So here's the short of it, 
Happy Valentine's Day to all!


And here's the long.

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So here's the short of it, 
Wow - I got tired

And here's the long.

This afternoon at the office I thought I was gonna have to put my head down on my desk and take a nap!  My two office suite colleagues were feeling the same way! I'm guessing that we've all got a touch of this awfulness that's making its rounds in the schools.  Thank goodness it's not gotten me down like so many.  This morning when I went into my first school stop there was a little fellow on his knees leaning over a trash can.  The secretary asked him if he felt like he could wait for his mother in the chair.  He looked up at her - his little face was so pale -- he shook his head no.  I used some of the hand sanitizer that sits in the front office of nearly every elementary school in our county  - probably the whole country!

Anyway, I'm fine.  I got a second wind and am going to try to get into bed a little earlier than usual tonight.

So here's the short of it, 
Watching the Westminster Dog Show

And here's the long.

It's been a long time since I chose not to watch the State of the Union message from the president, but tonight I decided to watch the Westminster Dog Show.

The dogs are beautiful, and I'm amazed at how they are so well trained and so remarkably well groomed.  

I'll have to say though, our Heinz 57 variety dogs over the years have been the best dogs.  And we've got ourselves another one too - our Sophie who is stretched out on the carpet in front of me just waiting to put me to bed. 

I suppose I would wish that everyone in the world could have the opportunity to give a part of your heart to a dog.  It would surely make the world a better place!

So here's the short of it, 
I'm watching Antiques Roadshow.

And here's the long.

I love this show.  It just amazes me to watch the things that people have, to hear the stories behind how they came to have them, and to find out exactly what they might be "worth" - at least on the market today.

I do love these things that people bring.  What a look into the past of our country this show provides to the audience.  A few years ago Antiques Roadshow actually came to Chattanooga.  Here's a link to some of the items that were appraised in Chattanooga.

I think one of the things I really like about the show is that in addition to seeing lovely things and hearing interesting stories, I always learn some history that I didn't know about before.

Tonight I've seen a pre-civil war rifle made in New Haven, CT, where Shelley and family now live; a wooden sculpture from China probably done in the period that preceded the Ming dynasty; a viola that the man who brought it in thought was a violin; and these carved wooden folk art items that had been used in a German POW camp in the south - they indicated the various areas of Germany where the prisoners came from -- reminding me that there were nearly a half million German POWs in the United States.  Here's some information about that.

There was this great necklace that a young woman had inherited.  She thought it was a Tiffany piece --- and she was right!  She was so surprised at the value - maybe as high as $250,000.  She was advised to have it repaired and safeguard it.

Here's a really interesting article and the accompanying link to this particular appraisal.

So here's the short of it, 
Scalloped potatoes.

And here's the long.

We celebrated Valentine's Day early since everyone will be on crazy schedules when it does arrive.

One of my side dishes for tonight was a variation of the Pioneer Woman's Scalloped Potatoes. Our variation here is without meat.  But it didn't come out right!  Oh it had a good taste for sure, but it was awfully runny.  It's the first time I've made scalloped potatoes with a recipe that didn't use a roux. Mom asked me if I had soaked the potatoes -- well, I had.  Mom told me the soaking would have taken the starch out of the potatoes.  So there. But then when I checked the recipe again, I discovered that the recipe really did call for flour!

So I'm going to try this recipe one more time -- and I won't soak the potatoes and I won't leave out the flour!

So here's the short of it, 
What a lovely day with Mom and Aunt Joyce. 

And here's the long.

This morning was a great adventure.  First we made it out for a late breakfast at Wally's breakfast bar.  Dad's Gideon group met there on Saturday mornings and they have brown gravy!  The food was good; they kept the coffee coming; and we had great visiting.

On the way home we decided to stop at this Thrift Store that I really like just up the road.  It's called Second Blessings and is affiliated with a church/ministry that is actually right next door.  The couple that runs the business are just as nice as they can be.  Now this is a 2 story deal, and the basement is just full of furniture, which I love to look at!

Here are a few of the knick knack's that Mom brought home as a part of her haul!  We sure did get lots of laughs during the time we were there!  The fish bowl is Annie Cat's new water bowl.  Joyce thought she'd really have fun drinking out of the fish.  I thought that was pretty funny.  Joyce got several really nice things.  She said that it was the first time she'd ever been thrifting.  Her haul included a new lamp, a big crock pot, 2 really nice purses -- and some other things as well.  I managed to get home with a very small crock pot to use for some of my non food experimenting, and an old fashioned potato masher - a really good one.

We've decided that we really should do that again, so we'll see.  Maybe we'll hit different thrift stores next time!

So here's the short of it, 
Surprise visit!

And here's the long.

Mom called today and while I was in a meeting, and it was the end of the day before I had a chance to listen to her message.  And what a surprise.  Aunt Joyce had decided to come down for a visit.

So this evening, I had dinner with Mom and her baby sister!  Mom made us a great chicken casserole and we had such a great time getting caught up and visiting.  It's always such fun for us to compare teacher notes since she's been substituting for a couple of years now.  She's in such high demand -- and at a middle school! She gets to work as much as she wants.

We are going to try to get a little bit more visiting time tomorrow.  And for now -- it's Friday night and I'm heading to the bed.