ROAD TRIP...................

See you all in a few weeks....

I will be back with puppy stories......Toddler hijinx....

And one Birthday Celebration where the

Boss meets up with the "Cake Boss".......

sort of....See you soon!!

A LITTLE HEAT RELIEF........a story from the Motherland.

It's been so hot lately with temps in some parts of the country

in the triple digits that I thought I would bring you this

Cooling story straight from the Motherland....

Rahway...New Jersey...

Oh we are so proud of our hometown for this one....

This might be even better then the fact that we are also home to

The Rahway State Penitentiary

Remember the t.v. documentary Scared Straight.....Yup...that was our town!

But this story is more refined and cultural....

Think Museum quality.....

I give you....

The Venus de Milo....

In Snow...The picture on the right is Venus in all her naked glory......

That was before the police got complaints of

a naked snow statue....

Oh you have to be kidding....

Nope...

Some idiots complained to the police that Miss "V" was in the Buff.....

So the Rahway Police made the Homeowner dress the poor thing....

Here is the Happy Homeowner showing off her sculpting talents...

It's pretty good wouldn't you say.....

She was quoted as saying...

"I thought she looked more objectified and sexualized after you put the bikini on her"

That's something somebody from Rahway would say....

Not bad from the back either.....
And it gets better....
We saw this story on Fox News but they did not say where in Jersey Miss Milo
was hanging out....
It seems she was melting right in the Big Boss' backyard....
That's right...
They live right behind Grandpa.....
Like I said....we are just so proud.


PHOTO'S BY THE
CONNERAN FAMILY
FULL STORY CAN BE FOUND HERE....

LIFE BEFORE BLOGGING.........Big Hair......Bad Suits.

As alot of you know who have been kind enough over the past two years

to read my ramblings....

My blog gets turned into a hardback book after I finish each year...

So every now and again

I post things more for myself so I can pass the books along to

Miss "B" someday...

She can learn a little about her crazy Grandmother....

This is one of those posts....

Do you ever wonder what some of your favorite Bloggers did before blogging.....

I thought Sophie might ask one day

"What did Grandma used to do.....?"

No....I was not a model for the

"Hair Club for Women"

although I could have been......have you ever seen such big hair....

And I wasn't even living in Jersey at the time...

And that was my favorite "Mob" suit...complete with lapel flower....

Here I am with my Posse' out of New Orleans...

I also oversaw a similar group of wonderful ladies here in Atlanta.....

I was the "Southeast Regional Training Manager for the Custom Decorating Studios"

That's a mouthful....

For a large retail chain....

Once known as the store where

"America Shops"....

Now....Not so much.

This was Earl who ran the New Orleans office...

He was such a wonderful man...

We lovingly called him

Uncle Miltie...

doesn't he look like Milton Berle.....

Here is a work in progress.....

part of my job was designing new store displays...

Boy did I look young here.....I was probably around 40

This was Maxine the decorator from New Orleans...

If you could pick a mother in life this is who I would have picked....

A Tap Dancer well into her 70's

she lost a daughter in childbirth who would have been the same age as me....

Her and Carroll her husband always treated me like family...

Have you ever seen two such goofy looking men in your life.....

the guy on the left was my Boss and in true "Sue fashion" where I think everybody

looks like somebody else....

I thought he looked like Bob Newhart...

The other guy was the Big Big shot out of Chicago....

Howdy Doody???

All was going well with those two guys until this picture surfaced....

Hey....I could teach a class just as well on the beach

as in a classroom...

This was taken on beautiful Destin Beach....

in a borrowed bikini....get a load of those thighs...

They run in the family....

My finished work....

I loved the black draperies on the left....I loved anything with fringe...

Ofcourse nobody ever sold it to customers once the homeowner found out
how much it cost to add it onto the window treatment....Labor by the yard!
This was taken at the Birmingham store....

Even back then I loved getting my picture taken...
I actually loved this pink linen suit..
This was taken infront of Delmar Blinds in California....
The other Trainers from around the country spent a week out in California
learning all about the construction of mini blinds and verticals....
We even got to make our own miniature vertical blind to take home...

The trip wasn't all work....
Here I am with Chuck the trainer from Miami...

We got to tour Hollywood in between classes....

We hit it off right away.....You know I would have to love anyone who
would lay down on the ground outside
Graumen's Chinese Theater....
My kind of guy!!


Ellen My training counterpart from Memphis....
She would sometimes wear a black velvet bow in her hair looking just like
Rose Marie from the Mary Tyler Moore Show...
She hated to speak infront of groups of people.....
So they would fly me in from Atlanta to give the class for her.....I would talk and she was my Vanna White...
I referred to the two of us as the "Boobs and the Brains"
Hey...what can I say I was smarter then her....

So that's it....That was me before blogging....
My job was eliminated back in 91' and I haven't worked a day since.....
and this lady isn't complaining about being bored....
What did you do before becoming a blogger???

And one last observation...
Doesn't Chuck look just like
Mitch Miller.....

PORK CHOPS WITH A BLUEBERRY GLAZE.......

One night during our stay at Martha's Vineyard

we had dinner at the restaurant at the

infamous

"Resort"

Both the Boss and the SIL ordered the pork chop with blueberry glaze....

and they raved about it....

they both said it was the most moist pork chop they had ever eaten...

I am not a fan of pork chops....I find them dry and tasteless....

Butt is more my cup of tea....pork butt that is...

so I was intrigued....

So I did what all good cooks do.....

I went right to the horse's mouth.....I put a call in to the head chef at the resort....

Hey......this works Folks.

he got right on the phone.....calling at an off time between lunch and dinner seem to

be the key....

and he was kind enough to go step by step with me on achieving moist pork chops....

and he even told me his secret in making the blueberry sauce....

I went to the butcher and got one very thick pork chop....about 2 inches thick....

the butcher said to cook it until it was well done....

The chef's advise.......medium.

This is what the chef told me to do.....

Soak the pork chop in a brine made with ofcourse water and kosher salt.....add some sugar

fresh thyme and fresh garlic....he did not give me the amounts...so I winged it...

I did use a bit too much salt in the brine...I have a heavy hand with

Kosher salt....I love the stuff...

Soak for atleast 8 hours or better yet overnight....

Start cooking the chop on the grill but just until nice grill marks appear....

then transfer to the oven set on 350 degrees

until the meat thermometer registers 160 degrees.....about 15 minutes..

Chef said he feels the meat and knows when it's done....I did the same....

I lost my instant read thermometer in my junk drawer years ago...

As for the blueberry glaze....

he just takes veal stock and fresh or frozen blueberries and reduces that down to a sauce...

He told me I would not be able to achieve this as most home cooks can't make

a veal demi glace.....okay I trusted he was correct...

I did go to Williams Sonoma and they had said "demi glace"

$29.00 for a small jar....

the Boss would have to do without this....

and if you saw the recipe to make it your head would spin

Making the $29. price tag not so out of line....

So......

I simply added a bit of water and a little sugar to fresh blueberries... and cooked them off until they burst....

Making a lovely thick sauce...

He liked mine more then the chefs...saying it had more of a blueberry taste....

as you can see he asked for it on the asparagus also.....

A successful dinner and who says Chefs won't give up their secrets.....

Next time you have a great meal and you wonder how it was made try giving them

a call......

you might be as surprised as I was....
Bon Apetit!!

From Moldy to Magnificent.......

Well perhaps Magnificent is too strong a word for a pair of porch rockers....

But these chairs have sat on our front porch for the past

25 years...

Our first house purchase when we moved down South....

Because every Southerner with a porch has a rocker..

And we wanted to fit in.A little neglected over the years...

We maybe sat on them twice...

Because we are from the North and people from Jersey just don't

"Sit a spell"

You will see the real reason in a minute....

I finally decided to get out the spray paint....

4 cans was all it took

to take them from gross to gorgeous.....

okay....that's too strong a word for porch rockers...

Here they are back up on the porch.....

Keeping company with my new flag....a wonderful purchase from the

Christmas Tree Shoppes...

it has real embroidered stars!!

Here is the real reason we don't use the rockers....

Can you see how small the width of the porch is...

Our builder was only half right when he built it..... not thinking we would....

Heaven for forbid..... actually want to use it...

A panoramic shot....

We recently had wasps behind my flag window and I can see

that the "Boss" didn't hang it back straight...

The wasps have moved on to the Coke thermometer next to the door....

My first time joining Susan's
Met Monday
at
Between Naps on the Porch
Stop over at Susan's and see much more exciting transformations then mine...
it will be worth it...

Betty Crocker Meets Sandra Lee.......I'm a Big Baking Cheat.

My bad habit started way back in High School......

Entering and winning a cake contest I was asked for my secret recipe......

Jiffy Mix with a little pineapple juice thrown in for good measure...

I managed to graduate without revealing my secret...

And then I met Joyce....everybody's favorite Flour Power Lady......

and I couldn't lie anymore

it involved oatmeal cookies at a blog lunch and that's all I'll say.....

Well...I can't keep my secrets all to myself anymore after making these wonderful

Muffins for breakfast today....

I love Mr. Hines and go to him for all my cake and muffin needs........

They were having a BOGO at Publix so I thought I would try these..

100% Whole Grain....healthy?..... Can they be any good..

My real secret is that although I do cheat and use box mixes I always add

a little something extra....or as they say in New Orleans

a "Lagniappe"

I made 6 huge muffins and only used about 3/4 of the crumb topping.....

And I added a cup of big fresh blueberries....

Duncan includes a little can of Maine Wild Blueberries but it just isn't enough....

I'm here to report they were wonderful...

Ofcourse slathered with butter what wouldn't be wonderful....

I have made some wonderful desserts using this half and half method and I think

Sandra has got something here....

My cookie secret....

I dump the batter whether it's from a tub or a box into my mixer...

I add nuts...or cherries....more chips or different chips...raisins I have soaked to plump up...

I then use a spoon to mound them onto the cookie sheet..

After baking dust them with powdered sugar...

package in cellophane bags with a nice ribbon and WaLa......

Homemade with half the work....

Try it sometime.....

And speaking of baking I won this wonderful "Fill in your Own Recipes"

Cookbook

From Kat at Sweet Kathleen's

Kat bakes wonderful cakes and pastries.....She has multiple food blogs including an Italian

Food blog and ofcourse her baking blog......she's right here in Marietta and I hope for us to

meet one of these days at one of our blogging get togethers.....

Kat......ofcourse.... does bake from Scratch.....

Bon Apetit!!

MEET OUR NEW "GRAND-DOODLE"

We would like to announce to newest arrival to our

Family Tree............

Meet "Felix"

The Labradoodle

10 weeks......and 9 pounds of pure cuteness....

Miss "B"s new sibling....

And he can swim!!

we will be visiting with the new family member in a few weeks and will

report back with lots of pictures and puppy stories....

More Vacation Fun with the Abernathy's

Who are the Abernathy's????

I'll be explaining that in a little bit....

But in the meantime I thought I would share some more pictures from

our recent vacation back to the Motherland....Along with going to Martha's Vineyard

for a week we also spent two weeks in

Jersey.....This wonderful sign greeted us....

We started out trip off with a little birthday celebration for.....

Our "Miss B".....

You all know that if it's Sophie's birthday a pony is involved....

This year there were two!!

Here she is giving instructions to the man pulling the horse.....

I say horse because this was just a small horse....not a pony...

Did you know that they can live to be 45 or 50...

This horse was 15 years old...

One Happy Little girl!

All the girls showed up.....even our resident "nose picker"

The child never and I mean never has her finger any place but up her nose...

The weekend included a visit from the Kenosha Grandparents.......

so we all took a drive down to our favorite beach...

Long Beach Island...

How many of you remember the Good Humor trucks of the 50's......

This truck was actually a fully restored version from

1965.....

We followed it for blocks and then finally had to honk to get it to pull over

so we could buy a Toasted Coconut ice cream...

Our very favorite!!

One day me and daughter went out shopping.....

and we parked next to this guy....

He refused to look at me.....

No matter what I did....

I have a fond spot for Goldens...

Years ago we had 5 at one time!

Our main destination that day was to a candy store that my friend

Nunze told me about....

She said there was a room that had nothing but candy molds....

Boy was she right....

"Oye"........I heard the daughter saying while looking over the

4,000 different molds.....

If your a candy maker like me you'll appreciate this wonderful shop....

They sell all of these and more online at

Candyland Crafts

Their shop is located in Somerville....New Jersey.

Grandpa did alot of babysitting....

One day me and daughter went here for a wonderful pedicure....

Hey...the girls have to have some mother-daughter bonding time...

A trip to Jersey just wouldn't be the same without a night out with

the Peeps....

Me and Marlene have been friends since grade school....

We were the original Lucy and Ethel...

There is always a drive past the childhood home....

it looked much better when the folks owned it...... Painted yellow with a split rail fence covered in roses and a

big tree in the corner of the driveway.....

We owned the house for a short time after they moved to Florida in the 70's...

And as I was driving down the street I saw a big sign for an

Estate Sale.....

Our lifetime family friends who lived two doors away had recently passed away...

And the house is being sold....

The Flemings lived there since the early 50's...

Phyllis or Phyl as we called her always had the most unusual name for me....

I was always "Sudie"....

when I saw the sign I had to stop.....

How sad it was when I asked the people running the sale about the family and

they didn't even know the name of the people who's belongings they were selling....

There was alot of jewelry for sale and I would have loved to have gotten a

piece of Phyl's jewelry.....Until I found out that alot of the stuff

for sale belonged to the people running the sale...

I did get the above little glasses because Jack was from England so it

was a good bet that these actually belonged to them....

Like I said....very sad.

Phyl was also very flamboyant and a dancer so when I also saw a big red Boa I knew

it was hers......so it came home with me also....

Oh No.....Not Ragtime Again!!!

Yes....Ragtime....Sue's favorite musical of all time.

When daughter suggested we go to the

Mercer County Community College

to see the

"Pennington Players" in this production.....well....I couldn't say no!

We bought our tickets online 15 minutes before tickets for that nights

performance closed....

And we scored two seats right in the front row....

we dragged along the MIL and daughter was nice enough to let us ladies

sit up front while she sat a few rows back....

Let me say it was spectacular....

Second only to the original Broadway production....

I was the only idiot at the end of the play to give the cast a

Standing Ovation.....

The man behind me hollered for me to sit down.....

Sure....that wasn't happening.....

There was also a trip one day to the coveted Christmas Tree Shoppe

Yes ladies.....if you don't have one of these near you.....it is all

that every blogger brags about....

This little lady was a gift from daughter...

And last but not least....

Kudo's go to the Virginia welcome Center on Interstate 81

For this.....

A miniature size toilet......

And now for the Abernathy's

That is a little name we call ourselves because nobody can pronounce out last name....

well....other Italians can....but regular people have a bit of trouble...

So years ago we began calling ourselves the Abernathy's....

It's actually

Adivari

Think of the famous violin maker

"Stradivari"......and the "Stradivarius" violin........

And just take off the STR