Clyde's Christmas Picture

This little guy stood proud for his Christmas picture!

The day before MEXICarbO

Yesterday I spent about 6 hours going from store to store gathering the food to be prepared for MEXICarbO.

So far no surprises!

Today is tidy up the house the best I can, Clyde will go to his northern vacation home for a couple nights (because he and donkey may not get along), I need to make the salsa today so it has time to let the flavors invigorate a bit.

So I am on the final day of prep for the party which will still include getting the margartia machines (that will hold 14 gallons of drink --- this could be a challenge for someone haha), the warming boxes for the food and the ice chest for the drinks.

Tomorrow is the day on wheels where everything is made fresh, and nothing can be made until noon if it is going in the slow cooker or later. So it is a mad dash to make the meal grand!

Really excited about MEXICarbO, looking forward to seeing my great friends on this great occasion.

The buck stops here ...

Driving last night, listening to some loud and pulsing dance music in my car, I was winding through a nice good old fashion country road. Well, in the city not sure if you can call it that ... it is the road that has a couple names like Liberty Mills, but it takes you back toward Fox Island. It may at some point be called Yohnie heck I don't know....

Anyway, as I am driving something catches my eye. I am one of those crazy fall drivers who watches the side of the road more than the middle as I drive because I am always afraid I am going to have a deer dart out and attack my car. Well, by now I have realized he is not only a deer, but he has antlers like a coat rack.

Since I am not a hunter, I do not know how many points he has, if that is even the right term, but he was very impressive. Reminded me of the old Mutual of Omaha pictures of a deer. So, I am now near a complete stop in the middle of the road and he is standing there looking at me. The funny thing, he was turning his head to the pulsing of the music. I sat there for a couple seconds and just watched him. He had perfect rhythm.

So I went from high adrenaline pulsing through me to a sort of chuckle as I watched my new buck of a friend enjoy the sounds coming from my starter mercedes. I eventually started the car in motion, and he never left the side of the road for as far as I could see in my rear view mirror.

The Tide has turned

Thanks to all of you who voted out the"Mr. T" stained glass idea.

Yesterday, the latest piece of art was added to the home, and as you can see it replaced the purple and green hearty-butterfly-family crest thing. It blends into the house just amazingly well and I could not be more happy.

In addition to changing out the former first lady's initial and mine, it is now a new wave of life with copper, amber and other warm tones which makes this just the perfect next step in the house remodel. I have also done the two side glass panels at the front door. They have a great flare, a wave as well and other super cool touches.

MEXICarbO is just days away. Plans are in high gear and I am very excited to see all my friends, family and new acquaintances I have yet to meet but I am sure I will have a grand ole time. Donkey is going to be happy to meet everyone too!

My own "Carbo" footprint!

Everyone is going green and finding out their carbon foot print to save the world from global warming.

Well companies like Aqua Net and my own famous snow cone factory are up in arms! However we know that the tide will turn. Not sure if I believe all that is said that back when I was tike in the 80's, had hair that was more like a lions mane, that I helped to destroy the ozone layer.

Okay, if you are still laughing that I had hair at one point, stop it!

I kinda believe that weather goes in cycles and sometimes it is warmer and sometimes colder. I remember last winter when Denver got pummeled with snow by the foot. I watched the March of the Penguins and those little critters would love a lighter snow fall. (Cuz they die in the winter sometimes as they huddle to find warmth - yes, I ruined the end of the show, but if you have not seen the movie yet you most likely will not)

I went to one of "those" websites that determines your carbon foot print. However I could not figure out how to enter or find the data they wanted to calculate my imprint. I guess I am so full of carbon that I could not go through every gas and electric bill that I have received in the past dozen years. Yeah, perhaps I recycled all that information!

So don't fret, it will get colder. We will see snow and we will see ice and that for some of you ... is an inconvenient truth!

Death never was so sweet...

Okay, it is no secret that if Angie Harmon was to just read a phone book, I would find it to be an Oscar winning performance. She is amazing, and if you don't think so, then you should not read the rest of this post.

Here is the deal, I was very sad when she left Law and Order a few years back, then Marshall Fields closed... I really thought that the Gods had it out for me. Well, she had a kid or something and she wanted to spend time blah blah blah who cares, but now she is back on TV and it rocks!

Women's Murder Club, Friday evenings on ABC. I have taped about six episodes and in my day of rest yesterday I watched them one after another. Four San Franciscans -- a district attorney, a medical examiner, a reporter and a detective -- pool their talents to solve homicide cases in this adaptation of a series of best-selling novels by James Patterson.

Paula Newsome was in Straight Talk and loved her in that ... now she is the medical examiner. The reporter is Aubrey Dollar, a bit annoying but we all have one friend like that, don't we? Laura Harris is the district attorney. I have no clue what she has done before, but she is somewhat forgettable at times. Like I had to look up her name to find out who she was... Then there is Angie Harmon who makes this show amazing.

If you limit the number of hours you watch of television per week, move this in and move ... I don't know anything else out. Wheel of Fortune perhaps. It is like Sex in the City without the sex but the plot is richer and more believable.

Oh and you can vote to make this your People's Choice award for best new show, guess who already voted http://www.pcavote.com/pca/?_requestid=2797634

Nothing to stew about ...

Next week, at this time, I will be in fast motion preparing for the 100+ people who will be attending MEXICarbO - Fort Wayne's only Mexican party hosted by a non Hispanic on December 1st!!! One for the record books!

The menu has been finalized, finally. After a glitch on Thursday, the menu has been reworked to accommodate my time, life and pan situation haha.

Homemade salsa, guacamole, a taco bar with chicken (because no matter what I serve, it will taste like chicken anyway), fajitas with chicken or chorrizo with shrimp, beans, rice and a chocolate fondue station. Some other items may pop up depending if I stay winded long enough to make them all. Finally, there will be a nacho bar too. So, at least on the food side, there should be something for everyone!

This is the favorite time of the year for me. Having the opportunity to host the 11th Annual Holiday Open House (or as Imus would say H.O.H) is so exciting to see all my friends in one place. Never too late to RSVP or invite yourself if I did not include you, because who can't have more friends?!?

Don't drop cuz you will be stepped on ...

Fortunately for me, I had the day off yesterday. I had ample time to read through the 15 pound newspaper and in just a short 7 hours I managed to read it all.

Stores are opening at midnight, some at 4 am, some were serving breakfast and some where giving you cash when you walked in the door.

What I found in the ads was a bunch of odd things at low prices. I know that I am heading to Best Buy to buy "My Best Friends Wedding" for $2.99? What? If anyone is standing in that line at 5 am is more nuts than those who are over at Walgreen's getting two rolls of wrap for the price of one!

Maybe I am too old to get the entire shopping for Christmas gig. I have a niece who is 9 and after I begged for an item on her wish list, I logged on to Barnesandnoble.com and within three clicks (since I have speedy checkout set up) I made her purchase. Now, I could have asked for them to wrap it too and sign the card, which I thought about, but then I thought... Hell, I am going to be at Walgreens this morning might as well stand in line for the paper giveaway!

If you are hitting the streets this morning, good luck. If YOU did hit the streets, tell me what prompted you to go? I thought the ads were lame, but perhaps my paper was missing a section ha!

Thanksgiving tragedy

Well even the most organized moment of my life did not turn out as I had planned. I had anticipated baking a half dozen cakes today for MEXICarbO however without a pan, one can not make any cakes. So, this year there will not be a big cake display. Oh well, chalk it up to experience :) I am just going to enjoy the day in peace and quiet. I have no clue where the pan would have disappeared to ...

Dinner 4 Five @ 6

The tradition continues as Dinner 4 Five @ 6 had another installment last evening. (Thanks to my kind boss, I am using the computer in my office since my ... well read below...)

The round robin discussion spoke of everything from our careers, to Harrison Square to celebrities we look like. There is a website that you can import your picture and it tells you who you look most like. Well, I did it and my 70% match hit two well known celebrities. My likeness to Donny Osmond and Katie Courick were the matches against the picture I submitted. My toothy grin and my high forehead were the key matches, and the eyes alignment. Odd, but well, know you ...

As we all prepare for Thanksgiving in our own ways, please take a moment to be thankful for the little things (like a 3 subway sandwich high Donkey!!). This year I am forgoing turkey and stuffing to bake a frenzy of desserts for the Holiday Open House which is just more than a week away.

Dinner 4 Five @ 6 takes the month of December off, but will return in January. Who knows, you could be at the table sharing, learning and making new friends! (Our hands represent 4 5 6)

MOTHERfnBOARD

Well, I hate Toshiba! Truly hate them. Here is the deal, if you buy anything with their name on it plan to just be as mad as me.

Here is the deal. Last April my lap top, which was a major investment, crashed ... the mother board went out of it. Well, guess what happened this weekend? Yep, you guessed (or you better have by now) the mother board went out of my computer!

This computer houses thousands of songs for my DJ gigs. It hosts my Creative Mind website and that is about it. Well it is in the hands of a group of trained professionals who are hoping to resuscitate it back to life.

I did call Toshiba, but the person who I spoke with said pretty much that I owned a lemon and three mother boards are not normal but it is out of warranty so just bend over and take it. I think that is what he was saying because English was not his first nor his second language! Uggh, it is a damn good thing I don't work for the United Nations! I would be bombing a call center. (But I don't work for the United Nations and I have no explosives, so just back away from me or I will toss a Toshiba at ya!)

So, my updates may be a bit sporadic and may not be at 4 in the morning like I am normally accustomed to doing.

So, if you hate someone, give them a Toshiba for Christmas! They get what they have coming to them.

Holiday Hits

It has been quite some time since I gave a "must have" list of music. Well today, I end the waiting game.

I have selected a few of my favorite holiday CD's. Chicago, Harry Connick Jr. Anne Cochran, Jim Brickman and Chris Botti provide a nice display of Christmas music low key enough to enjoy with the lights down, Christmas tree lit and a cup of hot coco as you allow your mind to unwind.

I am an avid Christmas music junkie. I have collected over 300 Christmas CD's that have yet to make it into an IPOD. So my Christmas wish is for me to have an IPOD filled with my music which will require endless days of scanning ... ughh, so I have hope that Santa will send me an elf to work in my home for a week to make my dream come true.

In my spare time...

Over the past four nights I have slowly put up the Christmas Tree (or holiday bush or something other than Christ's celebration tree).

My tree is copper in color, with gold lights and blends into my home as if it could be up year round. Which trust me after four days of putting it up, I am thinking I may just keep it up and dust it weekly.

It has been fun as this tree really starts a new era. This begins a brand new tree with nearly all new ornaments (that are mine! all mine! and I will not give them to anyone!)

So, today marks two weeks from MEXICarbO and I have much to do to prepare for you'all who have shared their RSVP with me. Still plenty of time to let me know if you are coming :)

Pull out your calendar

What are you doing November 9 of 2008? Well, you could be one who may be going to see Celine Dion.

Yes, tickets for Celine Dion at Conseco (Indianapolis) go on sale November 19 (this year) for next year's show.

Tickets are $125 (if you want to see her) or $45 if you want to stand almost outside the stadium to hear her heart go on...

This marks Celine Dion's first concert tour outside of her five year run in Vegas. You can buy early if you are part of the Celine Dion Fan Club but that is going to set you back a bit too.

Dog down ...

Clyde was very sick on Tuesday.

I did not know a dog could be stuffed with that much...

He is doing fine now, just some cuddling and holding onto him seemed to help him not be so scared of being sick...

Poor little buddy

PETA people can't PARTY with Carbo

Well, I know that I normally offend someone nearly daily, and today will not only be any different but it begins with ... I am near the point of securing a donkey for MEXICarbO.

He will be at the party to help celebrate the festivities as the Holiday Open House - #11 will focus on the celebrating my Mexican heritage. (okay, guess I can't pull that over on anyone)

More details as they surface but MEXICarbO will be the only Holiday Party this year, you will be invited to where there is a donkey! Almost Guaranteed!

Cutting edge ...

Some of you have been wondering what purchase(s) I made in Savannah beyond the drinks.

Truthfully, I bought more drinks than items, but what I did uncover was this amazing knife set and holder, that makes THIS the product of the month!

Over the past year I have highlighted chocolate Altoids, the Magic bullet and other must have purchases. Well, this is just the top of the line or crossing the line perhaps. It is called the "EX". I did not name it, the box actually said it.

Chrome man with a life time warranty on the knives. (Didn't get that with my first marriage) Anyway, this is just stellar and sure to remind me of Savannah and I am sure a few other things I have thought of over the years haha just joking, call off the psychologists!

What a (thanks)gathering of friends...

Well, I am nearly recovered from an action packed weekend! I helped a friend do some home painting, attended the Allen County SPCA's Paw's and Claws event at the Masonic Temple and of course there was Thanksgathering.

Nearly thirty people joined in the fun at the only party where the guests can bring a food item. We had Turducken (pictured above) and a wide selection of pies (yeah for me), starches and other great vegetables dressed up in not so healthy forms (yeah again). Raves went out to the Pumpkin Bars! (You know who you are who brought them and made everyone say YUMO).

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. This year, even though I have had many invitations to celebrate the day in style, I have to decline in order to keep my eyes on the big celebration --- MEXICarbO! It is less than three weeks away and I have to set up the food stations (which does not take all that long) but the buying, creating and cooking the menu for 150 of my closest friends. The debate remains whether or not to have the donkey for pictures. Also, this year I will have a Christmas tree up! Seldom does anyone see my tree, and since I have lived in the Haunted Hamlets, the tree has not been up during the Holiday Open House. (The home association is probably not too fond that I coined the name, Haunted, but more people die per capita in the Hamlets than any other berg in Fort Wayne - a statistic I made up.)

Enjoy some of the pictures of a fun and filling day!

Thanksgathering ...

Those of you who know more about me than you ever cared to know, realize that my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.

It is a non-gift holiday shared with family and friends over a table of food that quickly puts you to sleep. Lord knows, I am all about natural sleep aids haha.

My natural family is not as large as the the Pilgrims and Indians who gathered around and broke maze hundreds of years ago, so I created the festivity called "Thanksgathering". It began initially as a single-person's dinner but it has evolved to anyone who wants to enjoy turkey (or practice eating Thanksgiving) before the big calendar day.

This is the only party that I host at my home which I allow anyone to bring a food item. I make a few turkeys, everyone else brings the fixings. The person who brings the pie is my undying best friend of the day!

This year, Thanksgathering was on a one week delay, as I was in Savannah the first Sunday of the month. So, tomorrow, my house will be filled with happy faces with even greater hearts as they share and give thanks to the gathering of my friends. Thus Thanksgathering is my spin of making my favorite holiday last a bit longer!

(Oh, one of the guests is bringing at Turducken .... the turkey that has duck, chicken and a pork sausage center... all the way from Louisiana!!!)

Finally, the travel log ends ...

The last part of the travel log, Sunday in Savannah, began bright and early with a search for a good breakfast.

We started on the river with a nice all-day breakfast spot that was very comfortable, cozy if you will, on the water. We began with a nice mimosa, because we were STILL on vacation! My friend had the sea food omelet, I had grits with shrimp and ham (perhaps a theme to my last two meals). We shared great conversation with our waitress who wanted to know about Fort Wayne.

Well, I started with we have a Fort in our city and ended with Johnny Appleseed is buried here and feel short on anything in the past 150 years that made us stand out. She asked, "weren't you in the news lately?" I thought on NO, she heard about Kelty too. I changed the topic to the weather ... because it was another gorgeous day in Savannah. Fourth day, no precipitation, perfect weather!

After breakfast we walked along the river and went through the art fair and seafood festival which was happening. Made a purchase of a hand crafted chain with thin ceramic cylinders which is hard to describe, but it was something I thought was cool.

We continued on the walking adventure until about noon and went back to the hotel to finish packing. Within a few hours we were back at the airport and beginning to tap back into unanswered phone calls, text messages and thinking about the end of a great vacation.

As I sat in the airport, looking out a big window, looking out on the horizon, I had my head phones on blasting music and capturing the trip so I could bring it back and add it to my blog. I truly had a fantastic trip away and for those who have endured these four posts, you will be happy to know .... this is the end!

Bless your heart ....

Now let me tell you, Saturday morning 9 am began much sooner following a night that I was "into my cups" but nonetheless, the Paula Deen Tour was planned for the third day of the Savannah Trip.

We were picked up at our hotel and taken to a parking lot where we were met with others, tons of others as it seemed, but probably 40 people eventually loaded on a tour bus and we began the adventure. It was another great weather day and the leader of the bus, Wendy, should have spelled her name "Windy" because she never shut up from the time the trip started until 1:30 p.m. Even at lunch we had the great fortune of sitting with her and she talked then, perhaps with her mouth full of food, but by then I was just in total disgust with her.

The tour, once you got past her non-stop talking, allowed us to see the produce stand where Paula would obtain her vegetables and fruit "on loan" or the bakery which made the bread for her sandwiches for her Bag Lady company that was selling lunch out of the trunk of her car.

We saw her first home in Savannah, where she married, and some of her favorite haunts (and trust me they were haunts!) The tour of the city concluded at her Brothers restaurant "Uncle Bubba's". We were led into the cattle call room, sat at tables like we were in elementary school and fed one oyster and a trip through a buffet line that included a shrimp boil, squash casserole, biscuits, pulled pork and a chicken/rice casserole. The food was okay but it was not what I thought I would be eating. It was not the heavy butter drenched food like Paula's food is, but this was her brother's place and not hers.

We loaded back on the bus and Windy rambled for another 30 minutes before we were deposited back at the hotel, where we promptly began the fun portion of the trip. We walked for about five hours through the city seeing the old homes, the parks and visited an amazing Catholic Church. I was in there (and from what I understand ... it is still there, it did not burn down). Truly breath taking.

We ended the night at Vic's on the River (not named after the dog fighter) and had a perfect upscale dinner. It was shrimp and grits for myself and my friend had amazing pork loin cutlets. I enjoyed a drink and the evening was spent back at the hotel unwinding and rejoicing that three days of no work talk, no personal phone calls and truly perfect weather making one amazing vacation.

Coming up, we have Sunday and about 6 hours of fun ahead ... as the travel log continues.

Kelty's plans aborted ...

Good Morning Fort Wayne!

It is a great day for Fort Wayne politics to know that Matt Kelty was not elected our city's next mayor. The people have spoke and they are done with the smile show, welded with lie after deceit.

My house did not have to go up for sale, nor did I have to find a new city to call home. Thank you Fort Wayne for speaking out.

Lets put our hands together (kinda like he is in the picture above) and cheer that our future will be bright.

Friday makes day two ....

Friday morning we were up and on the go to see more of the city, to try new drinks and hit the shopping hard and heavy.

While on the shopping adventure we stumbled across two places where I found some great accessories for the home and the holiday Christmas tree. Everything was 25% off, so what I saved in sales I had them ship it back for my comfort. See, thinking outside the (shipping) box. I even gathered a few ideas for one of the rooms in my home, so perhaps I will begin to work on that idea.

Took a carriage ride around the town and saw many great places like the home of the founder of the Girl Scouts and even saw the place where Forrest Gump sat on the bench to eat his box of chocolates. Even the pub where Julia Roberts dined in one of her movies. Very informative and I think it may have been the first horse and carriage ride I have been on in a decade.

The cooking class was low country dining which included simple crab cakes, sweet and sour spinach salad, banana pudding. The class was taught by another instructor and she was very good but not as funny as our first cooking instructor. The store in which these classes were taught was a hip Williams and Sonoma. I even bought a new knife set that is also being shipped back. It should be perfect in the new kitchen, someday.

The next event was our Haunted Pub Crawl. We were in a group of about 40 people and went from bar to pub to bar stopping to hear stories of the ghost that lived or invest their time in the city. Learned the term "into your cups" which means as you walk down the street, drinking, and your plastic cups begin to stack up you become more intoxicated. I think I was into my cups pretty darn good for a Savannah rookie.

After the crawl we went out again to another bar or two and got back to the hotel around 1:00 a.m. Coming up ... Saturday on the Paula Deen tour (but most likely you will get an update from election headquarters)

Travelog - Thursday

Well, I am back from a four day adventure down south where they ask the question, "want some tea with your sugar" (this is called Sweeeet Tea).

On Thursday, my friend and I flew from Indianapolis to Savannah. Decent travel short of the one suitcase that clunked me on the head because the guy could not muster up enough strength to put it in the overhead compartment. But when you are hauling around a dead body in a suitcase, it does get cumbersome. I was fine, I drank it off. I mean, well ... you will see.

So Thursday as we have an hour before flight from Atlanta to Savannah, we "practiced" our drinking at the airport. Ah, yes vacation has truly begun.

We arrived at 4pm to our hotel and our first cooking class was at 6:00 p.m. We dropped off our bag, wondered the streets for a tad and then ended up at Murphy's Law, an Irish Pub. So I had my second drink, a killer Martini (that had chocolate on the rim that if I spun it counter clockwise, it made a swirl in the glass. I could have sat there for hours, which only tells you that perhaps I did not need the drink, yet) we also split something to munch on before our dessert class at Kitchen's on the Square. We arrived at 6 to find we were the only two students in the class.

The class consisted of my friend and I learning to make a pumpkin pound cake with a praline topping, a red velvet cake with cream cheese/butter cream frosting, cinnamon cigars, cranberry/white chocolate with strussel topped muffins, a peppermint chocolate brownie. Along with the free wine, we drank and ate sugar for two and half hours. Our instructor was once a prep chef for Paula Deen, trained in Europe and has an offer to produce a cookbook. The sugar coma began instantly and I was feeling the pounds crystallize or my veins to harden.

We stumbled back to our rooms once this class was over and we simply called it a day around 10 pm. But don't fret, Friday has much planned (and we never got back to the room until 1:00 a.m. from the adventures.... be back tomorrow with more fun facts!

Oh, ya'll it was just perfection ...

Well, I have so much to say but just not enough time to tell you about it. I have a boat load of pictures and memories from the trip to Savannah.

Coming up ... you will find out what desserts were featured at our cooking class and what the second series of classes featured. Also, the tour of Paula Deen, though I did not get a chance to meet her.

A drinking tour that would make anyone's head spin. Hmm, I think I said that correctly. I could have easily come down with the Savannah Flu (which is only contagious if you were on the drinking tour).

Great times, super memories in a fabulous city. Stay tuned for more details, pictures and stories (perhaps a recipe too!)