Uncle Grayhawk's Front Porch

As tasty as expected. I overcooked the beans a little in the first round; may try steaming instead of boiling next time I do it.

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This was fan-friggen-tastic. Tasty. meaty. easy. Can't wait to make this one again
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Not much, how 'bout you? I'm not sure why I called...

Ok, enough o' that crap.

Yes, I know I've done that before, but not recently, and I'm not firing on all cylinders right now, so go soak your head. ;-)

Anyway, this is likely to get long and rambly, and before it's all said and done, I may put it behind a cut.

So, lemme start out with some administrivia. Please give a warm welcome to rainlust who found me through the ljover30 community. Pull up a chair and help yourself to somethin' to drink. I generally suggest that people read this post if they want to know more about me.

mousecat0: Normally I start out talking about me (this is *my* LJ after all), but this needs to be put out there first. For the last month/month-and-a-half or so, my lovely wife has been having problems with her left arm. Shooting pain, numbness, etc. She saw one of the docs in one of the buildings she manages, who recommended she see a specialist. Long story short, they believe she has a pinched nerve in her neck causing the problem. They put her on a relatively short steroid regimen and prescription ibuprofen, as well as physical therapy.

Unfortunately, it hasn't worked. If anything, things have gotten worse. And to the point where last night she sat in bed crying for 20-30 minutes from the pain, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do except sit there and hold her hand, because I didn't know if doing anything more would make things worse. I gave her some Tylenol PM to help both the pain and to help her sleep. I didn't sleep well because I was constantly monitoring her. If she didn't have the followup visit today, I might have considered taking her to the ER. Of course, I don't know what they could have done.

Anyway, today's appointment resulted in her getting an appointment for an MRI. I don't know when the appointment is, unfortunately.

Me: Um, take away the stress and frustration over the arm thing and I'm ok. Otherwise, right now, I'm tired and frustrated. The tired thing I can handle, it's the not being able to do anything that's...not so easy to handle. For all of my gifts, healing is not on the list.

Kids: Doing well, champing at the bit for school to let out for the summer. Both are concerned, however, for their mom, and this tempers their spirits a bit. However, a note of congratulations is in order for mouseling1 and the rest of the North Bethesda Middle School Chorus for taking first place in the "Music in the Park" competition last weekend at Busch Gardens. The NBMS Band and NBMS Orchestra took second place in each of their respective competitions there as well, and congratulations are due them as well.

Work: is work. Contract has been renewed through the end of December. We'll see what happens then.

Mother's Day: Went very well, despite my attempts to screw up the baking. How so? Well, lessee, first there was the sugar-free cheesecake, which I could have sworn called for the graham cracker crust to be baked first. Except I obviously read it wrong, for I burned two crusts. The third, made with the last of the graham crackers I bought, was fine, and so was the rest of the cheesecake. Then I tried to make the cinnamon rolls, and the dough wouldn't rise. mousecat0, being the consummate baker that she is, warmed up the oven and threw the dough in there...where it promptly rose. luvmomh seemed to enjoy everything, and I think it was a great time for everyone.

Gaming: My Pathfinder game has started it's next stage, as the party has moved on to helping a small Keep on the Borderlands. Perhaps the best line of the last session was made by the barbarian, who, upon arriving at the keep and being questioned by the surly corporal of the gate, announced "We're from the Government! We're here to help!" They have also been introduced to the "Curse of Competence" - since they did such a remarkable job of taking care of a bandit problem they'd been having, they were given a chance for greater fame and glory by being commissioned to find and eradicate the threat of the so-called "Caves of Chaos". Ah, what fun!

Not much electronic/online gaming of late. No time.

Cons: As has been announced elsewhere, the current plan is that we will be attending Origins this year. In fact, we've already registered for the con and our events. Plan is to leave early in the AM on Wednesday and come home Monday. I'm glad that we were able to make this happen - if what I'm hearing is true, we may not be going for a while. It seems that they may move Origins to Memorial Day weekend. This, IMO, is going to be a major mistake, as most students are not out of school yet. And for all that they've been pushing this as a family convention...I foresee a sharp drop in attendance if the date change becomes a reality.

Otherwise, TCEP 18 is on track, and Intervention 2011 is full steam ahead as well. At TCEP, I'll be running two sessions of the 4th annual Arneson/Gygax Memorial Dungeon Crawl, as well as a RPG session for the younger kids (probably Avengers based) and who knows what else.

TV notes: Watched the latest ep of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes last night. Loved the cameo appearances of Ben Grimm & Johnny Storm. This series is REALLY Good. So, for that matter, is Young Justice, though some of the vocal mannerisms are gonna drive me up a wall.

I think that's all I got for now.

I remind you all to have a good day. The very fact that you woke up on the proper side of the grass this morning makes it a great start to a good day.

Peas. Out.

Convention Countdown
Origins: 34 Days!
TCEP 18: 138 Days!
Intervention: 152 Days!

So, this, I think, is the menu for Mother's Day Dinner:

• Bacon-Wrapped Pineapple Shrimp (appetizer)
  
• Crown Roast of Lamb
  
• Rice Pilaf
  
• Asparagus with Lemon butter
  
• Sugar snap peas with red pepper
  
• Biscuits
  
• Sugar free New york Style Cheesecake (maybe with some berries on the side)
  
• wine
  
• coffee

I'm doing the lamb again because my mother requested it last year, but wasn't able to make it down since she busted her leg. My mother-in-law is in California visiting her twin and won't be back until a week later.

Recipes will follow later.

Excellent recipe. If you want to reduce the heat, using Monterey Jack Cheese instead of the pepper jack is the way to go. Still gives awesome flavor. And hey, of you can get fresh crab? Better still.
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Almost no sugar. Incredibly rich. Delicious. Highly recommend.

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Rather good. May need a bit more fluid for the rice to cook to desired tenderness. YMMV.
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Real easy to make, can be made the day before with little issue. Very tasty.

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second to last update...

• Chocolate Chip x4
  
• Snickerdoodles x4
  
• Sugar cookies
  
• Russian Tea Cookies
  
• Chocolate Peanut Butter bars
  
• Peanut Butter Tandy Takes (luvmomh's version of TastyKake's Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes)
  
• Peanut Butter cookies (low to no sugar) (these are especially for my dad)
  
• Oatmeal x4
  
• Hungarian
  
• Peanut Butter blossoms
  
• Haystacks (think butterscotch chips, marshmallows, and chow mein noodles)
  
• Thimble cookies
  
• Almond Crescents x2

The dough for the Hungarian gets made tonight, and the cookies made tomorrow.

And now, an update...

• Chocolate Chip x4
  
• Snickerdoodles x4
  
• Sugar cookies
  
• Russian Tea Cookies
  
• Chocolate Peanut Butter bars
  
• Peanut Butter Tandy Takes (luvmomh's version of TastyKake's Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes)
  
• Peanut Butter cookies (low to no sugar) (these are especially for my dad)
  
• Oatmeal x4
  
• Hungarian
  
• Peanut Butter blossoms (peanut butter cookies with the Hershey's kiss on top)
  
• Haystacks (think butterscotch chips, marshmallows, and chow mein noodles)
  
• Thimble cookies
  
• Almond Crescents x2
  
• Pinwheels?

On deck for tonight: Chocolate peanut butter bars. I think.