magick musings…

Happy Easter to all!

Picture this:

Me. In grubby old shorts and tennis shoes with sweat dripping down the back and staining the front of my shirt, gardening gloves hiding the dirt beneath my nails while battling the winter weeds in the flower garden in the front yard. The wind briskly whipping my hair into a frizz ball and heat and exertion turning my face a unflattering bright red.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a car turn the corner into our cul de sac and stop right in front of our mail box. A little gnome of a man opens his door and with slow deliberate steps, makes his way up the driveway pausing when he was about half way. (Not sure if he was out of breath or just being polite.)

Ever the hospitable me, I rise from the ground, a handful of weeds in one hand and a garbage bag in the other, thoughts of ‘I’ll never get this done and get back to my writing’ hopefully not showing on my face.

I drop everything and walk toward him while sizing him up.

Too old for a kidnapper and I could probably take him on easily in a fight.

Can’t be Publishers Clearing House. Forgot to enter.

No one in the family has passed on so can’t be an attorney searching for relatives for surprise inheritances.

So, to my surprise he introduces himself as Mr. Smith (name changed… yada yada) one of the board members of our Homeowners Association and he had something for me.

Now, honestly, my first thought was ‘what did we (meaning me) do wrong?’ GW tends to follow things to the letter and since I’ve never read the HOA rules, I’m not sure I do or don’t. I’m good at winging things and asking for forgiveness later.

But never in a million years did I expect what came out of his mouth next. “Your home as been chosen as the Yard of the Month for the subdivision and we have a gift for you!”

Do what?

Then never in a million years did I expect what came out of MY mouth next. “You must be kidding, right?”

Now, our yard is not bad. Not bad at all. But it is still a work in progress and we haven’t had it professionally landscape like a lot of them in our subdivision have been. We’ve added, we’ve subtracted, we’ve pruned, we’ve planted, we’ve rearranged, we’ve fertilized, we’ve even put deer urine down (ewww!) to keep the rabbits out. read here if you don’t believe it.

Nope, he assured me. The gorgeous green lawn, breathtaking knock out roses, beautiful accent bushes and the flowering plants all make for an eye catching symmetry of beauty.

Yep, he actually said symmetry of beauty.

I stood in shock before asking if he could wait there for a moment. Please don’t go anywhere. Just a moment.

I walked slowly with dignity to the front door but once inside ran all the way to the back of house yelling for GW. I told him there was someone outside he just HAD to meet. No, I can’t tell you about it, Babe, you won’t believe me. Just HURRY!

GW came out and met Mr. Smith and the first words out of his mouth were, “You’re kidding, right? Maybe you’ve mixed us up with the neighbors across the street?”

Hmmm… great minds think alike, huh?

But, eventually, we were convinced when a sign was posted near the mailbox and a $25.00 gift card was handed to us.

So, it ended up being a pleasant surprise and definitely an Easter miracle.

It’s raining today or I’d post pictures. Maybe another day.

~Sandy

As promised, here’s a picture of the new recipe I tried for dessert.

It was good, but very different from my regular banana pudding and GW and I both agreed that we liked the regular recipe better. The carmelized bananas were delish, but a little too overwhelming.

Maybe over vanilla ice cream like Bananas Foster?

This weekend is a long weekend and looking forward to chillin’ out and just doing whatever we decide we are in the mood for. We entertained the thought of going to the Renaissance Festival, but it’s opening weekend and may be just a little too crowded for our taste. Have plenty of time and weekends to go yet.

Today turned out beautiful! Such a difference from Tuesdays severe weather North Texas endured. We were blessed not to have any in our little town, but the surrounding towns had enough that it was too close for comfort here.

I was busy working on the computer not even watching the weather going on behind me outside until I started seeing Tweets about DFW being under a severe attack of tornadic attivity. A few minutes after I turned around to face the window and saw the huge wall cloud in the sky, the phone rang and it was a recorded message from our city stating we were under a severe tornado warning and to take cover NOW! GW soon texted me to see if I was okay, but none of my texts back to him could go through. Until I thought of hard booting the iPhone which worked.

But besides the driving rain coming down in silver sheets accompanied by hail, we didn’t get anything else.

My thoughts and prayers to those whose homes were destroyed or damaged. Thanks to the good Lord above there were no fatalities in a situation where there was so many tornadoes in the area even the meteorologists couldn’t keep up.

Back to work…

Have a great Easter weekend!

~Sandy

Have you ever bought brown sugar and once you get home, it’s not the soft, sweet, box of sugary goodness, but a solid, can’t even get it out of the box hard brick?

Well, sure you have. And so did I this week.

I found a super new recipe for carmelized banana pudding and thought I’d surprise GW with dessert. We normally avoid desserts for many reasons, some obvious, some not. Mostly to keep our youthful shapes from becoming not so youthful. Or not so shapely. But occasionally we (meaning me) decide that we’ve been good and deserve dessert.

But back to the story. While pulling the box of brown sugar out of the grocery sack, I dropped it and just barely missed my foot as it crashed to the kitchen tiles. I picked it up (after making sure kitchen floor not damaged, whew!) and wondered how I was going to use something that was so rock hard.

So I did what I always do when I have a question: I ‘googled’ it.

Here’s what was recommended:

…for a day or so. Um, no.

…for day or so. Like, No!

…again, NO! Visions of mold flash through my mind.

…no damp towel either!

…Seriously?

Frustrated, I did what any exasperated, in a hurry, need it now cook would do.

Of course, the pounding could be heard all the way from the back of the house where GW hollered, “Babe, what are you building in there?” If he only knew the trouble women go through for our desserts and our men, LOL!

And it worked! And after a trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I now have a new friend that keeps my brown sugar soft and crumbly and ready for use when I need it.

I call him Sugar Behr!

Will let you know how the Carmelized Banana Pudding comes out tonight!

~Sandy