Sudokuaholics Anonymous 9A

I have just uploaded Alie's latest painting. Shame the photo doesn't do it justice. One of her friends asked her to paint him a black panther so she did.

Hi everyone, hope you're all well!

Suzy, Alie's painting is really good!

toocare has gone bye-bye

Gath!!!

Thanks Judy and June,
When I look at Alie's paintings (I'm trying to be good and spell it the way she prefers) I see an amazing mix of inexperience and skill. She paints things experienced painters won't attempt and gets the hard part right. Some of the extra bits are less skilled but appealing probably because of that..

They look like American Primitives to me, Suzy. A lot of simplicity, but very skillfully done.

Very late here again. Hello/Good Morning, People!

Everybody. I'm off to bed.

Hi, Suzy, Broni, MizTricia, June, Tami the T, Gail, Theresa, Heidi and Judy!

Suzy, at least Ebob is at home so you know where she is much of the time. Rejoice in that part of the equation! Since most of us have been a teen-ager or have had a teen-ager , we're not surprised that attitude and bad habits returned to your home when she returned. You have set some admirable goals to help her learn the value of being debt-free and responsible. Good luck and {{{{HUGS}}}}!

Broni, so sorry you're dealing with wet and soggy! Unfortunately, stupid drivers abound in all climates!

MizT and Broni, we called the sandwiched "Barbecue" when we were growing up, so didn't know about "sloppy Joes" until I went off to college. "Savory mince" sounds like a better description of what my mom made. Haven't had the version made from her recipe in years, but now I'm hungry.

June, sounds like another productive day! Good for you (and daughters)! Laura had a good capture of you and the king parrot! Excellent photo! Thanks for sharing!

Theresa, I hope your back feels better as the humid cold air moves past!

Heidi, great new avatar - and good choices of the birds to keep and the birds to sell! You'll have excellent breeding stock! Sorry your head is still hurting so much! Hope that soon improves!

Hooray for Suzy's good times on the Sudoku puzzles! It has been AGES since I even tried a hard puzzle. I get frustrated too easily. I still am completely confused by the "proofs" that people used to post. They made no sense to me.

MizT, I hope you're feeling better after your nap! I'm surprised that the S word is in your weather forecast this weekend. Wouldn't that be rare to have it 2 days in a row? (It wouldn't be surprising in Illinois, but Alabama is a completely different region. All the best that the S doesn't impact the treatments - or your arrival on time for them.

Suzy, I'll agree with Judy's opinion! Alie's panther painting is extremely good! Heidi's right about the similarity to "American Primitives"!

The yawns are coming too frequently now. I really must head off to bed. Good Night, Everyone! {{{HUGS}}} and positive thoughts for everyone!

Good Afternoon my friends.
Rough day at work TGIF don't think I could cope with the attitudes and temper tantrums of the bosses a minute longer. Oops sounds like Zusy's day every day.
MizT, wishing you clear sky and roads.
Julie, rest well you have been sooo busy.
Heidi, rest well you have to look after yourself and we care.
Still rain, rain and more rain. Wonder how our friends further North are coping, have you heard from them Zusy?

Evening all,
I'll have to google American primitives to compare..

Guess what we're having for dinner - yep, sloppy joes!

Sounds good Zusy, so what is the OZ version of cheese biscuits?

Hey Zusy, Dag, MizT, Theresa and other cat lovers....did you see this link on easy?
http://comics.com/arlo&janis/?DateAfter=2003-06-11&DateBefore=2003-06-11&Order=&a mp;a mp;PerPage=1&x=21&y=8&Search=

http://purplefoodie.com/cheddar-cheese-biscuits/

Is this what you mean Broni?

Zusy, I have no idea but Jerry said on Easy "OK, I had Lobster tail, shrimp and scallops cooked over a wood grill, on a bed of rice pilaf, with steamed broccoli. Salad, of course. And the signature cheese biscuits."
and BTW what is hamburger helper?
Foodie night tonight hehe!
Enquiring minds want to know.

What a day! It has been very hot and sticky, but spent it with my wonderful hubby of 28 years. We went out to lunch at the same winery we had the Christmas Sudoku gathering, very nice and we even indulged in dessert! On the way home we stopped into an historical homestead that I have driven past the turnoff many times, saying I must go there one day...today was that day! Fascinating look into the lives of the pioneering families of the general area.

Happy Anniversary Gail and Scott.

Broni, White Wings put out a product called hamburger helper. It is with the dried bread crumbs. I have not used it and I think it is just something to bind the meat together and add some flavour.
I rather liked the idea of that lobster tail. We had it one night on the Cruise back from Honolulu.

Broni, I think Jerry is referring to the cheese biscuits served at a restaurant called "Red Lobster" It is one of their signature items. Google a copy cat recipe and that should help.
Hamburger Helper is different here. It is a boxed mix you add chopped (mince) meat to and it turns it into a meal. They have flavors like beef stroganoff and cheesy lasagna. I don't buy it.

I am up way too early. I was woken up by a "crying baby" Harley does not like to be confined at nite and tells us by whining. He has already tried to eat my coffee table and we found teeth marks on the bottom of our couch. He has plenty of chew toys, I even bought extra.

Morning all.

Suzy, I really like Alie's painting. Wow, she really has talent.

Broni, I went to that link - how true it is!

Hi Julie ... bye Julie. We're like ships that pass in the night! Hope all is well with you and your hubby's procedure went without a hitch.

Hamburger Helper is a brand name of a product that you add to hamburger. There are various kinds, lasagna, beef noodle. Once the hamburger has been thoroughly cooked, you add the package contents to the meat and cook (mostly simmer). The pasta and spices are in the package and all you need to add is water and/or milk. It's not a breading, June, but really a complete meal in a box (minus the hamburg of course).

Off to get a coffee ... TTFN.

Morning Tami - we posted at virtually the same time. We had a Malamute puppy at one point who almost ate us out of house and home. He took big chunks out of our couch, my daughter's mattress, and on and on and on. Sounds like maybe Harley is "teething".

Tami it sounds as if Harley might be a bit of a Marley from the book/film 'Marley and me'
Hope he stops chewing soon

Harley is definitely teething. Right now he is being a good boy and chewing on his big bone. The bone is about the size of my calf. It usually costs $10 but since it had a red ribbon tied around it for Christmas, it was on clearance for $2. I bought 3 of them so far. He has one and the other two are put away for future use.

June, the one we have here is defintitely not the same thing...

Tami, we buy dinosaur bones, they are rather large bones left over when they cut up cows. They will cut them in half if you ask them to - and we do, it exposes the marrow. Our dogs get through them in about an hour.

Wow, Harley is being a puppy, still have the chew marks from both Bella and BJ on my furniture. Bella even chewed up an A4 envelope tonight... do they ever grow up?
Bella is more a Turner and Hooch with the slobber, never thought I could cope with a dog that slobbered.
Love the discussions about food.
Probably not a good footnote.

Broni, Harley is the first big dog I have ever had. My first dog Beau was a yorkie that weighed 6 pounds. He was a puppy when I got him but did not do much damage. I think he did chew on my mom's carpet. Rachel was 25 pounds and we were told she was 5 when we adopted her. We have been told by other vets that she was older than what we thought.

Just watched a depressing movie about WW1 - Daniel Radcliffe met a nasty end ... where's the magic when you really need it?

Heading off to bed in a minute - stinking hot today, and our air-conditioner just carked it! Repair company may be on holiday ...? Luckily we have a little cooler upstairs, so a good time to go read in bed. Good night my friends - stay cool! (Or Northerners - stay warm!) :)

Tami... Welcome to the world of puppies and big dogs. They are carnivores and have to chew. With Collies, the destructive chewing is between the ages of 6 and 11 months. During that time, you want to kill them. I've had puppies remove all the molding in the house, chew through the pipes to the furnace, turn furniture into tiny pieces of wood and stuffing and turn whole shelves of books into finely shredded paper. When they're "that" age, you have to use a crate with lots of chew toys when you're not home. Or you may not have a home left. They outgrow the bad stuff (with Collies it's like magic... the day they turn 11 months, it stops!) but they always need to gnaw on something. Not only to alleviate boredom, but to keep their teeth and gums healthy. The more "natural" the chew toys are, the less likely the dog is to want to chew on furniture legs. Most pet stores sell smoked bones with some meat still on. The "sterilized" bones aren't anywhere as much fun, and the dogs will go for other stuff. I go to the processors and they give me those cow leg bones, and any others I want. They still have some meat on them. The leg bones last longer. Some they cut in half, and some I give the dogs whole.

I woke up to a covering of white everywhere. It's still snowing, but it's supposed to get above freezing later today. The roads are really bad, though. Cars are sliding off the road. IH has 4WD, and he's been slipping. I need to go into town later, but hopefully the roads will be clear by then.

Good Morning friends!

Looks like I started something with the Sloppy Joes hehehe. Yours turn out tasty, Suzy?

BRONI, glad you made it to the weekend, enjoy your time away from the bosses. Terrible we have to work for a living, isn't it?

June, loved the photo of you and the parrot. You have a young photographer in Laura, good photo, not sure I could have done as well.

Broni, Hamburger Helper is the brand name that is now used by the general population for any manufacturers box containing either dried potatoes or some type pasta, and a packet of other dried ingredients to make the sauce. different flavors. You brown a half kilo of mince, drain the fat, add hot water and sometimes milk, and the packet, stir and simmer for about 20 minutes. Till recently, terribly high in the bad hydrogenated fats and high in sodium. Some companies have now improved the nutrition in these. here is a link to photos of the box and some of the dishes. OH, there are also recipes for using these plus some of your own ingredients, for other tastes.

http://www.google.com/images?q=Hamburger+Helper&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official& amp;client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=744&a mp;bih=524

I am back from a very early morning errand. I woke this morning at 7:45, just as I told myself I must. and phoned about getting venison. YES, they had an unclaimed deer today. BIG one by the amount of meat I got. All hamburger(mince) but that is fine with me. Pasckages are about a pound or over each, shrink wrapped so they stay fresh longer(new this year for this processor) and I got 60 packages. Price is the same if you get a little deer or a big one, and this was a big one! This and what I have still might be enough this year. Not sure I could find space for another at the moment. WHEW. feels good to get the meat in for next year.

Sorry I answered about Hamburger helper, I had not read far enough! But you can look at the photos and get a better idea perhspa.

We did not have hamburger helper for years, after Al's heart surgery. But once the manufacturers removed the transfats, we do have it occasionally. Like Suzy, I made my own for a while, using healthier sauces and less salt, but some "flavors" I just never got right.

Al put together his own version of hamburger helper yesterday while I was gone. We had some yellow rice and some sloppy joe leftovers in fridge, he combined them, warmed and said it was GOOD hehehe.

OK, really must think about breakfast now, huge to all.

To get 60 packages of burger from one deer HAD to have been a big animal, MizT. From live weight to dressed carcass, you lose 45 to 50%. Then, taking just the meat without the bone cuts it down almost in half again. So getting 60+ lbs of burger means the animal was at least 250 ibs. That's a big deer!

lbs, not ibs.

I got a new aviary cage for the lovebirds yesterday. This one is HUGE. The dimensions are 72"x 40"x 30" ( that's 1.8m x 1.02m x.76m) I assembled it last night... a challenge since the instructions were in chinese. I still have to fit it out with perches and playthings before introducing birds. I also am waiting for some leg bands to arrive so I can identify birds easier. It may be a week before birds go in there. (Their present cage is 1/4 the size.)

I have the grandies here for the afternoon so their mom can nap. We just spent an hour and a half at the Salvation Army where they could not decide what they wanted (especially the older one). I told them they could each get two things like toys. Neither ended up with a toy, they each got two decorative items. Go figure. I got three long sleeved shirts for them at $1.49 each and they still had the original price tag on them, so no one wore them. They will go in the washer first. I've already sanitized their decorative items.

MizT, it's a good feeling when the freezer is getting full! I get that feeling (sort of) when we get the big haul of groceries every two weeks. Then I know at least for 2 weeks we have enough food in the house. This Saturday is the big haul.

The girls are watching a bit of TV. Peace at last, even if it will be only short-lived. They seem to be bugging each other today.

I finished one doll blanket, except for sewing the ends in. The pattern is really nice. I've started the second one, but just barely. The youngest turns 6 on Sunday, so I'm going to wrap it up and give it to her as a present. We still have to figure out what to get her for her main present. Talk about waiting until near the end, huh? We are going out to a restaurant for her birthday called the Lone Star - her choice. When they bring out her cake they put a huge cowboy hat on her and sing happy birthday. This place makes excellent fajitas. Drool ..... guess what I'm having???

BTW Heidi, I was reading the news here and they were talking about the most prevalent flu strain in Canada and the U.S. - I think it's called H3N3. The symptoms are fever, headache, muscle and body aches, fatigue and cough. I had the last four symptoms, but I don't know if I had fever (with the hot flashes it's hard to tell). I have a feeling that's what I had. This is the first year I haven't gone for my flu shot yet. Is it possible you've had a touch of that one?

Peace has run amuk - they are actually arguing over who is going to do the dusting!!!

It does sound like that's what you had, Theresa.
I know I didn't have it. I had a simple head cold, complicated with falling on my head. The fatigue is a pre-existing condition.

Morning all,
Theresa, two dust cloths! Glad you got some peace in there somewhere. My youngest loves going op-shopping.

The aviary sounds great Heidi. The birds will love it! I hope the roads are clear before you have to drive on them.

MizT, well done getting all of that venison. Healthy eating for another year.

Judy, I saw the shorts for that movie and I was tempted by the chance to see Daniel Radcliffe as something other than Harry Potter, but decided against it because of the topic.

It's 22C here and not 8am yet, heavy dew too, I think we're in for a hot one!!