coffee, wine, chocolate cake, and Brazil

This is my old coffee maker that died on Sunday. Until Sunday, I thought it would last forever. Even if I had to put a cord around the basket so it wouldn't swing out and make coffee spill all over the counter.


This is the new one that arrived in the mail today. My sister and brother-in-law bought us one because they thought our coffeemaker was about to go kaput. Yes, timing is everything. My in laws were here for Christmas and ordered this coffeemaker right after their visit.

So, we blamed Chris for destroying the coffeemaker, but I think it's days were numbered anyway. At least, my in laws thought so. Here we are about to enjoy some nice, (and I do mean really nice), dessert wine with a really good chocolate cake. The recipe is an Ina Garten recipe and she doesn't scrimp on butter. Chris and Matt bought the wines for our meal on Saturday.

So, I hope the next time I see these guys is for Matt's wedding in Brazil in March. Yes, I did say Brazil. That is the plan for now. Chris and his wife are going and my dear husband has arranged for some research trip down there, so he's going. Now, should I go? For the most part, all we would have to do is cough up a plane ticket for me. I have tentatively arranged for neighbors/friends to look after the little ones. Decisions, decisions.

Chez Kleinman

Thursday night we had our old friend, Rich, stay with us while he had some work down here at Penn State. He and my husband got out Friday afternoon for a little grouse hunting, but had no luck. Evidently, grouse are fairly elusive...at least when it comes to my husband and his hunting buddies.

Then Friday evening two of Pete's old friends drove over from NYC to stay the weekend. It is sort of a "boys" weekend plus one girl, oh, and two kids. They arrived around 9:30 pm and our kids were much too excited to go to bed. I must get those kids on a schedule soon before it kills me. The grumpiness alone is enough to make one want to pull one's hair out.


Here are Pete, Matt and Chris at Matt's engagement party this past September (the same party where I got my picture taken with Yogi Berra and my husband got his picture taken with Adrian Lima). The purpose of their visit was to go out and experience the outdoors with my husband. This morning was to be grouse/goose hunting and this afternoon was rabbit hunting. Our neighbor's father has beagles and is really big into rabbit hunting. I suppose there is always something in season if a man really wants to avoid his wife. Oh, did I say that?


Tonight we will cook some steaks on the grill that we bought* from a farmer down the road and Pete will make his goat cheese salad. I will make the salad dressing and the chocolate ganache cake. I think I will throw in some sauteed carrots (with butter, of course) and we will do rosemary potatoes using our own rosemary plant. The guys bought the wine this morning when they went into town to get the licenses. I did line up a babysitter for after dinner, but I think we will see how much wine we drink. :) It would be nice to get out a bit (even though State College leaves a little bit to be desired in the entertainment front).

Well, happy Saturday everyone.













*We went in on thirds of half of a cow.

Foux De Fa Fa by Flight of the Conchords

OK, I will soon move on from my Flight of the Conchords kick, but for now I am cracking up. So, in honor of Jemaine Clement's birthday from Flight of the Conchords, I am posting this hilarious video. :)

Freestylin' (aka Random)...

In the words of Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords, "Sometimes when I freestyle, I lose confidence." Ha ha.

So today I volunteered at my daughter's kindergarten class for two whole hours. It is always good for me to do this so that I see my daughter is NORMAL. They don't listen, they can only sit still for a limited time, etc. My daughter told me on Monday that a certain boy was no longer in her class but had started a new school. Hmmm. It turned out that it was the boy that picked on other kids (to the extreme) and would ruin other kids' work. I had seen this firsthand when I volunteered. When I would tell him to sit down or do whatever, he would tell me 'no'. I could not believe his behavior. I told Kendall she better not ever act like _______. Sure enough, Kendall was right. The little trouble maker wasn't there today when I volunteered. The chemistry of the class seemed better.

I helped the kids with their computer time. They were writing their names in different sizes and fonts........and I never felt more stupid! I wish all the laptops were the same. Luckily, I am a fast learner! My second job was to cut out some snowflakes that the children had made. They had glued some tissue paper onto paper and had sprinkled glitter on them. The paper was stiff and every time I would make a cut, glitter would fly into my face. No wonder the teachers wanted me to do it. (That's why they get the big bucks.)

And today Clay stayed for lunch at his preschool. You pay a little extra, pack a lunch and they stay until 2:15 pm. It is so worth it. He loves it and--twist my arm--I love it, too. I only indulge in this luxury once a month.

Does anyone care that the Writers are still on strike? I can honestly say it hasn't hurt me one bit. Tonight I will catch Project Runway on Bravo and I guess they don't have writers. Or maybe Heidi Klum writes for them. "You're either in or you're out." (pouty lips)...............

Auf Wiedersehen

The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture with Lyrics

This is my life. ha ha