It is so much fun to get together, eat wonderful food and visit with our neighbors, including osme newcomers.
Here's what we served:
Blue Satin soup
Romaine salad with Becky's dressing
Lemon basil sorbet
Brandied carrots
New potatoes with horseradish mustard sauce
Beef tenderloin served with horseradish sauce or brandied cream sauce
Recipes to follow in the next few days.
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This section is called "Mandarin Gone Nuts".
Someone in China went nuts on my blogs this weekend. Yesterday I spent over half an hour deleting Mandarin spam.
You might ask yourself how I knew it was spam if it was written in Mandarin. It's easy. They sprinkle a few English naughty bit in there and those jump off the page.
I never had a problem with spam until very recently. Didn't Google acquire Blogger? Has it been since Google took over? I don't know what the trigger has been but it's getting annoying.
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On to the Bucket List ............
There's something I've wanted to do for awhile and I've officially added it to the Bucket List.
When I worked at the newspaper the photographer would be assigned to cover the History Flight of a B-17 bomber at the local airport. I could never manage to talk my way onto the assignment with him. I could sell advertising but couldn't convince the publisher why an advertising rep should be included.
The photographer, since he had credentials, would be waived the $400 plus fee. There's no way that I could justify spending that much money for a flight that lasted under an hour.
It was interesting to watch the old plane fly overhead and remember the time of prop airplanes and their low drone.
There are groups around the country that travel and offer the experience at different airports.
HISTORY FLIGHTS
If you're interested, here's the schedule for 2010.
HISTORY FLIGHT SCHEDULE
A flight on one of the bombers is $495, not something that's in my budget. They will be in Racine, Wisconsin in July, perhaps I can find a corporate sponsor before then who will foot the bill in trade for some advertising.
Just an idea.
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Have you heard about Books for Soldiers?
This group provides the opportunity for you to send books, DVD's and games to soldiers. They call them "Care Packages for the Mind".
ALL ABOUT BOOKS FOR SOLDIERS
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Have you been entering the contest for HGTV's Dream Home 2010?
Although I'm not very lucky, I'm entering every day.
HGTV DREAM HOME GIVEAWAY
It's a beautiful place in the desert. I'm not a desert kind of gal but I could probably get used to living here, at least part-time.
I believe it's worth $1.5 million and comes with a GMC vehicle and $500,000 cash.
Here's the home theater.
Photo credit: HGTV Online
In the past, winners have been forced to sell the home shortly after winning. Remember, it's not exactly a free house. You must pay taxes calculated on the value of home, vehicle and cash. The idea of the $500,000 cash seems to be that after paying taxes on the cash you would have enough left over to pay the taxes on the house and the vehicle.
The master bedroom includes a fireplace faced in mosaic work. I'm seeing alot of this in the design blogs. It must be the next new thing. What I love are the sliding doors that are based on barn doors used in farm buildings. It's a new twist on the pocket door.
Photo Credit - HGTV Online
If you go to the HGTV website and poke around the Dream Home you'll find that they include paint color and product information.
It would be nice to stay for a small vacation before putting out the for sale sign.
Or perhaps the Farmer and I could operate a bed and breakfast, after all the place includes a guest casita. Would you come to my B & B?
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Sorry, nothing for breakfast this morning except leftovers Brandied Carrots.
I now turn the meeting over to you. What's on your mind?
14 comments:
The HGTV Dream Home is my own little version of winning the Powerball... for the month of January I say "if we win the Dream Home we'll sell it and..." about thirty times. :)I don't like this one much at all this year. Southwest style does nothing for me. I'm putting away the last of the Christmas stuff today (little lighted houses, my white feather tree) and that's it!
I used to enter the HGTV home contest and then I got scared. What if I win and have to pay all those taxes? Not worth it. Google Fantasy of Flight. This is located about 20 minutes from me and it includes plane rides, etc. Quite the place. Come on down!! But, wait another week until the weather warms up.
Forgot..I had those people spamming me too. My sitemarker said they were from Taiwan. What a waste of time.
I remember doing Progressive Dinners with the church youth group when I was in high school. They were a lot of fun.
I love the idea of books for soldiers and calling it "care packages for the mind". I can't think of anyone who needs a bit of an escape from their present reality more than the soldiers.
Just after New Year's several families from our church got together at a Guest Ranch close to our town for an afternoon of sledding, sleigh rides, and board games. It was my dream house. I had every room planned out while we were there. I think I'll just have to keep dreaming about it though!
I might be the only decenter, but I don't like the home theater, or the other picture.
The lines are to harsh. I like softer lines, I am so partial to the Georgian/Victorian era that this modern stuff makes me want to hurl!
That is all.
Way to cold for anything else.
I had to add some restrictions to my comments too. As soon as I would get one off they'd be adding another one.
Darn. I was hoping for some Blue Satin Soup because, though I have no idea what it is, it sounds incredible. I've been hearing about this spam baloney (uh?) all over. As for the Dream Home...may you win!
this is the 1st monday of this year i feel 'bring it on'...am i old? or just pokey but it took me all this time to dechristmas and i was cranky the whole time. happy now.
my dad was a b17 pilot. to big a story for comments...
word of the day. we need 12 hugs aday....here is one of yours {{{hug}}}
bv
That menu sounds wonderful! I'm very intrigued by this blue satin soup.
I've been getting hit with a lot of spam in the comments of old posts lately. I changed my settings so that I have to approve comments to older posts. It shows up on my dashboard if there are comments which need to be moderated. I usually don't have to even open then to tell they are spam and reject them. It seems simpler than word verification which I know a lot of people hate.
I love the Books for Soldiers idea! I'm going to check into that as soon as I publish this comment.
I did register to win the HGTV house. I think I would see if I could donate it if I won it. I've been to that area of New Mexico and it's lovely, but I don't need an extra house or the hassle of the extra taxes. I'd sure take the money though. The doors look like Pioneer Woman's lodge doors that her husband designed. They are wonderful! Dh and I both agree that if we had seen those before we built our house we would have put some doors like that in a few spots.
Hi Suzanne :)
That Mandarin visited me too! I spent all morning deleting everything only to find they were back the next day. What a PITA. They haven't been back, so hopefully it's over.
Dinner sounded fantastic!!
As far as the dream home... it was pretty, but not my cup of tea. The money would come in handy though ;)
hugs,
rue
there is so much good stuff here! love the bomber
and the dream home theatre.
sorry about the mandarin spam...who has time to delete all that!
love your blog!
I love the HGTV Dream home... I have seen it twice already... I enter once in awhile,, but maybe some day I will win,,,,,who knows it could be you... I just finished the baby quilt I was working on now I will be starting another one... Hope you are keeping warm..
Hugs;
Alaura
Years ago - when the Confederate Air Force was in town - I spent time as a volunteer on the Tora, Tora, Tora bomb squad setting up and detonating explosives for the simulated bombing and strafing runs. I didn't get to fly in any of the planes, but I did get an extreme close up of the fly-overs. Setting off the pyrotechnics was a blast ... literally. It's amazing what kind of activities are available for those willing to volunteer their time.
Sure would not want to pay the gift tax involved in winning the HGTV house and vehicle... I do like the home theatre room and the furniture and color scheme used although my Hubby and dogs would make short works of the white lounging chairs. Still.. it's lovely to look at.
Having lived in the Southwest for a couple of decades I have a great appreciation for the home styles/floor plans. Not such confining chopped up rooms like these homes on the East Coast or in the Midwest. BUT, since we have moved around the U.S. a number of times I do have to have a bit of an open mind and not be stuck on just one style.
Open Mine = Open Heart
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
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