“True friends are the people that are there for you unconditionally. They are the people that never question you and support you no matter what the circumstances are. They are the people worth living for.” ~ author unknown

“Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.”
~ Elbert Hubard

Its been almost seven years since Mary was hired for the university job in Kansas City, moving us from a place I was tired of….Tulsa, OK…but friends who I loved dearly. I had prayed that we would find good friends, especially couples, once we moved. James and Julie were the first answers to that prayer.

Today is James’ birthday and I want to be one of the first to wish him a very happy, wonderful day. James’ friendship is an indescribable blessing to me and I’m so grateful for our ever-growing relationship. Always giving, always laughing, James is an inspiration to be around. The domain name Stainless Steel Droppings dot com is a gift from James and he is my computer guru when it comes to things website related. You can see his work and get different glimpses of who James is at his wife’s site here and his gaming website here.

James has also fairly recently went into business for himself and you can see the site of his business, Integrity Countertops, here. They do a great job. My kitchen cabinets and countertops were done by James and they are wonderful!

“The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

Early on in our relationship James and I got hooked on the computer game Half-life and many a night was spent online playing at one or the other’s house. We’ve both moved on to different PC games but we still occasionally get together for LAN parties and gaming. One of the things I enjoy most about our friendship is the childlike excitement we both have about PC’s and gaming. I don’t have the love affair with my printer that he does with his new printer, but that’s another story!

Being close to the same age we both grew up as Star Wars fanatics and I’ve had the joy of attending all 3 of the second trilogy with James, including a midnight movie of Episode II in which we waited in line for about 5 hours…only to sit next to someone who had just walked in the door! 🙂 Star Wars and gaming were really the things that helped cement the friendship early on for me. I knew if James could be that excited about Star Wars that he was a friend after my own heart!

James introduced me to the joys of dark beer. I had never really tried dark beer before meeting James and though neither of us are frequent drinkers I have the occasional pleasure of sitting down to a delicious black and tan and savoring the wonderful flavor of it. Thank you Jimmy, good beer really can taste good, contrary to popular belief!

As you can see in the picture above, in addition to his lovely wife Julie, James has four adorable daughters. I count them all as added benefits of this treasured friendship. They each are unique in their personalities but every one of them is funny and charming and alot of fun to babysit.

Coincidentally Jimmy, Missouri became the 24th state of the Union on this date in 1821 and the Smithsonian Institute was created in 1846. The 31st president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, shares your birthday with you as well as stars Rosanna Arquette and Antonio Banderas!

Happy Birthday, James! You are a terrific friend and I am sincerely thankful for you. I enjoy that we can sit and watch entertaining movies and have a great time and also enjoy the serious conversations that we have. You are a genuinely good person which is a rarity in this day and age. Thanks for your friendship and all that it means to me and my family. I look forward to many more years of good food (James is a gourmet on the grill by the way), good drink and overall good times!

Everyone else, please wish James a ‘happy birthday’!!!

“Wherever you may be it is your friends who make your world.”
~ author unknown

The hot days of summer are my least favorite time of year. It is during the months of July and August that I long for the fall. The only thing that tempers this longing is fresh fruits and vegetables. Despite the many and varied items that tempt the palate there really is nothing like fresh strawberries, watermelon, grapes…the list goes on and on. One of the best things about summer is fresh tomatoes.

Last year was the first year in several attempts that we were successful in growing tomatoes. While shopping at our friendly neighborhood Hy-Vee grocery store Mary came across a fresh tomato salsa recipe in the sale ads. We tried it immediately and were crazy about it. I was really disappointed at the end of last summer that we were done with the salsa for the year. Store bought tomatoes just don’t taste like garden fresh.

A few weeks ago our tomatoes started coming in with reckless abandon. We tried a few bigger varieties this year but most of our plants are grape tomatoes as they are, in my opinion, the best to use for this salsa.

This is so delicious and I hope to enjoy it as much as possible while summer lingers on. The recipe is as follows:

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Your needs:

6 Roma tomatoes (as I said, I prefer the smaller cherry or grape maters but it does take forever to chop them up)
1/2 cup chopped Vidalia onion (Mary uses red onion)
1 Tbsp fresh cilantro
1 small banana pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 Tbsp lime juice

What you do:

Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate for two to three hours or overnight before serving.

Couldn’t be easier! I hand chop the tomatoes very fine and strain them before putting them in the bowl to cut down on the juice so that the salsa isn’t watery. It should have the consistency of pico de gallo, not be runny like restaurant salsa. This can really be eaten right away but leaving it in overnight really increases the flavor. I tend to make larger amounts when possible and you can do the same, just increase the ingredients in proportion to how many tomatoes you use.

Our first batch this year not only contained our own tomatoes, but banana pepper and cilantro all grown in our backyard! This stuff is wonderful!

(pics are from our garden. thank you Abby and Mike for the use of your digital camera!)

(Abby with her first child, Motley, circa 2005)

Everyone please join me in wishing my one and only baby sister a Happy Birthday!

Roughly 26 years and 9 months ago, on a sunny afternoon, my brother and I were riding in the backseat of our car when we got the news. My mother turned and announced that we would not be able to have our own rooms as planned because she was pregnant. I honestly have no memory of what I felt about this but my memory of being told the news is very vivid. Several months later I recall being awakened in the dark of night and rushed off to the Osborn’s house. Later that morning we received a call informing us that we had a baby sister. I recall being quite pleased as I really wanted a little sister.

Despite an early incident in which I was struck unceremoniously on the head with this clock:

(her childish innocence belied her true murderous intentions), she was actually a very sweet and fun child. I was 11 when she was born and I remember taking great pride in giving her rides around our neighborhood in her stroller. Mike, a neighborhood kid, had a little sister slightly older than Abby and we used to pretend that we were racing them around the block. They both had chubby little legs so we dubbed his sister Moose and Abby, Ham-legs. It was great fun!

I recall nights of being by her bedside during storms when she was scared so that my parents wouldn’t have to get up and I recall torturing her with her baby Snuggles on vacation car rides. I remember the first movie I took her to, An American Tail, in which she fell asleep before the show was over. I also recall a moment recently mentioned by my mother in the comments section in which Abby was along with my best friend and our girlfriends as I spun a cookie around a light pole in town in order to turn around to go back to the grocery store and pick up the milk my mom asked me to get…this is the incident that Abby was not supposed to share with my parents.

My brother Jason and I had alot of fun with Abby over the years. Looking at old home movies recently we had a good laugh at her little tiny voice and her desire to have everyone’s attention. Abby was a good one for bringing up the amourous moments of previous girlfriends in the presence of the current girlfriend. She really was and is a precious sister.

I have always felt sad that I went several states away for college when Abby was very young and I missed out on a lot of her childhood. I think that is one of the many reasons why we are such a close family. The feelings I have for both of my siblings really intensified after I left home and I’m so glad they are both living close by now.

Abby, you share your birthday with the incomparable Martha Stewart and Martin Sheen and on this date in:

1492 Columbus set sail

1858 the source of the Nile was discovered

1914 the first ship sailed through the Panama Canal

and in 1958 the world’s first nuclear submarine, the U.S.S. Nautilus accomplished the first ever undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole!

Happy 26th birthday, ham-legs. You are a wonderful, marvelous sister. I’m very proud of you and your accomplishments. You are so much fun to be around and I enjoy being able to spend time with you as an adult. You have wonderful decorative taste and even picked a tolerable husband (just kidding, Mike is wonderful too! 🙂 ) I love you so very much and am forever thankful that I had to share a room with Jason so that I could have a baby sister. Have a wonderful birthday, Sweet Baboo!

(Shane and I circa 1987, picture by Penny Frazier, art and photog. teacher)

My daughter was working on her portion of The Great Basement Clean Up a few days ago and came across my old high school yearbook and my Senior Class Memory book. I arrived home late Monday night to find the memory book on my computer desk with a note from my wife that simply said “Gina, Gina, Gina”. Gina was my high school girlfriend and I gathered from the note that she was a focus of many of the ‘memories’ in my book.

Ready for a trip down memory lane I opened the book and had a good long laugh. I attended Madison Jr.-Sr. High School in Madison, Nebraska for my junior and senior years of high school. Jr. year was a transitional period, getting to know kids at a new school, etc. Senior year was another thing entirely. As I explained to Mary I have very vivid memories of that entire year. Walking into school that first day of senior year was a magical experience. Our school was fairly small (41 in my graduating class) and we knew each other quite well. That first day the senior class sat down with teachers, etc. to plan the activities for the year, pick graduation colors, look at class ring stuff, etc. It was a perfect start to what would really be an amazingly fun year. I’ll try no to bore you with high school reminiscing, but I found the stuff in my memory book so funny that I have to share.

First of, Gina was indeed prevalent throughout its pages. One two-page spread was for recording what you did on each holiday throughout that year and each one recounts time spent with Gina. I’m probably best leaving off the discussion there, right dear? 🙂

In describing the feeling our school generates I wrote: A lot of kids are proud of our school yet there’s a few losers in the bunch!

The best thing about being a senior was: Being on top and getting to be first at everything. You also have a lot more freedom and fun!

Of my personality I said: I like to goof off a lot, but I can really be a grouch sometimes, especially if people annoy me. I like to help people and I love to make people smile!

(Let me interject that I use the term “goofing off” quite liberally throughout this book as it appears that it was one of my prime ambitions. Its amazing how little things have changed in 18 years!)

Here’s a few more highlights from the About Me page:

I’m mischievous enough to: show my underwear during County Government Day speeches, skip school and mess around, steal orange road pylons (oooh, what a rebel!)

I like to wear: bright colored sweaters and faded 501’s. Suit coat, tie and jeans. Hooded sweatshirts and jeans. (quite the fashion expert!)

I’m first to: yell at referees at Madison games, join in a chance to goof off, get in an argument over my opinions, dance at Doc & Eddy’s Teen Nights. (I was part of a small clan notorious for swearing riotously at school sporting events. And it is funny, I hate debating about things now.)

My most unforgettable moment: Being called “bungholes” and “assholes” by Coach Kuhl with 3 of my classmates. (This occurred at a track event towards the end of school. If I recall correctly several of us were hanging out of windows in the car as we pulled into the parking lot yelling pro-Madison stuff. He actually did use both of those terms in his tirade towards us and we laughed hysterically after he stormed off)

I obviously had great insight into my poor spending habits back then because my 5 and 10 year prognostications involved my hope that I would be better with money (not all wishes come true kids!). In 5 years I saw myself “better built and in better shape” (keep in mind I was a whopping 112 lbs then!), attached to (you know who!), and driving a Trans Am!

In 10 years I saw myself as:
financially mature and stable, a little better built and better looking.
Making 59,000 per year
Recently married, no kids, and vacationing in Paris, Hawaii, or the Virgin Islands

I’m giggling uncontrollably….

The things I thought I was good at were: writing, art, singing, not studying, goofing off, making people laugh, getting flat tires, and spending money. (I did have an art for running over nails, etc)

I wanted to learn to: dance real well, skydive, hanglide, fly an airplane, make easy money, and study. (I was an A student but had terrible study habits)

I daydream about: the weekend, my girlfriend, past fun times, being a hero, being rich.

My favorite expressions were: eat my shorts, hose, smile, and cheer up. (If memory serves it seemed to be a regular habit to tell girls passing in the hall to smile or cheer up…don’t recall why.)

My favorite time wasters were to: doodle on notebooks, sit and daydream, watch TV, listen to music, drive around, and spend money.

I was a very involved kid, trying to cram 4 years of high school into only 2! Each year at Madison I took more classes than there were periods (independent study) and I was involved in every play, choir, several musical groups, and the yearbook committee. I was…and still am…very proud of my and Shane’s idea to base our senior yearbook on Mad Magazine:

Shane was a great caricature artist and this is a perfect likeness of our prinicpal.

I was also proud of one of me and my friends most long lasting sessions of “goofing off”: The formation of the club SPA (see the description below the picture)

Shane, Bob, Darren, and I formed SPA one day in chemisty class and it just stuck around throughout the year. Each of us was paired with another…hence the name ‘siamese’…and Darren made membership cards on his computer that showed a picture of an elephant, the name of the group, and our slogan “To share a nose is to be a friend”. We even had a club greeting which involved raising our ‘trunks’, making an elephant noise and adding the word “snorkle” to the end. I’m sorry, I can’t explain it…it was a high school thing. I still have my membership card!

What struck me the most in reading all this was the memories of how outgoing and, at times, un-self conscious I was. Shane and I used to make up schedules for different theme days where we would dress the same way in often silly attire and invite others to participate. I wasn’t afraid to speak up in class and share my opinion. I was friends with everyone, from truly nerdy to the most popular. It really was a wonderful time.

Well, thanks for letting me share. I enjoyed it thoroughly and promise a quick return to our regularly scheduled programing!