Girls' Night Out - Cookbook Party

Good Monday morning!

NOTE TO ROBIN - Have I told you lately that I love you? I want to hear about Alaska. I'll be calling you this week.

The Showcase Pic is of the lake where Mike takes the kids fishing. He loves this lake. He has many, many wonderful memories of this place, and he loves sharing them with the kids. Roxie caught three fish to Mikie's one on their little trip, and one of hers was fairly large. I've told her if she catches a big one, we'll mount it on a hot pink and lime green plaque with the date, weight, etc. and hang it in her room.

The Gallery Pics are more fishing pics. It was a good weekend, but not a big picture taking weekend. I could have taken pictures of Austin, Josh and friends playing their X-Box tournament, but you have to respect 18 year-olds. Basically, they want to eat and play. Posing for pics is low on their "to-do" list. Now, because I did feed them, I'm sure they would have posed if I had asked, but because I don't want to lose my "Coolest Teenage Mom in the World" status, I hated to ask. It was quite the conundrum (good word). (Mike would insert here that I'm the only one who thinks I have this status, but he's not here right now so his opinion is moot. Moot is an attorney word. It's not necessarily a "good word," but it is kind of funny. It means "not relevant." Forgive me if you already knew that.)

We did enjoy a Saturday lunch at Full Moon Barbecue as The Faulkner Five, but Roxie and I did not make it to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I hated to miss, but she was fighting a cold and was tired, so we made Saturday an "easy" day. It paid off. She felt much better yesterday. (And I didn't feel too bad because Austin and Melia went to the play Thursday night, so the Faulkners did support the arts this weekend.)

200th Post Contest

Once again... the rules. I'll run them today, Wednesday and Friday for a reminder. The bowl is filling up quickly, so please get your name in!

1. For every person you share my blog address with (www.belindafaulkner.blogspot.com), your name will be put in a bowl one time. (If you tell ten people about A Simple Life, your name will be put in the drawing bowl TEN times.) It's that easy.

2. If you have a blog of your own, and you mention A Simple Life in your blog, your name automatically goes in the drawing bowl TEN times.

3. If you don't tell anyone about the blog, you can still have your name put in the drawing bowl by leaving me an e-mail OR comment with the word "contest" somewhere in the text. (It doesn't even have to be in a sentence.)

4. You need to let me know how many people you have shared the info with by midnight, Monday, July 27. The drawing will be held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 28.

5. I hope it goes without saying you need to share the website with people who actually use a computer. (Two year-olds and great-grandmothers who have never heard the term "blog" do not count!)

The prize is a $15 gift certificate to Wal-Mart OR Chick-Fil-A OR the scrapbook store of your choice. Easy, easy contest.

Miscellaneous

1. Last week when I wrote about the Winter Season of life, I mentioned I would sometimes pick someone out of that age group to emulate. Well, I met another Winter friend the other night at the funeral home. She had bright white hair and even brighter blue eyes. She wore a vivid coral top with matching lipstick AND matching earrings. She was, in a word, delightful. She was energetic and joyful, and I found myself thinking, "When I'm her age, I want to be just like her." And I wasn't the only one drawn to her. She knew everyone who happened by us in line, and several people made a special effort to seek her out.

I knew it wasn't "just me" who felt this way about her when a man several years younger than me came up, gave her a hug and said, "You are just so cute." Yeah. I wouldn't mind "cute" one bit when I'm in my 80s. (To be honest, I wouldn't mind it in my late 40s either.)

2. At one of our teas a couple of years ago, I asked everyone who attended to write an adjective on a sheet of paper they WISHED described them. It's an interesting question, don't you think? My adjective came from my favorite movie (You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan). The grandfather in the movie called Meg Ryan's mother in the movie "enchanting." I loved that. Except for Disney princesses, who do I know who could be described as "enchanting?" In my mind, I'm too tall to be enchanting. I imagine really enchanting people are petite. I also do not have ringlets. For some reason, I think that might be a prerequisite for being declared enchanting, also. Just thinking out loud.

I wonder though... what would some of your adjectives be? Remember, it must be an adjective you WISHED described you. And not something simple like "thin" or something similar. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. It's just something to ponder on a Monday.

3. You'll love this one. Remember last week when I said I didn't care for meetings... of any kind or nature... EVER. I've received two e-mails this weekend requesting my presence at two MANDATORY meetings. The only thing worse than a meeting is a MANDATORY meeting. What does that mean exactly? What will they do to me, a 47 year-old meeting-hating woman, if I don't attend. Will my name go on a list? Will they take me off the list to advise me of all future meetings? (That wouldn't be so bad.) Will I be talked about in an uncomplimentary way (by name) during the meeting? Will I be put on a committee no one else wants to serve on because I'm not there to decline? Will two large men come to my house and drag me kicking and screaming to the MANDATORY meeting (and, by the way, I would indeed be kicking and screaming)? I don't know. I don't know if I'm strong enough to skip both of them and find out what horrendous fate would befall me.

NOTE: If there isn't a post on Friday, you'll know I didn't attend the two meetings and something very bad happened to me. Call Mikie and alert him!

Girls' Night Out - Cookbook Party

I haven't hosted this one yet, but I'm putting it in writing and planning on doing so before the end of 2009. To be honest, girls rarely need a "theme" for a Girls' Night Out. However, sometimes it is fun to plan something a little different.

For this little party, you will need to ask each girl to bring a new copy of one of their favorite paperback cookbooks OR cooking magazines. (Set a limit of $5 to $10.)

The only other requirement for this occasion would be for each person to prepare a recipe from the cookbook or magazine. (This, of course, will be the food for the evening.) If you ask six people, I would make sure two people make a main dish, two people make side dishes or salads, and two people make desserts. For example, you don't want five desserts and one meatloaf... or maybe you do.

Each cookbook or magazine should be wrapped in gift wrap and put in the middle of the table. After you have eaten, put every one's name in a bowl and draw out one name at a time. As each name is drawn, that girl gets to pick one of the wrapped cookbooks. This isn't like Dirty Santa... what you pick is what you get unless you already own the cookbook. In that case, you would need to ask for a trade. Hopefully, there would be several offers for said trade. (To avoid a problem with people NOT trading, only ask nice girls to your Cookbook Party!)

Finish the night with coffee and lots and lots of girl talk. Go ahead and plan a Girls' Night Out very, very soon. Don't put it off. You need it just as much as the other women you'll be inviting!

Tomorrow's recipe is the Lemon Creme Pie I mentioned last week. Also, please pick up the new Sandra Lee magazine. It is so pretty and blue and crisp and clean. I'm trying several new things out of that magazine, also.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.