may be getting another champ. Well I will keep this short and sweet tonight. Looks like Dubya is writing his own speeches again. Another blurb for Dubya Speak. With all the money they spend on mudslinging you would think he could hire a decent speechwriter.

Well today was a pretty good day I was wiped out yesterday after work. I am wiped again today but I will be working for a few hrs tomorrow. It is a holiday I know but the shift is voluntary. I will go in early and leave early. Probably only work half a day tomorrow. But my week will be half over tomorrow too. I am going to go now because I have to feed the cat. More later.

As Art blogged about earlier we went to the Putnam Museum to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Imax. I have to admit I enjoyed it. It has probably been 10-15 years since I have seen a movie in Imax. If you get the chance it is a fun experience.

As I posted earlier today it is Olivia's birthday. I had to call her and wish her a happy birthday. She was so cute she had to tell me everything that she got for her birthday. My mother said her party was almost a three ring circus. They invited 19 children all age 4. Her other grandparents brought everything but Barnum and Bailey .

Today is Olivia's 4th birthday. Happy Birthday From Aunt Suzy and Uncle Art. I checked my email this morning and had this picture from my brother in law. My mom and dad gave her the bicycle for her birthday. She also started school last week. I Hope she is enjoying it and eating lots of cake. Not much for me to say except for happy birthday to my niece.