Peaches Prattlings











{November 11, 2013}   Marine Corps birthday cheesecake?

Today, all day, was the 238th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, Ooh Rah!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps

Some of you may know and if you didn’t, DCM served our country as a US Marine, “Once a Marine, always a Marine”, can you tell I’m a very proud girlfriend? Every year, we celebrate the Marine Corps birthday; when he was still in Georgia, the kids would bake him a cake, why stop a great tradition?

Today, I asked him what type of cake he wanted and he proclaims quite decidedly, ” cheesecake!” After brunch we stopped off to get supplies, he thought we would be buying a cheesecake, ha ha, not a chance! I have an awesome recipe given to me by a dear family friend, one of my ‘moms’, KS. We bought the supplies and home we went. I left all the ingredients to be softened on the counter and a few hours later, it was baking time.

The recipe will be at the end of the post, (I am including the recipe for both a cheesecake and pie), enjoy! We did! (Just to give you a warning, this is not a dairy free deal and if you are lactose intolerant and don’t take a Lactaid pill, you will be sorry, just saying. I might have to try this dairy free sometime!

Can we say…YUM!

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There have been some wonderful posts all day on Facebook, thankful and birthday wishes, fantastic photos of loved ones past and present in uniform. Happy birthday to all the great men and women who have and are serving in the United States Marine Corps.

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Happy birthday and Thank You.

KS’ amazing cheesecake

CRUST
1.    Grease A 9” x 3” springform  with butter
2.    Mix 3 Tbl. Sugar, ½ tsp. cinnamon, ½ stick milted butter, 1 cup cracker crumbs
3.    Press mixture onto bottom of pan
4.    For pie use a ready to use pie crust.

CAKE                                                                           PIE
3- 8 ounce packages of cream cheese                     1- 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1 ½ cups of sugar                                                        ½ cup of sugar
1/3 cup of flour                                                            1/6 cup of flour
16 ounces of sour cream                                            5 ½ ounces of sour cream
Juice from ½ lemon                                                     juice from 1/8 of lemon
Zest from one lemon                                                  Zest from ¼ of lemon
6 eggs separated (at room temp.)                            2 eggs separated (at room temp.)                     
2 tsp. vanilla                                                                2/3 tsp. of vanilla

DIRECTIONS          
1.    Beat cheese until soft and creamy
2.     Add sugar and mix until light and fluffy
3.     Add yolks one at a time
4.    Add sour cream, vanilla, flour, lemon rind, and lemon juice
5.    Beat egg whites in another bowl until stiff
6.    Fold into cream cheese mixture
7.    Pour into pan
8.    Bake at 3590  1/14 hr. for cake(until golden) –for pie 25 minutes
9.    Shut of oven and leave cake in for 1 hr. more – pie fro 20 minutes
10.Remove from oven and let stand until cool

Remove from pan and refrigerate



Ok, so here is my totally silly random musing for the week.

Those of you out there who have rented cars may appreciate this or I may just be completely bonkers, or both! Most cars now have some stereo controls on the steering wheel, if not a channel changer, at least the volume buttons.

Apparently I have been in rental cars a lot lately because I got in my car tonight and as I was driving I kept using my thumb looking for the volume control, I did that at least four times. Pavlov much?

I love my car and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, or as I heard on a TV show when I was a kid, “all the tea in china”, but it is fun trying something new when I am on the road, but…whenever I get back to the long term parking lot and unlock my car, I say “Hello Annie, I missed you, let’s go home”.

Yes, I am a complete nutter and I’m ok with that



{November 8, 2013}   Thor:The Dark World

Tonight we went to see Thor: The Dark World.

Just to start out…”Shirtless Thor Alert”, [I almost said ‘for the ladies’, but that wouldn’t be fair to any guys who that would target] there it’s out of the way, just in case a few of you needed a little push in the ‘seeing it’ direction.

The movie was epic, as expected, 90 percent took place on Asgard, as this was a Thor movie, and the balance took place in London. The supporting cast was great again, he didn’t spend as much time with his “band of merry mates” as in the first movie, but they did have some awesome fight scenes. The most memorable things is when they each threatened Loki, loyal and funny.

Odin was strong and Queen Frigga, wow! She had a fight scene that made you look at her a little differently and the only reference that comes to mind, which happened while I was watching, the fight scene in Star Wars: The Clone Wars between Yoda and Count Dooku, do you remember? Ah..mazing!

You knew that Natalie Portman was going to be back as Thor’s, love interest, Jane. Rounding out her band of merry mates, Darcy and Eric Selvig, although we saw a bit more of him than we probably wanted to, quite literally, you’ll know what I mean when you see it, brave man! Jane had a very pivotal role in this storyline, still ran around like a crazy person, but she got a few slaps in, oh! You could see how they really felt about each other, sigh.

Loki was in rare form, up to his tricks, as much as he could be locked in a dungeon, you almost had a moment of sympathy for him and then, just like that, it was gone. No surprise there, right? Related to Loki…what? A surprise appearance by an Avenger! (Not a spoiler alert, because I’m not telling who or when), but a great scene!

The villain, just plain bad, sacrificing his people so he could survive, bad juju, but not to worry…enough said.

Don’t blink or you’ll miss Stan Lee, hint…nut house, that’s all.

And lastly, please, please, please don’t forget to stay through the credits to see a sneak scene for the next movie, so important!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/?ref_=nv_sr_1



{November 8, 2013}   Did I really just watch that?

Today I did something I couldn’t believe.

This will be a very brief and too the point post.

I was flipping channels and saw a movie, ‘Two Weeks’ (not to be confused with ‘Two Weeks Notice’, which may have been some peoples first thought). This movie stars Sally Field as a mom dying of cancer who has her four children visiting her for a last goodbye.

Why did I even turn to that station? I watched a few minutes, there were some funny moments, and then the grandchildren came in, happy moment, then tired, then a friend came in, she left and press the morphine pump for the pain.

I think I made it through about fifteen minutes and I turned into a giant puddle of blubbering mush, oh brother. There is a reason I don’t watch this stuff, not just because it’s sad, I can still watch ‘Beaches’ and cry and move on, but this type of thing hits way too close to home.

I remember when the movie ‘Because I Said So’ came out, I saw the preview when I was in the theater and started bawling like a baby, from the preview. I don’t know if the movie was good, I just knew I couldn’t watch it (nothing to do with cancer). The main character was celebrating her 60th birthday and my mom would forever be 58. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490084/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

I know I don’t talk about my mom much, not sure I’m ready, maybe someday.

Let’s just say I didn’t continue to watch Two Weeks, and I don’t think I ever will.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448166/?ref_=nv_sr_3



{November 6, 2013}   Apple upgrades

So, how many of you are actually happy after the latest Apple upgrades?

So…this post would only apply to anyone who has an Apple product like an iPad, iPhone, you know…iPhone 1, 2, 5s, 7, something like that.

I have an iPad 2, I love it, and I’ve done every upgrade that has become available, the latest, everyone was a little wary of, I figured why not, it could only get better, right? There were some things that the upgrade would fix and some new features that looked like they would be cool.

Plug in the charging cable and upgrade, here we come. When it was done, our iPads said Hello across the front of the screen, in multiple languages, how cool was that? We had to set a few things up and then we were free to explore. I kind of liked it, the new look, the way the way the folders changed, you could have more apps within a folder, there are multiple tabs within each folder. When there are updates to apps, I open the App Store and hit Update All and it happens quickly and then it would clear itself out. I like the new icons, seems to be a good thing, the upgrade.

I may have spoken too soon. Now for some things I am not so hot on. The iPad has gotten less responsive; when I tap on something, it doesn’t always open, sometimes the iPad freezes, I might be in an app and nothing, that’s fun. My favorite? When I type in my password to get in, it doesn’t register all the taps, sometimes, I have to try to enter it at least three or four times! That’s not cool.

The last thing, the battery doesn’t last as long as it used to, today, I started with a full charge at 7:30am, used it sparingly, checked emails, Facebook and some Skype conversations and by 2, I was at 47%, very unusual.

So, all in all, as with anything, there are good and bad things, am I completely sold? depends on the day and when you ask.

Sounds about right?



{November 5, 2013}   Murder…it was murder!

Another rousing and successful Girls Night Out…it was murder! A murder mystery!

We arrived at JS’ house, food and drink in hand, which was transformed into Bella Pasta’s restaurant, portrayed perfectly by EL, in the black slinky dress. Joining her in the suspect pool was TT as Leila Taybell, the very pregnant ditzy waitress, AN was Rita Ring looking fabulous in a flirty frock, JS was Dee Scovery, perfectly playing that famous science woman from TV.

AT was Pip Olfinda (how goofy were we all, except KH, who didn’t realize her name was actually ‘People Finder’!). If you have never participated in a murder mystery party, all the names are very clever, try to see if you get them all and have a good laugh! Next, I played dual roles, Lotta Boddie, the murder victim’s sister and Mandy Vowra, a collector of men, go figure!

Rounding out the suspects was NR as May Coaver, the local beauty shop owner, Lena Boddie, played by CD, the sweet, winsome niece of the murder victim. EA was Justine Moment, the chef very proud of her restaurant, KH was Gail Over was aces as the controversial counselor, and last, but not least…RS was Su Thing, the exotic aromatherapist.

So..the way a murder mystery party works is you have a list of guests invited to a party and the invitation includes a character description so they will know possible costume ideas and how they are portraying themselves. You can send out menu suggestions, if you buy a kit like the one I did, it comes with invitations, instructions, menu ideas and other details and suggestions for a fun party. The parties are generally for even numbered groups.

There are parties for mixed groups, half men, half women or all women, I haven’t found any that are all men. When you have mixed characters and only female players, they would play the male roles. Tonight, I found a game that was for 12 women.

Guests arrive and you find out that someone has died, tonight, oh no! it was the “birthday girl/guest of honor”, Carrie Oakey. There is a detective, it could be a player or you could play the mp3 that comes with the kit. Each player gets a playbook that has descriptions and instructions, dialog and questions and answers that will help you solve the murder and things that you should keep to yourself. After each round, you would play one of the mp3s which will give clues and details.

As you are using the guides, you ask questions of each other and forming your opinions. Some of the games are created that tell the killer who they are towards the end of the game and then there are the games, like this one, that no one knows who the killer is until after everyone has made their accusations and explained their thoughts, you play the final mp3 and find out who the killer is.

If you haven’t tried one yet, I highly recommend one! I have participated in a few and hosted several, my 18th birthday was a murder mystery party at my house, too much fun!

Just remember…it’s not always the butler!



{November 5, 2013}   What a weekend! I’m beat!

I had an amazing weekend and I want to tell you all about it, but I have to admit, I am beat!

The coolest part of the weekend, well, the last cool thing…you no longer have to turn your electronic devices off at take off on flights! Delta and Jet Blue are the first and today, I was on a Delta flight and was able to keep my phone and iPad on the entire time.

It’s not often I get to watch a movie on flight…start to finish!

http://news.yahoo.com/faa-eases-rules-electronic-devices-planes-195034657–finance.html;_ylt=AwrTWVVFhXhSyzAANTdDDex_

A lot more to come tomorrow!



{November 2, 2013}   2 Guns

Last night I went to see 2 Guns.

It stars Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington, isn’t that enough? Not a spoiler alert: a DEA agent and Navy intelligence officer are on the run after they screw up an attempt to infiltrate a drug cartel. The best part, they don’t know the other is in law enforcement, they have both been tasked with getting close with each other and then basically take the other out.

It’s funny and lots of good gunplay. Isn’t that funny when you can say “it’s funny and lots of good gunplay”. The only uncomfortable part, well for me (as DCM told me) was the chickens, so if you see the chickens, you’ll understand.

There was a good supporting cast, Bill Paxton plays a slimeball, James Marsden looks good in his Navy Officer whites and Edward James Olmos is the scuzzy head of a Mexican drug cartel.

Did you know that you don’t rob a bank across the street from a diner that has the best donuts for three counties? Well, ya do now!

As I said it was funny, the relationship between the two main characters, the way they interact, the way they play off each other, the way they are towards each other before they find out about the other and how they act towards each other after they find out and how the start building a different kind of relationship once the secret is out and they have to work together towards a common goal. And end up more than partners…they’re family.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1272878/?ref_=nv_sr_1



{November 1, 2013}   Please be careful

I had something else to talk about tonight, well, two good things, but they will keep.

The reason I am not talking about those good things is because of what I saw on my way home tonight. As I was coming up the road, I saw a lot of blue lights up in the distance and all the cars filing to one lane in my direction, I thought it was a routine license check, you know, it’s Friday night (sometimes Saturday) and they will have the roads down to one lane in each direction, you show your license and they let you go, unless you’re drunk then, well, you’re not going home tonight. I even saw a few cars turning around, you know, they think they’ll make it and get away with it and as normally happens, as they turn around, the cop goes after them.

I got my license out ready to say, “Yes, is is my current address, have a good night” and be on my way. As I got closer, I saw at least a dozen police cars before the light and one or two fire trucks, no ambulance, maybe they were waiting for it. Then I saw the accident and I started to cry, it’s hard to see something like that, I’m crying now as I write this remembering what I saw.

There was one mini-van in the half ditch/grass next to the corner and top sign, I looked for the other vehicle and was confused until I realized I was looking at the undercarriage of the other vehicle, I couldn’t even tell you what the other vehicle was, it was standing straight up facing the direction I had just come from.

I saw at least 15 police officers, some directing traffic, some around the vehicles and as I passed, there were at least two police cars at every corner, stopping people from going in that direction and more officers standing by. In total, there had to be at least 20, maybe more official vehicles for about a mile.

My heart went out to whoever was involved, I hope it was just scary and no fatalities or serious injuries, but I’m an adult, a realist and I know that’s not possible, not from what I saw, but I can hope.

All I can say right now is please be careful, watch the road, the speed limit (yes, I know I’m a lead foot, and I’ve gotten better, but I will tell you, I have never gotten a speeding ticket on a main road, only on the main highway/interstate) I always obey the speed limits, especially when I’m near a neighborhood, I know better) watch for other cars.

When our parents would tell us to be careful and we would say, “but I’m a good driver, don’t you trust me?” What was their response? “Yes, of course I trust you, it’s everyone else I don’t trust!” Please take those words to heart and be careful, life is so precious and no matter what you think, someone loves you and would be heartbroken if anything were to happen to you. I know I would.



{October 31, 2013}   Happy Halloween!

It’s Halloween! I know it’s Halloween because I keep seeing posts on FaceBook, with pictures, received pictures texted to me and a video of my nieces and some FaceTime, but that’s my only proof. Oh yeah, and only one trick-or-treater.

When I was a kid, I loved Halloween, coming up with new costume ideas. One year, I was the famous hobo clown, Emmit Kelly, http://www.emmettkellyjr.com/, how many 5th graders know who he is? In the 4th grade, I won a costume contest as Charlie Chaplin, Dorothy Gale. Even as I got older, I kept going, I’ve been almost all of the female Disney villains, one year I was the Wicked Queen from Snow White and won for my office, I scared a bunch of kids, some wouldn’t even come up to me!

I loved decorating my office/cube when I worked at Harbinger, that was a party place! Everyone would go all out! There were department themes and amazing ideas and costumes, IT had a real knack for it!

I started decorating in my first solo apartment, it was awesome, never had trick-or-treaters, but it didn’t matter, still had fun, my first house..that’s where the big started, but it wasn’t until I moved to my second home that I went all out. It was fun and scary at the same time. There was a graveyard with great sayings on the tombstones, a broken fence, creatures trying to get out of the ground, an archway painted black with black leaves, roses, crows, so much fun! There were unspoken competitions with neighbors down the street.

I used to hold a Halloween party that became legend. I used to make jello shooters like crazy! 10-12 trays, you open the refrigerator and get high off the fumes! I would have fun with the flavors, one cup of hot water and then instead of cold water, a coordinating alcohol: Pina Colada was made with rum and a piece of pineapple, margarita had tequila and a gummy worm, if there was a flavor like black cherry, I put a maraschino cherry in it! I also had a brain jello mold, layers upon layers.

Let’s just say the next day…everyone had to be very very quiet! People learned their lesson eventually!

A few years ago, DCM gave me an old fashioned pop corn wagon for my birthday. I started making popcorn on Halloween to give out with candy. I would ask kids if they wanted popcorn, they would say no until I told them they could have popcorn AND candy! Then I was the favorite house on the block, “The popcorn lady’!

I love seeing their faces and costumes, especially the wee little ones! SO CUTE!

Since moving to Colorado, we are in an apartment and I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like, if there would be trick-or-treaters, as the night wore on, all of a sudden there was a knock at the door and there was a goblin, luckily I had a bag of Reese Peanut Butter Cups, so I gave him a few, luckily, I guess, there weren’t any more, no pressure. I didn’t think there would be any, so I hadn’t bought any candy.

So, aside from pictures on FaceBook, FaceTime with my sister and nieces and some texts with costumed pictures, I wouldn’t know it was Halloween. Kind of makes me a little sad, no kids to smile at and give treats to, no decorating, no office antics, no trick-or-treating to take around.

But…don’t cry for me Blog Friends…I got pictures of all my nieces and grandkids with their costumes and treat bags that I sent and I had a great big smile on my face tonight!

Happy Halloween!



et cetera