I Always Wondered What They Did Out There!!

I've always wondered what my husband and son did all day when they went duck hunting.

They get up in the wee hours of the night and head for the swamp long before daylight. They dress in warm, camo clothing and load the truck full of duck decoys. Then they're gone all morning. They get home mid-afternoon. Their noses are red and they're hungry. The dog (presently that dog is Suzy, our 2 year old black lab) is excited to be home but quickly crashes on her end of the couch and snores away the rest of the day.

Sometimes they bring home some ducks they have shot. But many days they don't. Those days there are always plenty of stories of what went wrong, or how it just didn't feel right to shoot at the ducks that found their way into their decoys. Either way, I always wondered what the heck was going on out there in the swamp. Now I know I'm not the only one......

Shhh... It's quiet for now....

I'm home alone tonight. Hubby is out of town for work - for the second night in a row. The peace and quiet is wonderful. I am not a TV watcher but he is, so when he is gone the house is silent and I enjoy every single second of silence. Especially when I know that tomorrow is going to bring plenty of noise. But - it's the kind of noise I like. Not only will Jon be home, but our son, Steve, will be home, too. He's been away at college for the past 2 weeks and I miss him already. We have a wedding to go to on Saturday, so he had to come home to go to that.

It's strange but when Steve is home the house is screaming, noise coming from every direction. Even when he is sleeping. He has always been our exuberant one. Excitement, activity and chaos - perfect words to describe Steve. He just likes to have fun. And fun requires noise...

It's no wonder his major is criminal justice; with plans to be on a SWAT Team, or DEA, or some other exciting, busy "Team". He completed an internship this summer with a police department and loved every second of it. He spent a lot of time "networking" with the officer who was also a member of the Metro SWAT Team. He even pulled a couple double shifts, just so he could spend more time with the SWAT guy. His last day at his internship he got to go and work out with the SWAT Team. They even let him spend some time on the shooting range and gave him some great tips. Someone recently asked me if his career choice scared me. I told them "Nothing scares me when it comes to Steve. I learned a long time ago to just relax. Worrying will do no good and I'd spend my whole life worrying if I worried about Steve."

So... in the meantime I'm going to sit back, relax and enjoy the stillness of the night. For tomorrow it's going to be "The Boys Are Back in Town".

Hot Veggie Wrap for Dinner

Oh man - who would have thought I'd have such a great dinner??!! Hubby, Jon, is out of town which means I usually just munch on whatever for dinner. Tonight, though, I looked into the fridge and saw a bunch of good fresh, garden veggies that needed to be used or they'd have to be pitched.

My mom has the garden and she loves to share her yellow squash, zucchini and tomatoes with us. I sliced them all up nice and thin; sliced up some mushrooms and onions and heated up some olive oil in a pan. Once the oil was hot I sauteed all those veggies and then added some basil and oregano from my herb garden. Then, I dumped the rest of some homemade Italian dressing (about a tablespoon) in the pan and got it all good and hot. Then I took 2 tortilla wraps and laid a slice of pepperjack cheese on each and piled the veggies on. Wow!

Lucky for me I have enough of everything to have a repeat for lunch tomorrow at work!!

Back to School is Total Chaos!!

I've been back to school for 2 weeks now - and it has been total chaos. I work in a high school guidance office and school starts for the students on Tuesday. Well... it's always chaotic those first 2 weeks getting everything ready for that first day. But this year there's a whole new twist to it all. We had a fire on June 1st in our gym. Nobody was injured - Thank God! We lost our gym, cafeteria, radio station, tv production room, 5 classrooms and locker rooms.

We'll be using modular units (trailers) to replace those areas for the entire school year. At the end of the year last year we finished out the year working in the middle school library. When I went back to work this year we were in our own space - but of course, working around construction crews, etc. Then three days into it - the internet and phone cable was cut. Back to the middle school we went.

It's been close to impossible to do all we need to do. I mean, everything I need to do has half of the info in the high school so it's been back and forth, back and forth. When I get home I'm so exhausted mentally I can't cook or take Suzy for her 2-mile rehab walk. I sit on my deck and veg out until my "boys" get home. Then we figure out dinner and I sit on the couch until bedtime.

Last night, in honor of it being Friday, we headed to our favorite Mexican place for dinner and margaritas. That gave me the "boost" I needed for the weekend. Today will be filled with some family bonding time before we move Steve back to college for his senior year. In high school Steve was not much of an academic and I was sending him off to college with some trepidation. I was almost certain he'd be home after one semester, not having been able to cut it. He surprised me in the best way possible - he not only completed his first semester of college successfully - but with over a 3.0 gpa! He has continued to do better in class than he did in high school, all while being President of the Hunting/Shooting Club, a member of a fraternity, and on the baseball team. Due to injuries he has opted to not play baseball this year. This will be the first time since he was 5 years old I won't be watching him play baseball.

Anyways.... back to my chaotic school year. Most parents have been very understanding when I am unable to provide them with their student's transcripts and other records. I have encountered other school districts that don't seem to understand, or maybe it's just they don't care, that I can't immediately fax over information on students who have withdrawn from our school and are enrolling in their's. I did return to the high school yesterday afternoon to work, just because I couldn't stand being so isolated any longer. As I walked into my quiet, yet chaotic, high school office, the tech guy was just plugging in my phone. I have phone service!! When it rang, it made me jump - I hadn't heard that sound in 2 weeks! Computer service is still unavailable, but we're hoping by Monday we'll be back to business as usual!

The administration is adamant that school will begin on time. Tuesday is the official start date for the students. Everyone - keep your fingers crossed. I sure hope they are right!!

My baby is 1/4 century old!

Twenty-five years ago I was anticipating the birth of my first child, she arrived on August 19th at 12:13 p.m. Weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 oz., the beginning of my life as a Mom! My daughter has been nothing but joy in my life these past 25 years.

Yesterday we got the family together and celebrated. In typical "Kristal Fashion" she requested a good old-fashioned picnic to celebrate, with my killer mint brownies for dessert. Of course it was 95 degrees in the shade and horribly humid, but we all were good sports and had a picnic outside for her. We did manage to convince her that dessert inside in the air was a super idea. Her and her husband are just beginning to enjoy wine - so of course her gift was wine and a really cool wine rack for her counter.

Kristal loves cows - and we have discovered a local winery that has a wine called "Mad Cow". It's a sweet, white wine and she loves it. That's what she's holding up and looking at in the pic.

We had a great day, enjoyed with the family. The next get together will be Labor Day and hopefully it'll be a little bit cooler!

Three Dog Night!

About a month ago my daughter asked if we could dog-sit for her and her hubby while they went on vacation. No problems there - I love their little buff-colored cocker spaniel, Maggie. Then my husband informs me that this was the weekend we go to "Waterfowlers Bootcamp". This is a show for waterfowlers aka duck hunters. We load up the camper, our dogs and head to Marengo, Ohio for a weekend filled with everything about duck hunting. I go along for the food and camping aspect, I don't duck hunt.

So, we just hauled little Maggie along with us and our two labs. Our camper is a little pop-up camper - nothing elaborate and not much room. Lucky for us it did not rain! Our 21 year old son opted not to go this year as he's doing an internship with a police department and things are going very well. Turns out this was a good thing - we needed his bed space for the dogs.

Sunday afternoon we packed up and left for our 2 hour drive home around noon. At about 12:45 one of the "fellow hunters" called my husband - we had to go back to the show - our son's name was drawn for the grand prize! So, back we go - the grand prize was so much loot we had to call our son to drive the pick-up truck down to haul it all home! He won a one-man lay-out boat, tons of decoys, artwork, clothing, hunting bags, several guided hunts, dog-training "stuff". Basically - everything you need to hunt ducks/geese except a gun and dog. He was quite excited - he loves to hunt and now he has an excellent start to his own collection of gear, rather than using his dad's stuff.

We're back home now and today I need to get everything unpacked and cleaned up. Next weekend we leave for the mountains of Virginia - but with 2 dogs only.

Weekend of Wine and Food!

Oh Boy! What a weekend we had! Friday morning we got up and headed for Dayton/Cincinnati for a weekend of wine and good eats. Jon and I and his cousin, Barb and spouse, Tim hit the road together.

First stop - Wright/Patterson Airforce Museum in Dayton. There was a special "behind the scene" tour and we got to tour the hangar where there are many planes in the process of being restored. One of those is Memphis Belle. Our tour guide was an old hand at her volunteer job and she was very knowledgeable. Both Jon and Tim are very much into military planes. I don't really have much interest in the planes, but it was still fun.

Next stop - a great Mexican Restaurant - El Picante in Loveland, Ohio. We are good friends with the owner of a Mexican Restaurant near our house and his brother-in-law, who we know also, works at the location in Loveland. Food was good, atmosphere great, and service even better! Azael was so happy to see us! We enjoyed a few pitchers of frozen margaritas and I had a great shrimp dinner with onions, zucchini and yellow squash. We rolled on out of there and headed for our hotel.

Saturday was to be a day of hitting wineries. Jon had mapped out our gameplan. First winery he had down the hours were 8 am - 8 pm, so we arrived at 9:45 ready to sample some wine. The sign on the door said the hours were 11 am to 8 pm, but the door was open. Not being the shy sort I walked in and hollered out "Hello" until someone came out from the back. The man said he could arrange for us to have a tasting even though they really weren't open. First he let us in the cellar to tour the place. Very interesting and we got some fun pictures that are, of course, still on Barb's camera so I can't post any here. We bought a case of wine between us and headed off to the next winery. The second winery was a quaint little place located in a house. We had lunch there and some excellent cheese and breads. We bought several bottles there as well.

Then we headed off to the next one. This winery not only makes wine but is Ohio's only micro-distillery. We've been there before and they do make a mean vodka. I really want to try their bourbon, but they can't offer samples there and I didn't want to spend $90 on something I may not like. She gave us a list of what bars/restaurants sell their beverages so maybe next time we're in the area.....

The fourth and final winery that we made it to had beautiful grounds and nice patios and decks where you could sit and view the great scenery. All in all we both ended up with a case of great Ohio wines.

Dinner that night was to be at Pappadeaux's. A great cajun seafood place. I had stuffed shrimp that were fabulous! We all left stuffed, yet managed to stop and have dessert and coffee. I was miserable by bedtime. Why can't I learn not to stuff myself so much??!!

Sunday morning we got up and nobody wanted breakfast. So, we headed to Jungle Jim's. Jungle Jim's is a Foodie Delight! It is a HUGE place that houses a regular grocery store, and every kind of food you can imagine! Their seafood dept. actually has aquariums with live fish in them. You pick out what you want and they get it for you - can't get any fresher than that! I think every country is represented and they sell foods and spices and oils you can't find in most stores. Their beer and wine departments are phenomenal! The bakery was great! We passed a counter where an Asian man was placing packages of sushi. I really never had tried sushi before and was curious. He said he had just made these up and they were very fresh and very good. I bought a seafood combo with 4 different kinds: smoked salmon, eel, yellowfin tuna, and shrimp. I brought them home so my son, Steve, could have them. He's had sushi before and liked it. He said this was the best he'd ever had. To me, it was OK, but I won't go looking for more.

All in all it was a great, fun weekend spent with people we love to spend time with, doing what we love best - eating and drinking!

Day One

Hi! I recently joined up on AllRecipes.com and blog there, but decided to give this a shot as well. So many people there say they use this site to blog,then move it over to the other place.

My thoughts are usually pretty random. I like to write about my family, pets, and food; not necessarily in that order. They're all important to me and I love them all dearly. So, guess I'll start out with just rambling on about each.

My family: I'm married to a great guy, it'll be 29 years on October 17th. The year we got married, Sweetest Day fell on our wedding day. I had never even heard of Sweetest Day until the day we went to order our invitations. I am not really into those "Hallmark" holidays, so that didn't really thrill me much. My husband is a duck hunter, which if anyone knows, hunting season for ducks generally opens around that date. And, in 1981, that was Opening Day. Why did I choose October 17th for my day? My husband went hunting that morning, and still made it to the wedding on time! We have two great kids - they are now 24 and 21. My daughter (24) is married and lives nearby. My son is in college about an hour away. We're a close-knit family and get together often. I have both parents living nearby and one of my four siblings. My brother and other sister live a little further away (one is about 3 hours away and the other is 1,400 miles).

My pets: I love animals and if it weren't for my husband I would have a ton of them! As it is we have two cats, two dogs, two birds and one iguana. The iguana really isn't mine, but I love him anyways. Paulie belongs to my son, so I'm the "Iguana Mama" while he's away at school.

Food: What can I say? I love to make it, eat it, read about it, whatever!

So ends my first blog on here. Looking forward to lurking around the site and writing more later!