Aunt Diane's Pizza rolls . . .

A while ago Diane brought some homemade pizza rolls to a family function. Well, as quickly as she heated them up and sliced them, they were gone. The boys love her pizza rolls, so do hubby and I, in fact the guys recently spent many unnecessary emails harassing her affectionately in an attempt to receive one on Easter. Apparently, they won her over because she pulled through, the fabulous Auntie that she is! So although this is not my recipe, she did share it with me years ago and now I am sharing with you to enjoy!! Luv'n U Diane!! (and the picture!)

Pizza Rolls

1 package of Rhodes frozen dough (so they aren't totally homemade, who cares)

1/2 lb. sliced provolone cheese

1/2 lb. thinly sliced pepperoni

1 egg

minced garlic

sliced olives, if desired

Thaw dough, according to package directions, it does not have to rise.

Roll out about 1/4 inch thick into a rectangular shape.

Layer pepperoni on dough, layer provolone cheese on top of pepperoni. Add olives, if desired.

Start slowly rolling up the dough (along the long side), with each roll brush a mixture of beaten egg & garlic (to taste).

Place completed roll on cookie sheet - Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until brown.

Cool slightly before slicing.

Brayden and Grama's Excellent Adventure . . .

Since Momma Dani was out of town visiting friends and Daddy Josh wanted to spend some time working on his new fence, Grama drove over to the house to babysit Brayden for awhile. Josh took the truck to get some boards at his new favorite store "Lowes" and I loaded up Brayden in the stroller for our big adventure. Diaper bag, Cheerios, sippy cup and off we went. The weather was beautiful on Sunday, a balmy 70 degrees! We go down the driveway, onto the sidewalk, up and down roads of gravel and pavement. I forgot how awkward strollers can be in gravel! and how heavy little ones are to push after awhile. We talk, or I talk he jabbers and giggles. We watch kids playing in their yards, dogs barking at us, many Dads with lawnmowers roaring up and down the yard, as we continue on our journey. Our ultimate destination is "downtown" Lafayette to their collection of Antique stores, of course! We enter the first store after I drop a few Cheerios in the little tray on the stroller, so Brayden will be occupied as Grama browses. Now have you ever maneuvered a stroller through the narrow aisles of an Antique store before? Well, I should get an award for not bumping anything off of the shelves. We shopped, I would show Brayden things and he would either just stare at me and smile or jabber, which I could clearly understand as "Grama, I think you should buy that". He was such a good boy, just stared at everything around him. I showed him lots of things that I thought he would like, an old Popeye lunch box & thermos, baseball mitt & ball, an Elmo that was dressed like Elvis, wooden alphabet blocks, old Fisher Price farm with animals, Hot Wheels and lots of other cool things. He will definitely want to go back there again, he enjoyed it ;). We needed a diaper change so on the grass of the historic Lafayette Schoolhouse Antique building, he laid on a blanket and got his diaper changed, then we had some lunch (tasty sweet potatoes). Couldn't get into the school house to look at antiques though, it's not stroller friendly (too bad for them, they lost a customer). Then we headed back to the house where daddy was pounding nails into the fence. We went into the house, played, and then Grama needed a nap. It was a really good day.

Would you like your receipt in the bag? . . .

Yes, it's official I'm a "blue smock lady" as my better half calls me. I have been formally trained and now can run the cash register in the hospital gift shop. Actually it's really going to be a fun job on Saturday mornings every other week. I'm the only one that works in there that still has some hair color left - even so be it bottled! ha! I can charge up a VISA card on the machine, place & deliver flower orders, restock shelves with candy, stuffed animals, magazines, cards, gift wrap, inflate balloons, scan employee badges for charges and all the while scoping out shoplifters, HEY . . you name it, I can do anything that any other 70+ year old can do behind the counter in a hospital gift shop!! woohoo!!

Email, Escort, Exit . . .

Last week I received an email from hubby, who normally doesn't send me many emails at work. It was Thursday morning (how ironic the day after April fools), "take a look at this email" he writes me. . "it's from the company president". "Dear employees, due to the downturn in the economy, and many of our customers (ie. Sportsman's Warehouse and Joe's) filing for bankruptcy reorganization, our company is forced to review procedures, sales, and re-organize. With that comes the difficult process of needing to reduce our workforce, (not his exact words, but you get my gest). So as difficult as this decision has been, for the future of the company the reductions will begin . . today. We appreciate your professionalism during this difficult time and know that you will remain productive during this transition." . . . period . . end of email. Now my quotes aren't exact, but it's basically what he was telling them. So as I am at work reading this email I think, this is scary, now what? I was afraid to email him back thinking well I wonder if they are checking personal emails . . maybe a little paranoid but I didn't know. Well, that didn't last long, I emailed him back and asked, "Are people being escorted to their cars now?", "Yes" he says", "Anybody from your department yet?", "Yes" he says, "You can't really talk right now can you?" "No, I can't" he says. "OK, see you at home later". . . So of course I'm worrying about it all day. His shop is non-union, whether that matters or not, they can basically choose whoever they want to layoff, I guess. When he gets home that night, he looks like he's been hit by a truck, emotionally drained. Leupold is a fairly small company (580 people), everybody knows everybody. They laid off 48 people. Two guys from Dale's immediate dept, one that has worked there as long as he has. . . gone with a freaking morning email warning that it was coming. It sucks. Now they re-organize some areas. They have been told this may (probably won't) be the last of the layoffs, depending on the continuing market. We appreciate that his position wasn't on the chopping block this time and hope the employees let go are able to find good jobs again. You know really all any of us can do is get up every morning, go to work, do the best job you can do at whatever it is you do and hope your position survives this mess. The rest is beyond our control.

Worth stopping for . . .

A friend told me about these little Red Box machines popping up, so I thought I would stop and try one out. I'm not much of a McDonald's restaurant person so I never really paid much attention to these additions to their businesses. Red Box Movies are $1 day . . period. They carry the very newest released movies and are very easy to select and return movies to. We typically rent from Blockbuster Video where new releases go for $3.99 per day for rental. The On Demand movies via cable are $4.99 per movie. So how can you beat $1 a day?? you can't! We don't really rent enough movies to join Netflix, so this is a great deal! Anyway, there you go, give it a try and I hear they are not just at McDonald's but other various locations too.

Picture this . . . .

OMSI planetarium, Portland, Oregon 1977, midnight show on a Friday night. Hey! what did that guy just pass me?? Nice, this is very nice . . .

Anybody need a tshirt? . . .

Not sure when it happened exactly, I guess it has just occurred over time. My wardrobe for work. Long gone are the days of Ralph Lauren suits, Nine West heels, Obsession perfume and London Fog raincoats. That seems like a lifetime ago. I use to love to shop for nice clothes to go to work in everyday. I'd enjoy spending hours at Meier & Frank, JC Penney's and the Nordstrom Rack looking for bargains on slacks (who uses that word anymore?), pantsuits (before Hilary Clinton ruined them), dresses, matching purses, shoes . . . oh the money I could drop . . wooohooo. BUT, I did have a much better salary in those days (pre-low paying school district job) and dressing professional was an expectation. Oh my! how my wardrobe has changed from those days. In the very back, very dark corner of my closet I have retained 2 nice black dresses from the "old" days. . . that's it. For years I couldn't part with the many outfits I had accumulated, but eventually I saw no need to keep hanging on to them. My clothing attire these days is an eclectic mix of tshirts, polos, hoodie sweatshirts and nylon pullover jackets . . . period. Collected from nearly every sport, musical, activity, playoff or championship event that happens during the school year. "Hey, Mrs. C you want one of our baseball tshirts?" "Sure, why not" "Mrs. C, here is one of our playoff tshirts, aren't they great, the boosters got them for us, you need to wear it on Friday!". "OK". "Nice shirt, Mrs. C thanks for supporting the danceteam!". So that's how it happens. I have gone from a sort of fashion conscience professional to a tshirt/hoodie wearer. I'm not sure why I did this the other day, curious I guess, but I counted how many school related tshirts I have . . . . 48 (short sleeve), 23 (long sleeve), that's not counting ones I have saved for sentimental reasons. Like the old district & state wrestling championship tshirts during the years the boys wrestled (I know, it's pathetic). Uh, hoodie sweatshirts with team logos on them . . . there would be 18 of those, polos and nylon pullovers . . oh there would be 13 of those. So as you see, I have a wide variety of choices of what to wear on any given day. It's just that there are some days that I miss the old professional me. If I did dress as the me in my previous life, this is what I'd hear: "Geezzz, Mrs. C, are you going on a job interview, don't you like it here anymore? (hmmm, let me think about that . . ha!)" "Did you go to a funeral today or something? I'm sorry", "Why are you all dressed up is somebody getting married?" So as I rotate my tshirts at the end of each school year, to make room for the new batch next year, maybe I will try on one of those black dresses and some heels and think about how completely uncomfortable they would be to wear again everyday!!!