It's not Halloween!

Noel wanted a facial too!  What a hoot!

New East Lansing Burger Joint

We had supper tonight at a new East Lansing burger joint called Bagger Dave's.  I had a BLT and I believe it is the best one I've ever had.  It was served on sour dough bread and in addition to the usual BLT and mayo, it also had guacamole in it.  I added a side of very thin and crispy sweet potato fries. Yum yum!

Too Good To Be True

I went to Meijer today to buy a vegetable scrapper.  I expected it to cost 79 cents.  Ha!  $7.79!!!  While I was debating with myself whether I really needed a vegetable scrapper, I saw and was intrigued by a small rubber kitchen thingie.  It was labeled as an egg poacher.  I love poached eggs but hate the messy protein cleanup in the pan.  It was less costly than the vegetable scraper so I bought it.  I washed it and decided poached eggs sounded great for supper.  The directions on the package were in French.  I did have a couple of years of high school French and the Latin roots should have helped me translate,  but NOT!   As near as I could tell, the eggs went into the yellow thingie and and yellow thingie went into boiling water for about 5 minutes.  After 12 minutes, the eggs were still very slimy so I gave up with the yellow thingie. 

So, So Sorry, Shirley

We had an empty seat at our sewing group today.  Our friend, Shirley, was called urgently to California this week.  Her seven-year old grand daughter had cancer surgery.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you.  We miss you but know what a comfort it must be to your son and daughter-in-law to have you there.

OK, I am an Apple convert!

I have had my Droid HTC phone for nearly two years.  I have loved it from the moment I got it - the internet access, the calendar,and all of the other features I use.  I recently received an email from Verizon reminding me that I would be eligible for a phone upgrade on April 14th.  They also very kindly suggested a new iPhone.  I looked at iPhones several years ago, but because then you had to use AT&T, I said no.

Several weeks ago, my grandson became the owner of an iPad.  I have played with it and love the intuitiveness of operation and the camera and graphics.

So.......while I was at the Verizon store (only to browse) at new phone options, I was directed to the new iPhone with its voice-activated messaging plus many other options. The salesman went so very kindly through the finer points of the phone. Needless to say, I now own a new iPhone, without AT&T, and with a lower monthly cellular bill!  I am a so impressed with this phone and the iPad that I imagine my next computer may be a Apple product!

I'm Smokin'!!

Today, although very chilly, the sun was out, so.......I set up the smoker and smoked salmon.  I had a few rough bumps with the smoker (directly related to my ability to read directions). The smoker works by feeding wood bisquettes onto a heating creating the smoke.  Each bisquette will smoke for 20 minutes.  I did not add enough bisquettes to the chimney and for about 20 minutes, there was not smoking going on.  The salmon turned out pretty good.  I am not sure what I will do with it.  I smoked two huge fillets!  It tastes pretty good.  Tomorrow night, I will make smoked salmon pasta salad.

My Bradley Smoker

I completed my chores and shopped for my meat. By Friday, I was absolutely ready to season and use my new smoker for the first time.  I planned to smoke salmon and chicken for my trial run.  Mother Nature has not been cooperative.  It has rained every day since I put the smoker outside.  I ended up roasting the chicken for dinner Sunday and will need to have the salmon today or tomorrow.  It can't rain forever, right?

In the olden days.....

I remember my elementary teachers showing us, repetitively, how to diagram sentences.  Nouns, verbs, conjunctions and prepositional phrases.  Noel is having some difficulty at school with speech related to those things.  No surprise, sentence diagramming died near about the time of dinosaurs so the very young teacher says.....). But that's OK.  There is an even cooler way to learn grammar.....it's an iPad app called Sentence Builder.  Beth and Billy are being very proactive and have engaged Sylvan Learning Center teachers as tutors for Noel.  I will be his transportation twice per week.  After his very first visit, he left the center singing and skipping.  Last night on the way home, he said, "Grandma, I love Sylvan!"  They used iPads (his current most favorite thing) and the Sentence Builder app.  I downloaded it for him today on his iPad as a surprise. I am very impressed with Sylvan.

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Easter Sunday

It was a relaxed, easy kind of day.  Lots of sun, wind but not particularly warm  I worked most of the day putting the binding on this quilt.

Beth and Billy had a family Easter dinner.  It was a great meal.....ham, mashed potatoes, corn, broccoli, applesauce and blueberry pie for dessert.  It was wonderful to eat someone else's cooking!

Les Miserables

I thoroughly enjoyed Les Miserables at the MSU Wharton Center today with friends.  The talent and passion were incredible!

Rachel Ray's Ground Turkey Meatloaf

I like using ground turkey rather than ground beef, but for meatloaf, it has always been too dry and crumbly...... not at all good for cold meatloaf sandwiches.  While I was in Florida, we watched a Rachel Ray program where she made ground turkey meatloaf but had interesting ingredients to keep it moist and hold together.  In addition to the usual bread crumbs and eggs, her recipe also includes shredded carrots.  I added two teaspoons of horseradish for a little zip (and an equal amount of minced garlic just because).  The end product was a nice firm, very tasty meatloaf.  Thanks, Rachel Ray!

The final day of spring break.....

Noel has such a wide variety of interests.  He wanted me to take him to a shooting range.  I picked one out close to home, but he talked me into going to the MSU Demmer Archery and Shooting range.  What a wonderful facility.  For $15, he spent three hours shooting, some of the time with members of the MSU archery team.  There were two instructors present who were very keen on safety and took the time to provide personal instruction.  It's another awesome facility at MSU!

His Own iPad

Noel has been talking about having an iPad for weeks.  He now has an iPad2 and it has become his best friend.  In the first few minutes he had it, he found a notepad and began to list his spelling words....great use of the device!  Of course, the first evening he had it, the internet service was out and he was very limited.  This morning, he found movies and tonight he bought a game to play.  He is treating it respectfully and seems to be grateful to have. Tonight, he fell asleep in the chair with it.  When he's happy, Gram is happy! 

Spring Break 2012

Some people travel to warm places for spring break.  Noel is spending his spring break with me!  Yesterday, he went fishing in the pond out back.  No bites, no fish.  But, he "accidentally" kicked his shoe off in the pond, totally snafu'd the fishing line so badly I had to cut it (twice) and during his last cast, half the pole went with the line into to pond!  He said he had a good time fishing!!

He's such an angel....when he's asleep!

Finished the Spools Quilt Top with Applique Border

Edyta Sitar designs beautiful quilt patterns. I finished the Spools Quilt top at the retreat this weekend including a machine appliqued border.