Weekend Plans and Rock Star Stuff

(contains Rock Star INXS spoilers toward the bottom, so if you TIVO'd the show instead of watching it last night or live somewhere you don't see it until later, go away and come back to read this post after you've seen it!) No more quilt-in-progress pics today, at least not yet. If (and it's a big if) I get more finished today, I'll post pics tonight. I had to run errands yesterday in preparation for what I hope will be a fun long weekend with friends. Thank God I finished up with the sick thing before the weekend!! (Speaking of....I was all sane and adult about the food thing yesterday --- no cheeseburgers. I went for half a tuna sandwich on toast and some fruit and it was good and my tummy didn't reject it with the projectile vomiting thing and so --- YAY!) Anyway, back to the weekend plans. Many, many years ago, when J first started doing his consulting gig, which involves a lot of travel, we met some people on a fairly long-term job he had in Wisconsin and we clicked and have stayed in touch ever since. We don't actually get to see them often, but we talk, and we try to get together in person once a year, at least for a long weekend. And this is the weekend! Gerald and Marge and their daughter, Amy, live in Missouri. Jimmy and Diana (aka Blondie) live in North Carolina. With J and me in Kentucky, we often choose the Smoky Mts. for our rendezvous because it's kinda-sorta more-or-less central for the group. So barring complications, that's where we're headed in the morning. I refuse to take the laptop on vacation, so don't expect to hear from me for a few days unless I wander into an internet cafe or something and am weak. :-) I bought some wine yesterday, partly because some areas of the Smokies are dry (dry as in no liquor sales, not as in no rainfall, although that's kinda true this summer too!) and I bought one bottle of a brand I've never heard of, never mind tried, just because I love the label! How "too visual for words" is that? Heh. Take a look: Isn't that a cool graphic? I hope the wine is decent! I also bought the ingredients to make my Debified Best Ever Snack Mix. It's sure not health food, but then again I only make it once a year and it is soooooo good! In case you want to try it, here's the recipe. Debified Best Ever Snack Mix Preheat the oven to 275 F. In a large open pan (I use my turkey roasting pan), mix together a total of 20 cups of any or all of these things (I put a * by the ones I usually use): oyster crackers*, wheat thins, small melba rounds, pretzels, Cheez-it crackers* (or goldfish), sesame sticks*, Crispix cereal*, Fritos*, mixed nuts*, pumpkin seeds*, sunflower seeds. You could use anything else you wanted really, that is savory and fairly plain. In a small bowl or large measuring cup, mix together the following: 1 cup oil (I use canola) 1 pkg. dry Ranch dressing mix 1/4 tsp. lemon pepper a scant Tbs. chili powder 1 tsp. dill weed 1/2 tsp. garlic salt 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper Pour over the stuff in the pan and stir, then bake a total of 45 minutes, stirring thoroughly every 15 minutes. Let it cool, then eat it up! It'll keep several days in ziploc baggies. As you can guess from the ingredients, we like it with a little bite to it (that's the main "Debified" part of the recipe). If you're a wuss about spicy stuff, you can cut back on the chili powder and cut back, or leave out entirely, the cayenne. If you, like my hubby, think that habanero peppers are better than chocolate and almost as good as sex, feel free to pump up the heat even more. :-) Time for the Weekly INXS Dish-session So, what did y'all think this week? Unlike last week, I wasn't at all surprised, either by who ended up in the bottom three or by who got eliminated. I adore Ty's voice, but thought his performance on Tuesday was weaker than usual. But last night he rocked. Brandon and Tara have never been my favorites of the group and I agreed that last night Tara gave the weaker of the two performances. She almost seemed timid about singing that number. Overall this week though, I thought the group really pulled it out! After having what I felt was a weak group of performances last week, I thought this week was one of the best ones yet. Yay Rockers! Can't wait for next week!