Thursday, October 28, 2010

Baton Rouge 2010

The month I traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to visit my mom and her husband, Bob. It was a fun visit and one day we took a little road trip to a neighboring parrish (Louisiana version of a county) and took a tour of this little home. It's a cute place where Bob's daughter lives right across of the street from the levee in Iberville. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, kitchen, and lovely front and back porches, all on forty acres. I understand there is a lake somewhere and plenty of land for hunting, although we didn't get back that far. The yard is also covered in huge, lovely pecan trees. Pecans cover the yard. Mom and Bob share a lovely home in Baton Rouge, but Thanksgiving is usually here where everyone has lots of space to play. My sweet baby brother and me!

A view of the mighty Mississippi from the top of the levee across the street from the little house.

Mom and Bob on the porch. Bob is a super ice guy and we get along great!
The weather was absolutely lovely, about 80 or so everyday and sunny. I can't wait to feel some nice warm rays of sun again. Here's a view of the nice cows we met grazing on the levee. What a life!
I hope to live someplace like this one day!

Happy Birthday Madeline and Grandma!

Happy Birthday to Madeline and me! Valli and Madeline came to Alaska for the birthdays and we had big fun! These less than award winning photos don't even to do the big party justice! Here's Madeline in her new jammies reading my new coookbook from Jenny. She loved the pictures of the food and kept saying "oooo"! Yummy cupcakes!
Reading with Mommy! It's Pajama Time! (The book, that is.)
Blowing out the candle with Grandma! Fun was had by all. Too bad you can't see our very cool Birthday Party headbands but Madeline didn't realize how pretty and cool it was and kept ripping it out. That and the cuter pictures had lots of messy kitchen background.

It was a fun time!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

How to Replace your Hard Drive

Assemble your tools: screwdriver to remove screws, replacement hard drive, and tape for mouth if things get out of control. Fortunately, tape was not needed. Unplug, unscrew and rip off the top plastic cover.
Unscrew the old one and plug in the new one.
Replace cover and plug back together.
Run recovery software disks for Windows. Wait two days for appt. with the help desk (that would be tomorrow at 10 am) to replace all the necessary software and totally re-image to actually be able to do necessaary work. Fortunately, I have enough programs on the Internet now that I could access several work programs and my online email and still be able to work. I don't know what I was worried about. I mean, if a guy can do it....and I even read the directions!

Use it Up Wear it Out Make it Do or Do Without!

Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme, but my 23 year old waterless cookwear has needed new knobs and handles for ages! The handles were so loose that we were constantly spilling food and scalding ourselves as they tilted and wobbled. And someone always seemed to catch me in the act as I tried to use the nearest knife to tighten them up! Voila! I finally went to the website and ordered new knobs and handles - since they have a lifetime warranty I only had to pay $35 for the shipping and my lovely pots and pans are as good as new! I believe they will last another 23 years.
No more spaghetti noodles going down the drain!