Started my day off early (for me) with a 0900 wake up call from Kevin. Lawn maintenance showed up around 1000 to do the yard. I took my shower and dressed. I was ready to leave the house by 1100. Bingo starts at 1130, and I wasn't about to miss it. I arrived on time to play the first session. I didn't have any luck. I returned home around 1315 to let Shelbi outside. Then...it was time to go wash and detail the car. Finally finished the car around 1500.
I already had the country style pork ribs marinating overnight in my Canadian Barn Barbecue Sauce (recipe now under recipe links). Unfortunately, after using the smoker for the first time a couple of weekends ago I still had to clean it! After cleaning I prepared the charcoal to be lit and I had the ribs going by 1615. Thankfully, I had already prepared the baked potatoes and preprogrammed the oven to come on to bake them for a preset time.
Uh oh...Its 1630 and I have only 30 minutes to reach my appointment at Brook Street Day Spa. Last week I scheduled the appointment for a free consultation for my face. My skin has really been going to the dogs these last five years or so. I don't know if it is age, working in a hot environment or a combination of the two. I decided to get with the program. It is called OBAGI and it is quite expensive. I just hope to have younger, healthier skin by the time the first six weeks go by. The consultant said I would begin to see a change in about a week. Not for the better either. Evidently, when your skin starts a healing process it has to look worse (not looking forward to this part) before you begin to see any improvements. Wish me luck! I think I should document my progress using my digital camera. Take a picture before starting the treatment tonight and one picture a week till the regiment is at its conclusion.
I know your supposed to do this blog thing on a daily basis when the event happens. It kinda slipped my mind until I went to reading some of my past entries and I then realized that I had not followed up on one of my earlier posted entries. The marinade/barbecue sauce was scruptious! I felt like a Master Chef after preparing the meal. If anyone would like the recipe for it just let me know. I marinated country style pork ribs overnight in this sauce and then smoked them in my new Brinkmann smoker. What a wonderful flavor and they were so tender you didn't need a knife to cut the meat. I bet chicken and brisket would work well with this sauce as well.
Kevin (at my request) purchased a gift certificate for me to Brook Street Day Spa. The cost was $71.50 and covered a 90 minute full body massage. My scheduled appointment was at 3:00 today. I only used 60 minutes, because I thought the full 90 minutes would be a bit excessive. An hour was perfect...I felt just like a limp, rag doll by the time my massage was finished. I can't wait to go back and use the other 30 minutes. I just might have to pay an additional $30 so I can get another hour massage. They also offer the Hot Rock massage at a higher cost. I've scheduled an appointment next Thursday for a free consultation with the resident skin doc. My face is definitely needing something done to it, I just don't know what. My skin is very dry between my brows and just above them. Hopefully, they will have a product there that can help.
I went into Wichita Falls around 5pm to pick up Jeremy and Ashley. Kevin was running late at work and decided to meet us for dinner. We are also celebrating Ashley's 12th b-day this weekend. I arrived at their apartment and after they got in the car I asked Ashley where she wanted to eat dinner to begin her b-day celebration. Well, I knew the answer I would receive and I had a ready reply. Ashley said, "I don't know." I replied, "We can't eat there, because I don't know doesn't serve food." I also added I wasn't backing up the vehicle to leave until she came up with a place to eat. Finally, Ashley decided on Leal's on Maplewood. It is a fairly new Mexican restaurant and was quite delicious. Afterwards the hunt was on for a prepaid cellular phone for her present. We ended up at Circuit City first, then moved on to WalMart. Ashley picked out the phone she wanted between the two they had for sale. Believe it or not she picked out the Nokia instead of the Motorola. When we arrived home Ashley and I went online to try to activate it, but we had problems from the getgo. The phone would not accept the inputted code numbers. I then tried landline, still a nogo and I couldn't get a hold of a service rep until the next day. Drats!!!
Next on my agenda I had to go to the grocery store for ingredients to make a strawberry cake with cool whip frosting and a marinade for country style pork ribs I plan on smoking on my new smoker from Marlboro Miles. We returned from the store and I didn't start making the cake until almost 10pm. It was 12:30am before we had a chance to sample it, and was it ever worth the wait! It turned out sooo moist. Jeremy (pig boy) :) had two pieces of it and you know that Kevin ate two as well. Half the cake is already gone!!!
I have to wait until later today to let you know how the ribs and the marinade from scratch turns out. You will know by one of the following titles, Marinade a Hit or Marinade a Miss.
Actually, my nights are done. I'm really referring to Wed. and Thur. night. I had a very difficult time at work two nights in a row, which is really quite unusual. I was working Q.C. and as luck would have it I walked in the lab to find out we were on 12.0mm glass...YUK!!! It is hard enough trying to get the stuff to cut, let alone picking it up. I have to check samples every two hours starting @ 1900 with the last sample to be checked @ 0500. Picture a large rectangular piece of glass (152" x 44") that has to be cut down into 8 pieces= 4 (18" x 38) and 4 (22" x 38"). The whole sample weighs over 300 lbs. Hmm...that means I have to pick up around 12,000 lbs. in a 12 hr shift!!! Talk about a workout!! When I got off work at 0700 I bet I didn't stay awake past 0830. In fact, I was in bed and asleep by 0815. I decided before going to sleep that I wasn't going to set the alarm and I turned off all the ringers in the bedroom to the phone. I didn't wake up until 1700. If there had been someone else at work who could have taken my place Thur. night I would have gladly taken the night off. Alas, no such luck...I had to return for more torture to my sore and aching muscles. You would have thought that my back would have been in agony, but my hands hurt the worst from squeezing my fingers against the glass to keep it from dropping during handling. Thankfully, that second night, I only had to do one 12.0mm sample. Afterwards we had a thickness change down to 8.0mm. It felt like feathers compared to the 12.0mm.
Hooray! Another section of cabinets is almost complete. The section I'm referring to is the one that holds the cooktop and walloven. All that is needed to complete it is a little trim work, drawer (and fake drawer fronts). We are thinking about spending the extra money and purchasing a Maytag Microwave/Vent combo for above the cooktop. That would certaintly help free up space in the dining area where I have a baker's rack with a portable microwave. Afterwards there are only two more sections to be built and one of them is going to be a biggie! The countertop where the sink and dishwasher are located is 12' long. It is an L shape countertop and the short dimension from the wall is about 5'. That section is definitely going to have to be built in place. There is no way I could help carry the base of it. It will probably weigh a ton. Sorry about not having pictures yet. I have been procrastinating on taking my computer in to have it checked out.
A few days ago I ordered some car shades for our Dodge Ram and Hyundai Tiburon. I had a similiar type shade in my previous car as well, which I sorely miss having now that it is heating up outside as well as in the car. We certaintly were happy to see the UPS truck pull up outside our house this evening. They are both installed now, though we have to wait 24 hours before using them so the adhesive can adhere to the windshield. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to make an appointment for window tinting on both vehicles. I'm hoping for at least a 40 degree decrease in interior temperature. As an added bonus I also received the first of many items I ordered through Marlboro Miles catalog today. It was one of the bigger items- a Brinkmann Smoker. Unfortunately, after putting it together the body of the smoker doesn't fit in the base as it should because it is a little bent. I know, I know, I shouldn't have put it together at all because it arrived damaged. I thought I could do something with it after assembling it. No such luck, I will have to unassemble it, box it back up, and send it back either for repair or a replacement.