Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

On Sunday, Mac and I transported four puppies, a pug, and a border collie mix that was supposed to be about a year old, but looked more like 6 months, if that! We did our usual Harrisburg to Hamburg run, as Mac was eyeing up a gun at Cabela’s, and it worked well to go scope it out and decide if we were buying it. He sold one of his old rifles that he’s never shot, and fronted his overtime money from working last week, and left with the rifle. It’s his new antelope/mule deer hunting rifle. We save aluminum cans, and rather than throw them in our recycling bin, he saves those and takes them to a scrap dealer occasionally. That’s his baby, and typically, he spends that money however he wants. He took those on Friday, and received $90, so he put that, plus a little extra cash towards it as well. Net out-of-pocket cost=$275. Of that, $200 is his overtime money that we’ll see next payday (yes, I fronted him the money, as we could do it, and I really didn’t want to deal with a trip up th...

I know I don’t spend enough time praising Mac, or thanking him, as in the day-to-day efforts of being DINKS, maintaining the house, taking care of the dogs, and doing rescue transports, things like saying thank you often fall to the wayside. I try to always thank him, but I know I can do better. Likewise, I know far too often, I don’t sing his praises!  He starts his workday before I start mine, as he works four, ten-hour days, yet since we’ve been married, I’ll wake up with him, and I’ll take care of getting coffee ready and packing his lunch. I’m a light sleeper, so it’s not a huge issue that I take care of the coffee and his lunch. I feel like I’m sending him off with a solid meal and his daily coffee, and I know he appreciates it. He routinely thanks me, but lately, he’s taken to cleaning out the coffeemaker before bed, rinsing it out, throwing out the old coffee, and placing a new filter into the basket. He never tells me that he took care of it, so it’s always a ...

On Saturday, Mac and Seth went to the range for a few hours while I cleaned and cooked dinner. I also had a quick grocery shopping trip so we could enjoy dessert as well. I prepared the Dream Dinners Crispy Coconut Chicken with Jasmine Rice, along with a side of mixed veggies, salad, and apple pie for dessert. The Crispy Coconut Chicken was extremely easy to prepare, as I simply tossed each piece of chicken into the Ziploc bag with the coconut and panko bread crumbs, shook the bag, and then removed the chicken from the bag. I placed it onto a cookie sheet that I'd covered with aluminum foil and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Once I'd added all six pieces of chicken, I topped it with the extra coconut and bread crumbs. I baked it for 15 minutes, while the apple pie was baking, and cooked the rice and veggies. Mac and I really enjoyed the chicken, and Seth was impressed with it. I'd mentioned the concept of Dream Dinners to Seth and his wife before, so perhaps now th...

We had a fairly crazy weekend. On Saturday, I monitored a rescue transport, which went well. Mac and I went grocery shopping, and tried out a restaurant a bit south of us. It specializes in pit beef, ham, turkey, and pulled pork. It was good, but it was rather expensive. There's another "smokehouse" that's on the way from the vet, and it's about the same distance. We decided that we prefer that one. When we did our grocery shopping, the cashier didn't scan 2 coupons, so I had to visit the customer service desk to receive those. Today, I monitored the second day of the transport, and drove the next to last leg of it. There were no problems, except on our leg, when one of the three dogs decided she wanted to chew anything--her leash, her harness, another dog's collar or leash, or another dog's leg! We took Cobaka and Geno to our local dog park this morning. They enjoyed running around, and Cobaka especially enjoyed frolicking with another dog who arr...

This was a crazy weekend for us. I worked late on Friday, as I had a submittal that had to go on Friday, via email. Mac was at the range when I got home, and we ate leftovers and napped quite a bit. I ate California Chicken with Fettuccine leftovers, and I guess I still owe a blog entry about that meal! On Saturday, we both were up early and headed to the gun show. I was going to drop him off and head in to work, but he said, "Why don't you come with me, and we'll walk around and then leave after that?" So, we both went to the gun show. He found a steal of a deal--a No. 1 Mk. 5 Enfield in gorgeous condition (one of 20,000 ever produced) for $200. That was the good for Saturday. The bad for Saturday was that as we were leaving, someone flagged us down and told us that we had a flat tire. The left rear tire was flat, and when we started to change it, well, let me clarify... When Mac started to change it, he discovered that one of the lug nuts was a larger size than ...

Mac and I had plans to head out to Elizabethtown this weekend. I won a $50 gift certificate to a shop out there during the Best Kept Secrets tour, and Mac wanted to get to a few gun stores out there. I also needed to head to Hershey for a mystery shop. On Friday, I found out that I needed to head into work, at least for about an hour. We headed to breakfast, then Mac dropped me off at work, and visited Gander Mountain. He was on his way back when I sent him a text message telling him that I had finished everything I needed to do. From there, we headed out to Elizabethtown. We stopped at Shoppes on Market, picked up my gift certificate, along with some coffee, and then stopped at two local gun stores. We didn't find much there, other than a new Walther PPK/S  in .22 LR. We discussed that as a birthday present for me, but upon further review, I think I'll pass. From there, we headed up to Hershey, and then to another gun store, before stopping at a semi-local brewpub for lu...

Mac and I spent the weekend in Philadelphia. Well, outside of Philadelphia, technically. We arrived around dinnertime on Friday, and checked in to a very pet-friendly hotel, the Hampton Inn in Downingtown/Exton, PA. It was probably one of the least painful hotel check-ins with the dogs for a few reasons: It was self-parking, so Mac and the dogs could stay in the car while I checked into the hotel. No pet fees No pet agreements to sign Since it was self-parking, we could park, take the dogs to the room, then get the luggage. I'd guess our experiences when traveling with the dogs at a hotel with valet parking probably resemble those from people who travel with kids to those locations. You have to pull the dogs out of the car, plus the luggage, and it's never just one or two bags. The dogs share a bag, then Mac and I each generally have a bag each, plus our laptop bags. If we each only end up carrying two bags, plus managing a dog, we're lucky! So, this was nice. It w...

Our February Dream Dinners session was this past Saturday. Our order included 78 servings, as I'd decided that I had to try the Layered Ravioli Bake, even though I had another 36 servings, and Tiff had 36 servings. What I didn't know when I placed the order was that it was good I planned to do that. Our order included: Crispy French Onion Chicken (2 6-servings) Layered Ravioli Bake (1 6-serving, 1 3-serving) Buffalo Ranch Chicken (1 6-serving, 1 3-serving) Cattleman's Pie (1 6-serving, 1 3-serving) Terracotta Chicken with Pita & Hummus (1 6-serving) Cola & Lime Tender Pork Roast (2 6-servings) Arroz Con Pollo (1 6-serving) Tuscan Steaks (1 3-serving) Creamy Chicken Risotto (1 3-serving) Cheese Lover's Manicotti (1 3-serving) Spitfire Beef Roast with Mashed Potatoes (1 6 serving) Mac drove us to Dream Dinners, because he wanted to go to Cabela's, as they were sponsoring an NRA weekend--join or renew your NRA membership for $35, and receive a $...

I've been rather under the weather this week. I've had an ear infection and sinus infection, and just haven't felt like doing much of anything! I cooked one night this week, although I need to cook the antelope meat today, and probably use it for chili tomorrow. I did manage to cook Monday night, in part because we weren't going to have enough time to go out to dinner, then come home for my White Shrine investigating committee meeting. The Cranberry Buttermilk Chicken was very easy to prepare, as it involved cooking the chicken, then adding the sauce and allowing it to cook. Mac complained that there was too much pepper in the chicken, and I think that was completely my fault. :) I accidentally dumped extra in when preparing it at Dream Dinners, as when I pulled the measuring spoon out, it had some pepper on the handle, and I just tossed it all into the bag. Mac helped me with dinner since I was feeling so lousy, so it was nice to have him in the kitchen with me. ...

Wow, thank you Erin, from Less Bitching, More Stitching , for awarding me the Liebster Award! I first started reading Erin's blog when I noticed it in one of her posts on FlyerTalk. She's far more creative than me. :) "Liebster" is a German word meaning "dearest," "favorite," or "beloved." Liebster Awards are given by bloggers to other bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers to spread the word and help newer bloggers gain wider recognition. Here is how it works: Choose five bloggers with fewer than 200 followers to whom you would like to give the Liebster Award. Show thanks to the blogger who awarded you the Liebster by linking back to their blog. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers to whom you are giving awards, with links to their sites, and comment on their blog with a link back to your blog to let them know that you have given them the award. Here are my picks: Bullets and Biscuits --I stumbled acr...

I saved the Dream Dinners Slow Cooked BBQ Beef with Baby Bakers for Saturday. I figured that I'd get it ready in the crock pot Friday night, and that Mac could turn it on once he got home from hunting on Saturday morning. I knew that Saturday, after the Dress for Success Professional Women's Group workshop, I wouldn't feel up to cooking, so I thought this was a great way to still have a nice dinner, while not going back out after getting home from the workshop. We had a rifle shipped to Cabela's in Hamburg, and we had until Wednesday, December 5 to pick it up there. We wanted to pick it up by Tuesday, December 4, because of a coupon offer they had, where you could save $20 on a $150 purchase. We planned on heading there on Sunday morning. Saturday morning, Mac and I went hunting, before the workshop. Yes, I went hunting in business attire, with a blaze orange coat and hat added to my outfit. Dedicated, right? I then headed to the workshop, and still managed to arriv...

I received a text message from Mac this morning, at 11:56 AM (Eastern). The text message simply read, "Great hunter." My reply was, "Yes..." If you're familiar with the movie Jeremiah Johnson , you'll understand. It's family tradition that when hunting, if you are successful, to tell those who didn't go with you that you were successful. It goes: Hunter: Great hunter. Other person: Yes. Hunter: Fine figure of a man. Other person: Yes. Hunter: That is all you need to know. For now. The follow-up text message I received was, "Your father-in-law and I are both done antelope hunting." First morning, first day hunting, and they're done with antelope already. My father-in-law still has a mule deer license, so they'll still have a little hunting to do. I'm beaming! I guess I'll have to learn how to cook antelope now!

Our Taste of Dream Dinners event is tomorrow. We've had a last minute cancellation, so I've invited a Professional Women's Group member to attend. She is very outgoing, so I'm sure she'll fit in without a problem, and she's generally on top of things, so I don't hesitate to throw her into that situation! I'm very excited about it. I think it will be very enjoyable, and it keeps me busy while Mac is out hunting!

My CNN iReport on Firearms http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-820044

Mac went back to the gun show today, and I drove down to Hagerstown to participate in a rescue transport. Another woman and I drove 7 dogs to Harrisburg, on their way to rescues, foster homes, and forever homes. I drove the 4 big dogs, Olivia, Alex, Astro, and Mustang. Olivia was the smallest, at about 25 pounds. Astro and Mustang were the largest, both at about 50 pounds. Alex was in between, at probably 40 pounds or so. All were very sweet, and all slept for most of the journey. On the drive, I was trying to remember how many dogs I've helped to move, and I think it's at 19 right now. It'll increase I'm sure, although I'm taking next weekend off from transports. My two pups need some Mommy time on the weekend. Mac is asleep, as are the dogs. Cobaka is sprawled out on top of my body pillow and the blankets, while Geno is sprawled at the foot of the bed, with his front paws hanging off of the edge of the bed. They both look so sweet and cute, and content. I'm s...

Mac and I were out until almost midnight on Friday, doing a dog transport. It ran over 2 hours late, closer to 2 hours 30 minutes late. We drove to Bel Air, MD, near where we were supposed to pick up the senior pups we were transporting, and stopped for dinner. We wanted something different, not the same old restaurants we have here. As such, we found Famous Dave's BBQ, which was very good. When we did finally get home, we decompressed for a bit before bed, and we both were up around 6:30 to head to our activities. Mac headed to the gun show, I headed to Dream Dinners. I came home about an hour before he did, which was just enough time to stow everything in the freezer, and then get last night's dinner in the oven. I opted to try the Brushetta Chicken Bake last night, in part because I didn't want to store the box of stuffing mix much longer! Tiffany had tried her Brushetta Chicken Bake earlier in the week, and shared a few words of advice, including not to add as much wat...

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