This was not Walt's Disney

So my hubs got home a little late last night and I had planned for him to

cook fish on the grill for dinner.

He likes to grill and is always happy to cook outdoors even when he works late.

We normally cook outside every couple of days but haven't grilled in over a week due to rain, travel, eating out, rain and oh yeah, rain.

He was going to light the grill before changing his clothes so out into the

dark, drizzling night he went.

We keep our grill completely covered when not in use.

Imagine hub's surprise when he uncovered and opened the grill only to discover that a mama mouse had made a nest down in the very bottom sometime this week.

And had babies.

Ewwwww!!!

Ew.Ew.Ew.Ew.Ew.

Don't bother sending me emails and comments telling me how cute they are.

They are not.

Especially not in the bottom of your grill.

He told me to come look but did I mention, Ew. Ew. Ew.

Not a fan of mice anywhere but especially not in the bottom of the grill.

So he had to remove them but before he could get the mama in the bucket she took off .

With most of her babies attached.

Ew.

Ewww.

I'm just not sure I'm making my point.

Ewwww!!

One little babe was left behind so hubs scooped him out and deposited

him in the woods where I'm sure he met his fate.

Circle of life people.

Then of course the grill had to be scoured.

Detoxed.

Taken apart.

Lit on fire.

Scoured some more.

Detoxed again.

Hubs was still in his work clothes.

It was drizzling.

Its really really dark here.

I had to cook the fish in the oven which I don't like to do

because it makes the house smell fishy.

Good times.

Things happen when you live in the woods.

Things involving critters.

It turned really cool here this week.

And when it turns cold, creatures who were perfectly happy living outdoors start looking for warm places to call home.

Remind me again why are we living in the woods?

Thank goodness I married a boy scout.

October skies

I normally answer the Random Dozen on Wednesdays and because this week was Lid's birthday she asked folks to submit questions as her birthday gift.

I'm sure it's a struggle to come up with twelve random questions on a weekly basis and she deserved a break on her birthday.

Several of the questions this week were similar to ones I recently answered in a Q & A here and several others had a birthday theme.

I think we can all agree I've exhausted the subject of birthdays on my blog recently so I'm going to take the day off and talk about something else.

Like fall.

Now there's a topic that hasn't been mentioned much anywhere recently.

I never used to talk about the weather but it seems like I pretty much give a weather report at least once a week here.

Such is the life of an empty nester with no job, too much time on her hands, and all that blank Internet paper to fill.

Who else here loves fall?

Our backyard is woods pretty much as far as the eye can see.

We have a flat grassy back lawn with a big rock wall all the way round then a steep hill behind that is covered in woods.

I have never actually fully explored these woods but my hubs did go all the way to the top one day and said the view down the other side is a little bit like The Lion King.

Except of course without the lions.

Although, apparently there are mountain lions here and bobcats too, but no lions of the Simba variety because hey, this is NJ.

The main reason I don't venture up into our woods is because we have bear living there.

We know this because we see them on a regular basis.

Just yesterday my neighbor and I were emailing back and forth about something and she added, 'oh, and I just saw the baby bear run up your driveway.'

We see him pretty often and recently we saw two teenage brother bears having a little wrestling match right at the edge of our woods.

It was like a slap fest and was very cute and super entertaining to watch but only because we were sitting safely in our kitchen.

And no, I did not get close enough to actually verify the gender but they behaved exactly like two teenage brothers so we're going with that.

Anyway, this time of year is my favorite and I love watching the trees turn.

Our backyard gets a little more golden every day and I never get tired of looking at the color.

This particular little section of trees is just beautiful...

Incidentally, this photo is au natural and by that I mean no photo shop.

For one thing it wasn't necessary and for 2. I don't know how.

How about that sky?

We snapped this on Saturday just before heading out to meet up with friends who'd invited us to the local high school football game.

It was a positively gorgeous day (there's your weather update) and hubs and I racked our brains and concluded we hadn't been to a high school game since the early 80's.

I know.

Some of you reading here weren't even born in the early 80's.

Keep in mind that my own girls attended an International School in the UK and the school did not have a football team.

Well, they had a futbol team but not a football team if you know what I mean so no games.

Plenty of matches though.

Okay, I'll stop.

I learned something about myself last weekend.

I discovered that I can get all caught up in a high school game even when I no longer have kids that age living at home.

Nor do I need to know a single player on the team or even the parent of a player on the team.

My stomach was in an absolute knot by the end of the game which we won in the very last seconds.

By we I mean our town's high school to which I have zero connection but still...Go us!

We got home just in time to turn on the Tennessee-LSU game and I think we just won't talk about that.

I can't remember a crazier ending to a game...Tennessee was celebrating their most unlikely win when they were called back for a do-over because they had too many players on the field.

Agghhh!

We lost.

And by we I mean Tennessee, a team I adopted thru marriage but hey, I dare you to go to just one game in their stadium and then tell me it doesn't rank right up there as one of the most fun afternoons of your life.

Over 100,000 screaming fans dressed in a blaze of orange....

it doesn't get more 'fall' than that.

I should've called shotgun

We had a pretty low key weekend here which involved some football and some gorgeous fall weather. Oh, and a little side trek to the local Emergency Room for something extremely ridiculous but which I will share with you anyway because what are blogs for if not to share stupid stuff that happens to us? Stuff that we probably wouldn't even be mentioning had we not waited three days to go to the Emergency Room? To preface this story, when I told daughter2 what happened I said, "You aren't having trouble believing this are you?" And she said no. Sigh. When it comes to grace I'm predictable.

Early last week a minor little incident occurred...nothing really. I was getting in to the back seat of a friend's van and as she turned to speak to someone parked beside her the door closed on my hand. But not hard...she didn't slam the door, it just kinda fell closed and it barely hurt. Turns out that's because it crushed the band of my engagement ring instead of my knuckle. I mean it hurt a little but I didn't even mention it to my friend because I really thought it wasn't any big deal. And I didn't mention it to my hubs either because I really wasn't worried. While I couldn't get the ring off right away, I could twist it and move it a bit so I figured I'd just let everything calm down for a day or so and then I'd get some dish soap or vegetable oil and slide it right off. Wednesday and Thursday my knuckle still looked a little swollen so I told myself Friday was the day I had to deal with it and I set out in earnest to get the ring off. (No lectures please...my husband, the local jeweler, the hospital registrar, three er nurses, the x-ray tech, and the ER doc himself have all got that covered.) Anyway, it wouldn't budge using the usual techniques for getting a tight ring off your hand so I did what any normal person would do and I googled it. There was a step by step guide to ring removal and guess what the first thing they suggested was? Windex! I guess the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding was onto something.

They had a few other suggestions and the last one was to slide a piece of dental floss under the ring, wrap it all the way up your finger and then start unwinding. The floss is supposed to force the ring upwards and off. Yeah. Not happening. And there are no pictures because hello, I was down to one hand at this point. Should you ever need it you can see the dental floss trick here.

The all knowing Google said if this didn't work get thee to a jeweler and they'd cut it off. Sob. But what was I going to do (besides feel like an idiot?) so off I went to a local jeweler who gasped and informed me they hadn't done that in about 20 years. You know, because of the blood. Huh? There's going to be blood? I need the ring cut off, not my finger. Anyway, she was quite concerned and said I needed to get to the ER right away because a finger could suddenly just swell up and then I'd have real problems. Oh bother.

I called hubs en route to the ER and attempted to casually drop this all into the conversation in a kind of, "How's your day, what do you want to do about dinner and, oh by the way, I'm on my way to the ER to have my rings cut off, but there's really nothing at all to worry about." Hubs knows me and I think said something along the lines of, "Whatever."

Thankfully it was fairly quiet in the ER and the registrar got the nurse who informed me it would probably have to be cut off but they can't just do that without registering me so into the system I went. As a side note, the registrar asked me how it happened and when I told her it was shut in a car door she said, and I quote, "Oh, well then they're going to file that with your car insurance." When she saw my look of confusion she added, "Oh don't worry, your rates won't go up. NJ is a no-fault state." Okay. But still, what does that have to do with my injury?

Anyhoo, after they took my MEDICAL insurance info I was escorted back with the folks who were having real emergencies as opposed to my cartoon emergency and after the nurse tortured me with the string thing she went to get the doc and the saw and he tortured me some more trying to cut through my solid gold band. And then he said that even though my wedding band hadn't been touched it had to come off too because after all this 'trauma' my knuckle was just getting bigger and bigger and he thought my wedding band was soon going to cause a circulation issue. Fabulous. He tried to use the 'hand saw' but it wouldn't go through my band so he had to get the motorized saw. Finally, after many more torturous minutes he broke through the band and I wanted to cry from the relief. The doc looked again at my hand and said maybe I'd better get an x-ray just to be sure it wasn't broken because it surely was swollen and now also bruised so off I went to x-ray to re-tell the story one more time and learn that my finger was not broken.

I know I should have been happy at that point but instead of feeling happy I kinda wanted to cry thinking about my wedding ring sawed in half. I've been married for 26 years and I cannot even remember the last time I took my wedding ring off. I take my diamond off for gardening and such but I never take my wedding band off. I don't want a new band. I want my original 1984 band that we bought when we were young and crazy in love and didn't have two nickels to rub together. I know it's just a ring but Whaaaa!!

Show us Where you Live-The Dining Room

I thought I'd join in with Kelly's Korner today for her weekly 'Show Us Your Life' posts. Today people are posting pics of their Dining Rooms and I love to see how others decorate one of my favorite rooms in a house.

I know a lot of people feel like the dining room is wasted space because its not used on a regular basis. If I'm serving a meal in my dining room it usually means my whole big extended family is gathered round for a holiday meal or celebration of some kind and I love that. Or it might mean friends are gathered for a dinner party which is something else I enjoy. It may not be used often but when it is its almost always something special and happy. Forgive the bright lights...this was taken pre dinner party one evening and I hadn't dimmed the chandelier yet.

Speaking of the chandelier...it has got to go. I'm pretty sure its the one the builder installed when the house was built about ten years ago. We've been in our house just over a year now and most rooms still need a little tweaking. We're getting there but its a work in progress!

If you read here you know I have a thing for dishes and pottery and having a meal in my dining room means I get to use some of the pieces I've collected while traveling.

The walls in our dining room are navy blue up top with white wainscot minus the paneling down below. The trim is also white. I love the color and have navy walls in my living room too. It sounds dark but its not...the white trim, windows and open foyer between the rooms keep it feeling light but cozy.

We've gone back and forth on the window treatment...we like it bare and we sit back off the road without anyone directly opposite our house plus there's a fairly large tree in front of the window so we don't need anything for privacy.

We've decided to put plantation shutters up anyway though because I love the way they finish off a room and also, hello...

This girl? She likes to stalk the groundhogs and chipmunks who hang out in the rock ledge on our front hillside. This means there are practically permanent nose prints on the glass which makes me a teensy bit crazy.

This is one of my favorite pieces...

Its hand made glass that we bought in Murano. Murano is a series of islands just a quick boat ride from the city of Venice and its famous for its glass making. You can watch them work and the stuff is positively gorgeous!

I also love birds and bird prints and we have two Audobon prints in Antique frames with silk mats that we've moved from house to house through the years. I like them best in a dining room.

The corner where my server sits needs something on the wall above it...just can't quite decide what...

I guess I should mention our cork collection...when we moved to the UK we began saving corks everywhere we went and we keep some of them in a pretty glass jar in a corner of the dining room.

Thanks for stopping by today..hop over to Kelly's Korner to see more dining rooms on tour.

Putting a bow on it...

Is it just me or has this been a looooong week? We've had rain all day every day except Wednesday. The leaves are really turning now and I'm remembering how much I loved the colors of fall last year. Does anyone else feel just a little bit sad when autumn arrives? I love this season maybe more than any other but it can also make me feel just a little bit melancholy.

Some of my trees are already so pretty but I have not taken any photos because did I mention it has been raining all day every day? Yeah. Good housecleaning weather (or so I've heard). How does my house get so dusty? There are no little ones running around making messes and we're gone almost more than we're here, and still that dust just continues to collect.

I have a few stray thoughts (ya think?) that I need to corral so I figured I'd end the week by wrapping up some loose ends...

First off, do you remember my birthday? Kidding! Sort of. I wrote two posts answering questions readers asked and there was one I promised to get back to once the dust settled. That would be the figurative dust, not the dust in my house which apparently will never settle. I may have had one too many cups of caffeinated tea this afternoon. Sorry.

A-ny-hoo, Carol asked me to post my favorite recipe and I said I would never be able to choose so would just share a favorite recipe. Fudge Pie. Yum! It's simple and delicious and I generally have the ingredients on hand so I can make one up if unexpected guests drop by. Or whenever I feel the need for fudge pie. The recipe found here is just like mine except I use 1/2 cup of flour instead of 1/4. Enjoy!

Secondly, crock pots. I love to pull out my crock pot this time of year but I have two issues with them. One is the clean up. My pot lifts out but it isn't easy to clean. Recently I was in someones home for Bunco and she had her dinner going in the crock pot. We were discussing this very problem when she showed us these-

Am I the last person to know about Crock Pot Bags? I love them and no this is not a paid endorsement. My supermarket carries them and you just pop the bag in the crock pot, put your meal in the bag, cook, eat and then toss the bag. Voila...no messy crock pot.

The second problem I have with crock pots is the taste. I love making soups and stews and chili in mine but those recipes generally call for lots of seasoning and spice. I find that many chicken and pork dishes lack an essential ingredient which is called flavor. Too bland. Or if they're not bland its because they are smothered in cream of something soup which I love but try to avoid. I found a good crock pot pork chop recipe online (seriously people, what did we do before google??) and I'm sharing it with you here. If you have one you love send it my way pretty please.

Lastly, during my birthday hullabaloo I was given a lovely bloggy award by Alex and I wanted to say thanks. Thanks Alex! That same week I was tagged by two different bloggers in a game that requires answering 8 questions for every tag. I'm cheating a little because I'm pretty sure you are, at this very moment, holding your breath and praying that I am not going to answer 16 questions at the end of an already long post. You may exhale...I'm answering the first four from Tina at a View from a Hill and the last four from Carrie at It's Not Easy Being Queen.

1. What is your favorite season and why?

Fall...the changing colors, the cooler temps, football and especially breaking out the boots. Cute boots I mean, not snow boots. They're for another season. Well we hope they're for another season-last year we had a snow storm on Oct. 8th. That's just wrong.

2. Do you have a bucket list and what is one thing that is on it?

Not an official written down bucket list but a mental one for sure....one thing?...write something that is published (and I don't mean by Blogger)

3. Do you go to Starbucks and what is your favorite drink there?

Occasionally. No haters please. We don't have one in our little town but we do have a Dunkin' Donuts and I prefer the taste of their coffee. I'm not a fan of the really filling flavored coffee drinks so if I go to Starbucks I usually order a tall skim latte or cappuccino and when I'm out of the box I get it iced. Whoo hoo.

4. What book are you currently reading (or have just finished)?

Little Bee by Chris Cleave. I really liked the book but will tell you its a bit 'dark'. We discussed it in my neighborhood book club on Tuesday night and it got mixed reviews. I think that was mostly because you need to be in the right frame of mind to read something that isn't all sunshine and light. I like those kinds of books too but I think its good to read things that make you squirm a little. The world is not always a nice place and for those of us living in America its easy to avoid thinking about the not so nice stuff that's out there.

5. Do you like to wear orange?

If I'm at a Tennessee football game I do. Actually I like orange as an accent color. I have two scarves with orange in them and they're my favorites.

6. What's your favorite thing to shop for?

Shoes and pottery. In Italy.

7. Do you watch Dancing with the Stars?

No

8. Do you think American Idol should just call it quits? Would you even miss it?

Yeah, I kinda think they should just call it quits. I have loved the show but I'm not too excited about the new season without Simon. Who will be the voice of reality for those folks coming on the show whose mamas have told them they can sing, and sing well, when clearly they cannot??? Aiyiyiyi.

Have a great weekend everyone!

So, a blonde walks into the random dozen...

It's time for the weekly random dozen which is always lots of fun. Don't worry...brunettes and red heads can play too. Just answer the questions on your own blog and click the donuts to link your answers with the masses.

1. Do you believe, somewhere deep inside, that blondes do indeed have more fun? That they are "dumber" than brunettes or redheads? Be honest.

As the mother of two natural born very intelligent blondes I definitely don't buy the part about being less intelligent. That fun part however, may be true...

My blondies are lots of fun...

2. Which animal would you most like to observe in its wild habitat?

Probably lions or another of the big game creatures. Hubs was in a game preserve in South Africa last week and he got to pet a baby lion. He said the fur was surprisingly coarse...

And since you asked...why yes, I am jealous.

3. This week the UN announced that Dr. Mazian Othman has been appointed the official "Alien Ambassador" should any extraterrestrials contact us. Have you, or has anyone you know, ever seen a UFO?

The story made headlines on Monday but is being denied today. I hope to goodness it is some sort of hoax. If it were found to be true my head might explode. Seriously UN, there are starving children around the world, people living in infinitesimal levels of poverty without so much as a well for water, there are wars and famine and the trafficking of minors for reprehensible stuff...please tell me our money isn't being spent on something too ridiculous to be believed.

Oh wait, I didn't answer the question...no.

4. Name your favorite Hitchcock film?

North by Northwest...it's the story of an innocent man mistaken for a spy. He's chased across the country as he tries to stay alive. Oh, and it stars Cary Grant...need I say more?

5. Would you rather spend time at the library, the mall, a craft store, or home?

tough one...depending on the day and my mood I could pick any of those.

6. Which Disney Princess is your favorite?

Belle. She loves books and thinks what's on the inside matters most.

7. What kind of art is your favorite?

This is also a tough one...I love lots of different kinds of art and enjoy spending time in museums and galleries. With art much depends on my mood and what's going on in my life at the moment. If I have to choose a favorite I would probably say the Impressionists. I love Degas' La classe de danse and also his sculpture Little Dancer of Fourteen Years. Monet's Water Lilies would be another favorite. We saw a display of them in the Met this year and they are stunning.

8. How do you feel about viral videos, that is, videos made up by amateurs that end up on Youtube receiving thousands of hits?

I haven't thought too much about it. I've seen some great things on Youtube and I admire the entrepreneurial spirit of people so whatever. I think one of our faves is still the Asian Backstreet Boys...it is one of the first things I remember seeing on Youtube and it still makes us laugh. They lip synch to Backstreet Boys songs and they are hilarious! It was posted four years ago and its a couple of college students who filmed it on a web cam in their dorm room. There's another random friend at his desk in the background and I think he's playing video games. Mom and Dad's tuition dollars at work! Anyway, these guys look like fun and they've had over 12 million hits. I suppose if you didn't live thru the Backstreet Boys craze with tween girls it might not be as funny to you as it is to us but we loved it when it first appeared.

9. Where do you buy your jeans?

Usually at The Gap.

10. Tell me about your first automobile accident.

I've only had one and it was ugly. I wrote about it here. You will find it under #5 in response to, 'Tell me about the scariest moment you've ever had?"

11. Have you ever been honest when you knew you would benefit more if you were dishonest?

Possibly but nothing is coming to mind on this one.

12. If you were appointed "Ambassador to Aliens" what would you show and tell first about life on earth? What would be the most difficult thing to explain?

Well for starters I'd probably invite them in for a cup of tea and some sort of wonderful chocolaty concoction. I think chocolate could go a long way towards the establishment of inter galactic peace. They can admire the changing seasons from my kitchen window and see what we earthling families are all about.

Most difficult thing to explain...hmmm, its a toss up between our country's political chaos and our unnatural affinity for reality television. I fear the two are not unrelated.

Weekend

Hubs landed at 9:30 Friday morning after a week in South Africa. He got to the house about 11 asking if we had sudafed, benedryl, NyQuil, Dayquil or ANYTHING because his allergies had gone into overdrive while he was away. It is springtime in the Southern hemisphere which didn't occur to us until he was actually there. I gave him a couple of sudafed, he took a shower, repacked his suitcase and, at 12:30 we hopped in the car and headed back to the airport for a trip south. Parent's Weekend was on tap at Daughter2's university and we had booked it before hubs South Africa trip was rescheduled for the umpteenth time for the same week. Ugh. For him anyway. If it had been me I'd have gotten into my nice comfy bed and said have a nice weekend and say hi to the girls for me. He travels better than I do though. He would not disagree.

The weather was gorgeous Friday and Saturday and we enjoyed being outdoors most of the weekend. Daughter1 was working Friday night so we took Daughter2 to dinner and then for some ice cream and a walk down Main Street. Their sorority has a really nice tailgate for parents on Saturday before the game so we had lunch under the trees before walking over to the rugby pitch to watch Daughter1's boyfriend play in a match. Rugby is a tough sport and I didn't have a son on the team but I cringed a few times like I did. I'm pretty sure God knew I needed to spend years sitting in an audience at ballet recitals as opposed to sitting on the sidelines of a rugby pitch. That's why He gave me daughters. Not the only reason but I bet He considered it.

Anyway, did I mention it was hot? Because, wow, it was hot. We were melting and we still had an afternoon of football to watch. It's so much fun to sit in the stands at a college football game. And of course winning makes it all a little bit sweeter.

After the game we went back downtown for a fantastic meal...having my whole little family together for dinner makes my heart happy. Sunday we awoke to gray rainy skies but thankfully the temperatures had dropped too. The girls took us to the church they attend and having my whole little family sitting side by side in a pew also makes my heart happy. Sometimes I think it might actually burst.

Now I need to ask a question and that is this- are we the only parents in the universe who make one or both of our children cry on Parents weekends? No. No we are not. I know this for a fact because daughter2 told me the day we arrived that one of her friends had already been in tears over something her parents had gone on and on and on about gently advised her to do or not do.

Parenting is hard work isn't it? When my kids were young and I looked out into the future I somehow saw myself feeling less and less parental. I know I have some readers here with young children and I just have to tell you that is not how it works. Parenting does not get easier. In fact it gets trickier. Much trickier. Because young adult children have opinions y'all. So do four year old toddlers but they can't drive or live away from a mother's watchful eye or have boyfriends now can they? They also are not choosing careers and lifelong mates and making a myriad of other big decisions, the weight of which you as a parent will feel.

I love my girls with all my heart. And one of the things I love most about them is that they feel things deeply and passionately. This is all well and good when we're talking about changing the world but it is sometimes hard to take when we're talking about day to day life. I'm sure I said this about my 20 year old when she was 2. I'm also pretty sure my mother said the same thing about me.

And I do remember being 20 years old. I know my own parents tried to share with me the benefit of their hard earned wisdom and especially the benefit of perspective. At 50 you can look back and see full well how the decisions you made as a young adult have impacted you for all the years that came after. I'm not saying my daughters don't listen to us. They are thoughtful and bright and mature and they do take to heart what we say. It isn't that kids this age think parents don't know anything. It's more like they think they know an equal amount. And while they do know more with every passing year there are some things that can only be learned by growing older and looking back. When you are 20 years old that's not necessarily something you want to hear.

So this Parent's Weekend was like most Parent's Weekends we've experienced. Lots of fun, lots of laughter, lots of happiness at being together, and at some point in the weekend somebody sheds a few tears. That's just how we roll. At this stage of the parenting game we see our job as one of loving our children, praying for them every day of their lives, and then helping them consider issues they may face and decisions they must make from all angles. They will continue sifting through what we say, taking some of it on board and tossing some away and in the end making their own decisions which is as it should be. Everybody's growing up. And I don't mean just the kids.