Cassie-b

Who names Housing Developments?

We have lots of new housing developments around here (mostly McMansions, you know, big houses - little yard), and I noted some of the names of these developments on a recent drive through what used to be country.

What I want to know is What is the criteria for naming a housing area?

Any thoughts or additions?

Hurricane Charley

I finally heard from my friends in Florida today – they were right in the path of Charley, and we were quite worried. I tried to call numerous times, but the phones, including the cell phones were not operational.
They called today and are OK. Lost a few trees, shingles, and some food, but their house is in tact. I’m so glad to have heard from them. They have a lot of stories to tell, and I guess I’ll hear about them for a good while. It was very traumatic for them.

Sea Isle getaway

We just got back from a mini vacation in Sea Isle, New Jersey. The weather was absolutely terrific. I had never been there before, but it was a trip down memory lane for Don.

We got home just in time to see Justine Henin-Hardenne win the Gold Medal for Belgium.

I just love women’s tennis.

Posted by cassie-b at 03:43 PM | Comments (10)

Please Just Go Home

Don went to the grocery store and bought 24 boxes of blueberries that were priced at $2.25 a box, but he had a coupon for 99 cents a box.

The checker got confused, and gave him $3.00 too much change.

When he got home, he discovered the mistake, and went back to the store to give them back their $3.00.

After talking to 4 people and them making 2 phone calls, they failed to figure out how to take the money back, they said, “Thank you for being so honest. Please keep the $3.00.”

Go figure. He was just trying to be honest!

Posted by cassie-b at 04:50 PM | Comments (13)

***S*P*A*M***

I want to thank all my new friends for all the email they sent me yesterday. When I first went into my email box, there were 143 messages from all my new friends.

Later in the evening, they graced me with 446 more messages. There were so many that I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to read them all, but it seems as if you read everything I ever blogged about. Thank you for your attention. Actually, it seems as if they have read some of my posts several times. You certainly have kept me from being bored.

Thanks again, Alex, Roma, Sid, Al,, Lara, Sima, Kat and of course, Lisa. For those of you who don’t know, they are all from either the Net or the Com Families.

I hesitate to tell you their middle names which all start with @, because my Mother would be very unhappy with me if I typed in some of those words.

Musik*fest

We went to Bethlehem Pa yesterday with good friends to what should be an annual visit to the Musik*fest.

There's more free entertainment and music than you can fit into one day.
And the food and drinks are terrific.

There's a Chickenlady who appears each year.
We managed to see her do the "Chicken Dance" that's featured in so many weddings.
And lots of people joined in!
In case you wondered, I was NOT one of the chicken dancers!
If you happen to be in the area in the next day or two,
I can't recommend a day at this celebration highly enough!

Posted by cassie-b at 05:16 PM | Comments (6)

Celebrate!

I ran across this article while reading an online copy of a local newspaper.

The sun is hot, the air conditioning is cool. The music is nostalgically cornball, and the company is personable. It's those days of soda and pretzels and beer again.

Over 20,000 brands of beer are brewed across the globe every day, and in great quantities. In 2002, US beer drinkers quaffed 6.3 billion gallons - enough to fill the Houston Astrodome from basement to ceiling twelve times over.

On a hot day, it looks so good.
But I just don't like the stuff.

I Lost My Husband in a Yarn Shop

I was busy looking at yarn (there's lots of new and interesting stuff out there these days), and a woman came up to me and asked me a lot of questions about a Christmas Stocking that she was trying to knit.

I don’t know how she knew I knit, but I do, (I used to teach knitting a while back), and when we got into a long discussion, Don wandered off.

When we finished talking I looked all around for Don, but I couldn’t find him. So I went out to the parking lot (it was raining very hard and we were parked a long distance away) to see if he had gone back to the car – No – Not there! So back I trekked to the store, and there he was, looking for me.

I’m so glad I found him - Or he found me!
He's worth keeping! Really!

Posted by cassie-b at 04:19 PM | Comments (10)

And A good time was had by all

We had a family picnic yesterday at the Empress and Buzz’ house. Thanks for the great time. The food was good, and the company was even better. And who ordered such perfect weather?

And no ants!

Posted by cassie-b at 06:15 PM | Comments (5)

Thanks, Don

Yesterday, when I came home from work, Don had this waiting for me:

Thanks Don, you sure know how to make me feel special

Old Family Recipe

Don’s sister wanted a recipe of her Mom’s that we have. I typed it out for him to send to her, and thought that someone out there might also enjoy this absolutely wonderful desert.

Crust
15 graham crackers
½ cup melted butter
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
Roll crackers very fine. Add butter, salt and sugar.
Place in an 8” or 9” pan. Pat in shape. Fill with custard filling and cover with meringue.
Brown in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Custard filling
2 cups milk
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
Heat milk in double boiler, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add to hot milk and cook until it thickens. Gradually add to beaten egg yolks. Cook while stirring 10 minutes. Cool – flavor with vanilla.

Meringue
Beat 3 egg whites until foamy,. Slowly add ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, beating until stiff. Spread on pie.

Posted by cassie-b at 03:22 PM | Comments (8)

Happy Birthday Empress

THE VERY BEST

Kitchen Window in Summer