Mikita Head Tilt

I can’t take too much credit for the turkey. It was a Butterball and frankly, it’s pretty darn hard to screw up a Butterball, which is why I buy them.  The dressing was amazing – I”ll share that recipe in another post. What really stood out and surprised my though, was the dessert.

I honestly hadn’t really planned on making any dessert. I don’t need the extra calories. It would only be for 2 people so there would be tons of leftovers, which I didn’t need in the house. But I gave in and caved to the Thanksgiving traditions of needing something sweet to end the day.  My mind started craving something pumpkin – and I went with Pumpkin Cheesecake.  It ended up being the biggest surprise in how delicious it was! I found a basic cheesecake recipe and embellished it to my liking.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is my Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake recipe:

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

1 pkg regular cream cheese

1 pkg low-fat cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 whole egg

2 egg whites

2 Tbl cinnamon (reduce if you’d like to)

1 Tbl pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp clove

1 Tbl vanilla

Mix all this together until creamy

For pie crust – I used a store-bought graham cracker pie crust and enhanced it by pouring 1/4 cup ground (or pounded) pecans into the bottom of the dish.

Pour on top of this the cream cheese mixture.  Garnish the top with whole pecans.

Bake at 325-degrees for  70 minutes (1 hour, 10 minutes)

It needs to sit for several hours before serving, actually better to refrigerate overnight before serving.

Bon appetit!

I wish there was some major reason I could give for this leave of absence, but I think it boils down to two things – 1) Not having any extra time and 2) Writer’s block.

I think it’s mostly been writer’s block.  I just couldn’t think of anything interesting to share with you.  I seem to go through the same phases on Twitter and Facebook.  I visit those sites daily, often multiple times a day, yet will not post anything from me.  I love reading what other people are doing, what they’re thinking, what they’re sharing, but I find myself with nothing to share back.  I don’t want to be one of those irritating people on social media that everyone complains about – posting they ate whole wheat toast for breakfast.

Since June – I’ve been on my 4th camping trip to Lake George.  Survived another year there and this time saw NO snakes! Being up there is a total escape from reality. While the bathroom situation is horrendous, everything else about it is heavenly.

Immediately after returning from the Lake, Mike and I both came home to face health crises with our moms.  My mom had been to the doctor while I was gone and received an MRI for her severe back pain that has been progressing rapidly over the past few months.  The day after we got back I took mom for her follow up doctor visit where they said she had severe spinal stenosis, caused by arthritis.  It’s too long of a story to detail here, but we’ve had to implement measures to make sure there is someone at her house every day of the week.  New this week – we visited a neurosurgeon who will operate on her in December.  Hopefully this will get her back on her feet again, but December is still almost 3-months away.

So, between a hectic work schedule and a hectic personal life, I apologize for abandoning this blog as much as I have.  I will try to get back on the saddle with blogging.  To the 2 people who are probably reading this, hang in there and thanks for being patient!

but this weekend I put away my winter clothes.  I folded all the turtlenecks and moved all the heavy sweaters into the spare bedroom closet.

I moved the thermostat notch from “heat” to “cool”.

I changed out the bedding from the heavy comforter to the lightweight bedspread.

And I even put on my bathing suit and laid out by the pool for a little while.

The calendar may say it’s still winter but it’s spring in Florida.

This awesome new gadget makes it way too easy to plop down in my recliner and surf the net while being extremely comfortable.  The downside is it’s not very easy to update my blog on it. So,  I get lazy and let the blog slide.  I know – not good.  But that’s the truth of it.

Although the iPad isn’t perfect – no USB port, slow page loading, no camera – it still is an amazing piece of technology. I’m addicted to so many games that are visually stunning on the HD screen. (Angry Birds, Fragger, Flight Control)

It’s totally the iPad’s fault that I have been ignoring this blog.  I’ll try to do better in the future.

I barely remember his last name or even what he looked like.

What a romantic, huh?  LOL!  It was folded in the traditional school note format where we cornered the edge into a fold. Too funny.  Why I kept it all these years – I have no idea. Now it’s timeless history that I can’t throw away.

School days….  I bet today’s kids don’t ever write notes to each other. Remember how much fun it was passing them down the row hoping the teacher wouldn’t see you?  Or writing them, folding the note and slipping into the locker through the vents?

Those were the days, my friends.

On Wednesday, which was my last official day of my summer vacation, I was headed into downtown Orlando to get my hair cut (see previous blog post) and do some errands.  I was on the 408 (for those not in Orlando it’s an East-West highway) cruising along at 60 mph when I noticed all of a sudden my tire  pressure warning light came on.

I didn’t think much of it, it’s come on in the past when the air got low. I figured I’d put some air in the tires next time I stopped for gas.

I exited the highway and drove about 2-miles when I started hearing “thump thump thump thump”.  I knew instantly what this was. I slowed down and pulled into a 7-11 parking lot to see the damage.

It’s really hard to see from this angle but the left rear tire was flat.  Very flat.

It seemed like I had just put new tires on which made me really frustrated. Turns out my sense of time was flawed, it had actually been almost 3-years ago to the day.

Anyway, I called AAA for help.  The operator said it would be 2 hours before someone could get there but the rescue man showed up within 45 minutes.

He couldn’t have been nicer and very efficient. He had me fixed up within 20 minutes and I was on my way again. (Funny, as I’m typing this I’m listening to Willie Nelson sing “On the Road Again” on Sunday Morning Coming Down on Real Radio.  Too funny!)

That afternoon I was at Sears getting 2 new tires. $$$

The next morning it was back to work. At least that was the plan. I went out to the garage at 7:50am, turned the ignition and heard “click click click”.  Ugh! You gotta be kidding me!  Yes, a dead battery.  Thank God for my handyman and wonderful neighbor, Pete.  He came over and jumped the battery so I could head back to Sears again.  More $$$.

My lessons:

#1.  Women – if you aren’t mechanically savvy, be sure you have a 24-hour car repair service at your disposal.  I’ve had AAA since high school and while there are years that go by where I never use their services, it’s a comfort to know they’re there when I need them.

#2.  Be prepared for the unexpected and don’t let it ruin your attitude.  Yes I was frustrated and upset, but it is what it is. Deal with it and move on.  I’ll probably get very frustrated again when my credit card bills come in, but that’s life.

I early voted this year.  (Love that option!)

Now, every time I get another political call I just want to scream “Hey – it doesn’t matter now. I’ve already voted. You can’t influence me.”

But that does no good.

I have to wonder just how successful these phone messages are for the candidates. I mean, I don’t ever listen to a message past the first 3 seconds – even when they get a celebrity to call on their behalf. My finger is on the delete button immediately. I have to think its mostly wasted money from their campaign funds.  What do you think?

I almost opted not to vote this time. There is only one race I feel highly confident in my candidate selection (the Orange County Mayoral race.)  In most of the other races it’s the battle of “has-been’s” versus “shady newbie”.  IMO.   But that’s a whole other blog post. Where are the truly good leaders?

Are you voting this primary?

I’ve definitely learned a LOT about camping over the years.  The first year the biggest lesson learned was about appropriate attire, most importantly, shoes. (Tevas rule!)  I discovered after many bruises, cuts and scrapes that hiking sandals are imperative, and that cute shirts and tops are meaningless in the woods.  I also discovered, too late in the trip to make use of, that there were HOT SHOWERS and toilets at the marina.

These lessons learned in year 1 made the next year so much more bearable.  In the second year I learned, or paid more thought to, bringing my own personal food and drinks that would survive a camping trip.  For instance, stashing my own snacks that I could eat when my hunger struck if the rest of the campsite was still sound asleep.  I’m an early riser most of the time and need that little nourishment to tide me over till breakfast.

This year, with food planned, appropriate clothing packed, I went the extra mile and bought a wet-suit so I could enjoy the lake this year with everyone else. Oh my – this made all the difference in the world!  The lake water is typically so cold my thin Florida blood has a hard time adapting to it. In fact last year when I jumped in (sans wet-suit) I started hyperventilating because it was so cold.  This freaked me out because I am a good swimmer but I could barely even dog-paddle back to shore. Not this year!  I swam and swam and swam!

Lake George is beautiful.  Although we had some reptile visitors this year which made it a little more harrowing experience, it was another great fun time.

This year I made the decision while Mike and I were camping.  I called the salon on the way back home from New York and got it done 3 days later.

No going back now – at least for many more months.