Post Holiday Blahs

I've managed to make it through yet another holiday season without acquiring a chemical dependency. This is a very busy time of the year for me, as not only do we celebrate Christmas (2 days) and the New Year (2 days), but our anniversary is the 30th (we've made it 30 years now) and Bugs' birthday is the 1st (Happy 69th Bugs)! Add an Iowa bowl game into the equation, along with Bleyart's Annual Pancake Breakfast, and I'm constantly running hither & yon. Tomorrow evening we have plans to go to dinner and a movie with Chris & Katie to celebrate our anniversary. After that ...... I have no set plans until September.

I think tomorrow's movie will be "Marley & Me." I'm currently reading the book and enjoying it thoroughly! Siva shared a few of the same traits as Marley, i.e., his love for people, life, food .... well, everything! Siva and Marley also felt that no dog is too big to be a lap dog. At 80 pounds, Siva was quite awkward to share a chair with. And, like Marley, Siva sensed our moods, both good & bad. If I had an exceptionally bad day, Siva would be there, head on my knee - big, brown, mournful eyes commiserating with me, conveying that all would soon be well. On happy days, he would be his usual ebullient self, his great otter tail wagging at such a rate, his hind feet would slip on the floor. Unlike Marley, Siva was slightly more well mannered and controlled.

However, the comparison between Tao & Marley is remarkable. Lord, help us. I see so many traits in Tao that Marley exhibited. Tao loves to run, especially in the house. That's okay, but I'm hoping that he soon learns how to stop without the assistance of fixed objects. I'm truly concerned that he'll break his little legs when he encounters steps. He obviously feels that it's wasted time to walk down all of the stairs, so he launches himself at a distance of about 4 horizontal feet before hitting terra firma with a great thud. He exits beds and chairs in the same manner. I think Tao will follow in the paw prints of both Siva and Marley - he likes nothing more than to curl up in a lap. Should Tao actually grow into those great bear paws he possesses, we'll be in big trouble.

I used one of my Christmas presents the other night ...... I've wanted a hand held blender for a long time and finally got one. Wow, is that thing handy! And, powerful! You can puree a chunk of concrete in under 2 minutes. I concocted a new recipe. We had so much left over ham and I was getting tired of ham & cheese sandwiches. I looked at some recipes for ham & scalloped potatoes - my Mom always uses the boxed scalloped 'taters, throws in bite sized pieces of ham and bakes it. I did not have boxed potatoes, nor did I have all of the ingredients that published recipes used. Below is *my* version of Ham & Scalloped Potatoes. If you try it, let me know what you think. We really liked it.

• 2# leftover ham, cut into bite sized pieces
• 3# potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 2 cans cream of celery soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 large or 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
• Grated cheddar cheese
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Mix together (or use your hand held blender) the soup, milk, onions and pepper. Place a 1/3 of the sliced potatoes in the dish, covering the bottom. Next, a layer using 1/2 the ham. Then 1/2 of the soup mixture. Cover with cheese. Another 1/3 of potatoes & remainder of ham. Then the rest of the potatoes and soup mixture. Dot with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, covered. Uncover and top with more grated cheese and bake an additional 30 minutes.

It's really good.

I'll get back to Hatteras Village in my next post.