ok, I didn't really go on vacation this weekend. I mostly just stayed around the house. Boring, I know, but hey. At least I got some cleaning done on top of some other things. I managed to fill out all of my rebate forms and get them ready in their envelopes. Now I just need to get the UPCs, and I'll be ready to scan and mail them. One of them is for the new webcam I got, so that I am up to three cams at JerseyCam. The only bad part is that Juliet, my Mac, seems to be very sick. I was having problems with files and her system, and now she seems to be down for the count. I think the problem is a bad battery, so once I pick up a new one, I will try that out and we will see what happens. Since I never really shut her down, I can understand how the battery lasted 9 years, and I'm hoping that being off and not plugged in for a few weeks is the cause of it. Since she is down, Cam 1 is down as well, as the picture isn't the same when I run it through my PC. Hopefully she'll be back up and running soon, as I miss her, and while I'm not a shortage of places to find parts, I've never had any of my macs get so sick they couldn't be repaired. So head on over and check out the new cam, which is for the living room, and tell me what you think.

So on Saturday, I decided to use the veal sausage I got from the store to make a big pot of gravy. I also threw in some yummy pork pieces, but forgot the loin end, so there were no bones to really flavor it. Oh well. It cooked very well, and I was snacking on it all day as it cooked. I even had it for dinner tonight, along with some pasta. I also made some meals for the next three-four weeks, so I'm good in that arena.

After last weeks fiasco with the septic system/ground hog, I finally got some laundry done. For those that don't know, I had a clog in my septic line. This caused the water to back up and there is an ingenious pipe below my porch that will dump any backed up water, rather than it backing all the way up to a sink or toilet. This is a good system. Except when a groundhog.woodchuck decides to build a nest under your front porch. What happened was all the water went into his hole, and since he was right next to the foundation of the house, the water found a easy route, and came in through a hole in the foundation into the basement. So when I went downstairs to get some food last Saturday while doing laundry, I see water just pouring into the basement. This left me in a pickle, since it was late Saturday, and Sunday is $$$$ for a plumber. I came to the conclusion that the problem was the septic tank being full, as I have been asking for the past three years to get it pumped, and it never has. So Sunday I went to Home Depot and purchased some pipes so that I could divert the water away from the hole, and have it head towards the street. It would at least allow me to shower, which was a good thing, and since it is considered "gray water", it's good for the lawn, which sucked up most of the water. Of course, since Mario designed the porch, it was a pain to remove all the lattice work to get under the porch. On a lucky note, after deciding to purchase some Tyvex jumpsuits for my car, in the off chance I needed to do something while wearing nice clothes, they came in very handy while crawling under my porch to attach the pipes. Monday the septic guy came out, and pumped the tank which was only half full. They then ran a snake through the main pipe, and found the clog, which was the main culprit. At least I know that after 6 years, during which the house was occupied by two people for three years, I only managed to half fill our, and I quote the septic guy, "huge" tank.

So this weekend I did some more laundry, and the lines seem to be very clear now. Now for those who may not know, I picked up a little friend two weeks ago. He doesn't have a name, as I haven't thought of one. He is very helpful around the house, and cleans up after me. What is he? He's a Roomba! Here's a picture:
Say what you will about these things, but they are GREAT. The biggest problem I have is the hair, dust, and hay that I bring in from outside. Well, this little guy just goes banging around and finds all the crap, and cleans it up. When he's done, he travels back towards his charging baselin, lines up, and parks himself to re-charge. I mean how cool is that? I decided he was a guy b/c he likes to drive headlong into everything. He does it so much, I sewed him a little bumper guard to prevent any scrapes. The cats hate him, but they will come from upstairs to follow it around, then run+jump away when it comes near them. I think Dummy is starting to realize it won't hurt him, and has let it get closer. Some users report that their pets learn how to turn theirs on, and run around an play with them, so I probably have to look forward to that.

Other than those bombshells, nothing much has been going on. OK, it's near 12:30, and I have to be up in 5 hours. Talk to you all later.

so what did I do this weekend? Well, Friday I took the day off to get some stuff done that I will need to do in the upcoming months. Mostly I went through my files/folders to pull the 2007 receipts I will need for my taxes which will be coming up in April. I also got a good amount of shopping done, mostly for the dinner I was going to be making for my mom on Sunday. I decided to make a brined turkey breast, along with a order of my smashed potatoes. I got home and did some cleaning and some other stuff.

Saturday, I decided it was a me day. I stayed in all day, and prepped the brine for the turkey breast. My Dad came in, and wanted me to sew a piece of his glove back on, so I pulled the sewing machine from it's corner, and did some quick repairs. After he left, I got the urge to complete the enclosure idea I had for the bottom of my sewing desk so that no oil leaks out, and no dust starts gumming up the works. I spent the next few hours making a mess around the house assembling it. I went to put it on the desk, and realized that since the hole I cut in the desk was off center by ~.25 inches, I didn't have the necessary clearance I needed to put the cover on with the legs. I took the leg off that was crowding it, and in a testament to how much of a loser I am, I was out at 9pm on a Saturday with a grinder taking metal off of the leg. I brought it back indoors, needed more off, went back out, and then it fit. I just need some "L" brackets to stick it on the bottom of the desk with, and to treat the sides of the cover, which are wood, with something to keep any leaking oil from soaking in. I also solved the problem of the low flow out to the barn, so it's a whole lot easier to water the horses again. I went to bed early, because Sunday was just jammed packed.

Sunday I woke up early, got my breakfast on, and started outside. I fed,watered,hayed, and then got ready to go to my Mom's. I had almost everything set aside and organized, and except for a pair of tongs, I didn't forget a thing. Then the Sunday curse kicked in. First, the power switch on my razor broke, which meant I couldn't turn it off. I would have let it run itself down, but that might have over-heated it, so I ended up having to open it, and break off one of the battery contacts to silence it. Now I just have to figure out how to fix it, or get another razor. I loaded up my car with all of my cooking tools and the food, which evoked a nostalgia from happier times, and started off. While on my way, I had to divert to pick up some cranberry sauce, which with just going into the store and buying it took 20 minutes, made me late. I arrived, got the oven ready, rinsed and dried the bird, stuck it with a probe thermo, and threw it in the oven. I admit I mis-judged the time it would take to cook, and made the potatoes too soon, but they were still good. The turkey decided to crawl it's last 15 degrees, but it was finally done. Everyone said it tasted good, but I think it could have used more sugar. I helped clean the bird off, threw that in a bag for the barn wiggles, and sat down to watch the Giants/Green Bay game. Because it was so close, I didn't leave until the game was done, which was like 10:30. I got home, changed into warmer clothes, fed the horses, and came back inside to pretty much crash b/c it was so late. I still have to clean the house and do some dishes, which I may do tonight.

Other than that, nothing much is going on. OK, I should get back to work.


And now, because all of my quotes are on one of my flash drives and I never want to search for it as I write my entries,

Quote For Today:
Scotty: "What do you mean, you're dumping me?"
Fiona: "Scott, I just can't take all the lying and cheating on each other anymore."
Scotty: "What are you talking about? Sweetie, I never cheated on you."
Fiona: "I know. That's what makes this so hard."
Eurotrip, 2004

Below are the Easter desserts for this year.


This is a chocolate strawberry cheesecake. It has a chocolate crust with a layer of sliced strawberries on top of that. The filling is a standard cheesecake filling. My problems with it so far are that I forgot to parchment paper the bottom of the pan, and the crust went wonky and crumbled too much, and I'm not sure if I cooked it long enough. Since I modified my oven last week, I've been on a learning curve when it comes to baking.


This is a Splenda apple pie I baked for Kari's family for their Easter if Kari ever shows up here today to pick up her stuff. I promised her Dad I would make him another one, and I never did. My problem with this pie is that I screwed up on the lattice top crust. Again, problems only I seem to care about and people tell me I shouldn't. Oh well.

Hoppy Easter All.

OK, so below is this years test cheesecake. I am awaiting feedback from a panel of testers. Who comprises that panel, I have no clue.