Party Like It's 1979!

We headed for a New Year's Eve party where the theme will be Soul Train --- It's A Disco Party.  Dress appropriately, the invitation says.

Cripes, I'm thinking we'll be dancing like this:



Time to dig out the bellbottoms, the 'Fro wig, the tight sweater (gotta bound up the moobs first), and high heeled sneakers.

For those of you didn't experience the 70's, it was one hell of a good time.

Winner Winner

Wednesday evening was Winner, Winner, Anniversary Dinner!  Yes, another year of maritial bliss for me and Wifey.  Well, most of the time it's like that. ... name one marriage that's perfect. .. can ya, can ya can ya?

Dawn and Keith dined with us at our favorite Italian place.

We've known the restaurant owner for quite some time.  Knowing that we were celebrating an anniversary, our owner friend ordered up a dessert gift of cherries jubilee.

Step one:  heat up the cherries.

Step two:  Add some sort of hooch.

Then the damn thing goes up in flames.  Freaks me out.  I crawl under the table yelling, FIRE IN THE HOLE!  FIRE IN THE HOLE!   DUCK AND COVER!!!!  DUCK AND COVER!!!! 

I calm down, crawl out from under the table and find a dish of ice cream and cherries waiting for me.   Yummmmeeeeee!

During dessert Wifey opens my gift of a pair of gold earrings and reads the wording on the accompanying card out loud.

The front of the card read:  "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!  You know, the secret to a happy marriage is how often you say those three little words."

Betcha can't guess what those three little words are.  No one at the table could.

Wifey opened the card and read this:  "Let's eat out."

And now you know the secret to maritial bliss . ...

'Tis The Season

This was the week for Gracie's school to put on their holiday performances for their parents.  This school year Grace joined the school's beginning band program with the trumpet as her choice of instruments.  I've never thought of our girl as being one to toot her own horn.

Damn thing is nearly as big as Grace. Beginning band students are given simple songs to learn like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. 

Grace's class also performed several choral pieces.  As you can tell, some kids get into belting out a tune while others don't.

Sign-ups for the school play are in January.  Looks like our girl is going to try out for a part.  Music and performing seem to be in her blood.  Wonder who she inherited that trait from?

All In Your Head

What's printed above is especially true this time of year.  We're all thinking of holidays like the story book families on TV have.  Ozzie and Harriet.  The Waltons.  Beavis and Butthead (hahahaha).  You've seen them.  You know what I'm saying.

Time to wrap your head around what's best for your family and create your own traditions.  Break the mold.  Do your own thing. 

Instead of that family gathering where mass consumption, pig out/stuff your face until you puke holiday dinner, do this:

First thing, let the relatives do their own thing and take care of themselves.  Vow to leave the television off.  Then redefine, if for only one year, how you celebrate the holidays: 

Get out of the house.  Take a walk.  See a movie.  Feed the birds.  Hand out dollar bills to the homeless (from the money saved from putting on the fancy dinner).  Have a drink at a bar located on skid row (makes you count your blessings).  Pack a picnic basket and go for a long drive.  Have friends over for a holiday meal.  Play a few board games.  Walk in the woods or along the beach.  Do a nature study in photos.

Etc.

Do I practice what I preach.  Amen, brother.  I do, I did, I will.   Yes, Wifey and I have done all of those things that are listed here (including getting a speeding ticket on Christmas Day while taking that long drive in the mountains).

Time to get that picture out of your head of the way things should be and reinvent your pattern of living.  Routine can be boring.  Even a speeding ticket on a holiday (cops have no mercy) can be exciting.

Ya think?

Anniversary Song

Next Wednesday marks Wifey's wedding anniversary. .. yeah, and mine, too.  I've a surprise for her.  We'll be out to dinner. .. wining and dining and celebrating.  A person with a guitar will appear at our table right before dessert is served.  He'll start strumming and I'll sing this song:



Ain't that just about the most romantic anniversary song you ever did hear?  Huh, huh, huh?

Wifey is either going to love it or die of embarassment.  That's Muskrat love for ya.

Suicide By Fast Food

The way people scarf down fast food knowing well what it's doing to their bodies it makes one think they all have a major death wish.  You've heard of death by cop. ... someone who taunts law enforcement into shooting them as an act of quasi suicide.  Same deal with fast food junkies. .. . taunting Burger King, Wendy's, KFC and the like. ... thinking . .. Go ahead and kill me, man. ... I dare you.  See if your grunts will make me die. ...

That burger up there?  You just have to ask yourself how much is enough?  Double patty.  Double cheese.  Bacon.  Mayo.  Well over a thousand calories and many, many grams of fat and sodium.  Way more than just enough. Tasty?  Yeah.  But "tasty" could be had with a lot less of everything.  Hold the mayo, bacon, cheese, one patty instead of two, hold the fries and soft drink (water can and does quench thirst).  Bingo.  Still something tasty from a fast food joint but a lot less of what chokes the arteries and puts weight on.

Fast food places come up with the damnest things which really go against the grain of being healthy.  Take this number concocted by Denny's.  It's a bacon sundae with ice cream and maple syrup.  Yikes!  End a high fat/calorie/sodium meal with that and brother, you're way over your limit of daily intake.

Forget hitting Denny's and expect to order this one.  It's been taken off of their menu. 

Next time you think of scarfing down some fast food think first before ordering:  You are what you eat.

Summer 2012

Do not click on Trailer Cats. .. let the video run......

Holy cow puckie, Batman!!!!

Paul Newman Is Hud

With Wifey out shopping Saturday night, it was Home Alone Bob's choice of dinner and a movie.  I just love date night with my little old self.

Round Table pizza (thin crust, pepperoni topping).

The 1963 Paul Newman film, Hud.  Probably the third or fourth time I've seen it, the most recent being five or more years ago.

In the film Newman has a line that rings true even today. 

"This country is run on epidemics, where you been? Price fixing, crooked TV shows, inflated expense accounts. How many honest men you know? Why you separate the saints from the sinners, you're lucky to wind up with Abraham Lincoln. Now I want out of this spread what I put into it, and I say let us dip our bread into some of that gravy while it is still hot."

Timeless.  Priceless.
 
If you subscribe to Netflix on Demand it can be yours tonight.  Better order your pizza ahead of time.

Tough To Say No

Wifey and Grace visited our friend and Pom breeder Trilvie yesterday.  The two partners in "crime" wanted to check out an 8 week old dog that Trilvie feels is show dog material.  What cutie!

On each visit Grace lays down on the floor with one of Trilvie's pups.  This is what always happens.  Lick, lick. .. giggle, giggle, lick, giggle, lick. ... and so on. 

It's tempting to bring another dog in the family which would make for a three dog night (if you remember what that is, you're an oldie but probably a goodie).  Three dogs makes for more dog food and an addition to an already expensive vet bill.  I'm happy but two but hells bells, who could refuse a cutie like this?

It was tough to say thank you but no thank you.

Global Warming Protest!

This just in:  Hundreds Gather To Protest Global Warming!

Coooookeeee!

Remember the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street.  Get me around cookies to be baked or that are baked and it's COOOOOKEEEE! time for Bob.  Whether cooked or not, I'm into COOOOOKEEE!

Yesterday Wifey, Gracie and her step-sister Hanna whipped up a whole bunch of of COOOOKEEEES!

Grace's mom is out of town for several days so the girls spent the night making that the perfect time for COOOKEEEE! making.

The "ladies" must have made 3 or 4 dozen cookies or more.  Once out of the oven and cooled, the girls wrapped a half dozen or more into packages then set out to deliver each one to our neighbors. 

Hanna's proud of her works of COOOKEEE! art.

Wifey's thinking (and I know her well). .. .what the hell did I get myself into?

Christmas Music

I just love this time of the year.  Harmonizing is my bag.  Here's a sample of my singing.

Christmas Music

From me to you. . ..  Merry Christmas.  Let's all sing-a-long, please.

Knew Better

I knew better than to mess with perfection but oh, no, I just had to try another way of preparing stuffed peppers.  It was a recipe from Emeril Lagassy that caught my eye and had me thinking out of the stuff pepper box.

The end result was crap compared to what I've prepared for so many years . .. a recipe that goes way back in my family.  I'll stick with that.

At least this batch made for a pretty picture.

Free-Style Driving

Have you noticed that very few drivers obey the laws of the road and do their own thing?  This used to pee me off, watching drivers run stop signs and redlights, make abrupt lane changes without signaling, apply make-up, eat, text, pet their dog.  You know what I'm saying.

You've watched athletic events where there's a category for free-style.  Anything goes.  That's what driving in America or at least California has become. .. one big free-style event.  I should start carrying those Olympic rating signs.  You know the ones.  Like they're numbered 5.0, 5.5, 8.0. .. all the way from 1 to 10. 

When some clown pulls a free-style thing I'll rate the dude, pull up one of those signs, start honking the horn and hang it out the window.  Why not put a little fun into something that irritates the hell out of you and I (you do following the rules of driving, don't you?). 

There should be warnings on cars where their drivers always put on make-up, eat, and what have you.  We need to be warned, don't you think?  Those are drivers to steer clear of.  Like:  Caution - Driver Chugging Beer!  Or, Lookout!  Driver Throws Chicken Bones Out The Window!!

There's a lot to be said about multi-tasking in the world we live in today.  But do we have multi-task while on the road and endanger other drivers?

What's Right With This Picture?

Have you ever seen a photo in a magazine or newspaper that asks, "What's Wrong With This Picture"?  Here I'm asking, What's Right With This Picture? So, what is right?

Give up? Do ya, do ya, do ya?

Right thing #1:  I'm wearing my wedding ring.  Yes, that's the ring Wifey put through my nose when we married.  Wifey had to tame Wild Thing Bob somehow and this was actually the first right step in that direction.

Right thing #2:  Buy one get one free.  There was a restaurant in town which gave away one meal with a paid meal if you wore your through the nose wedding ring.  Got a lot of free meals.

Right thing #3:  Right you are:  This is a school picture.  It was taken during my brief tenure as a public school teacher.

Right thing #4:  Yes, my students loved my wedding ring and yes, the photo appeared in the yearbook.  Since I was the dare-devil darling of the school and community, I could do no wrong and got away with just about anything.  Besides, who ever got into trouble for wearing their wedding ring.  Usually it's the other way around. . . getting in trouble for NOT wearing that ring.  I did have to convince the school photographer that it was okay to wear that thing for a photo. 

Right thing #5:  Putting this photo on my blog.  Don't ya just love it?

You Left Your Heart Where?

Long ago crooner Tony Bennett claimed that he had left his heart in San Francisco.  At 85 years of age, old Tony is going strong and singing that tune.

Apparently Tony has taken on the brush as a second career.  Painting Lady Gaga is one of his latest "works of art".  Hells bells, butt naked painting . . . . it's one way to get a young lady to take her clothes off. . .. and at 85, why else would anyone disrobe for old Tony.  At best, Tony Bennett can muster a "heart-on", some brush strokes, a few tunes and not much more.

Maybe the lyrics to that old song could be revised to, "I left my heart-on, with Lady Gaga. . ... "

Ya think?