So Close Yet So Far...White Christmas West Virginia

We have been getting lots of rain here in West Virginia over the past few weeks.  The interesting thing about the last couple of rain storms that we have been having here is that if we were just a couple of degrees cooler, then we would be in the midst of one of the worst winters ever.  With each rainstorm, we have been hovering around the 33 F mark.  Just enough for rain.  

Yet Las Vegas, NV is able to come up with 4 inches of snow!  

There is slim hope for a White Christmas, though.  Another storm system is going to pass through on Christmas Eve.  So far it is looking like the previous storms that we have had. Perhaps we can get down just another degree or two to get us that White Christmas.

Back from Taiwan

Just a short note to let everyone know that Ann and Lynne made it back from Taiwan. Both Lynne and Ann had a fun time overseas. Their plane got in at around 10 PM last night. Lynne did very well on the plane, and slept a good portion of the way.

They both got to see a lot of their relatives, etc, and Lynne got a trip to the top of Taipei 101. They made it back just in time for Turkey soup, as that is all that is left of our Thanksgiving dinner.

Lynne is having fun adjusting to her jet lag, and so are we. Imagine a 5 year-old getting up at 4 AM in the morning on full after-burner ready to start her day! She slept for a hour this afternoon, so we are hoping to let here stay up a bit, and get her back to here pre-school and on a normal schedule.

October So Busy...

October was such a busy month for us that it is almost Thanksgiving! School is now in full swing, and not we have settled into a daily routine of school, and after school activities for the kids.

Jade continues with her piano lessons, and now Lynne is even getting into the act. She is taking a lesson once a week too! She really seems to like it as she gets to be like a "big" kid. Lynne also started to go to pre-school as well, and Ann has been shuttling her there daily. It happens to be at Jade's elementary school, so she gets to do another "big" kid activity.

Another activity that has kept us busy is a little re-modeling project that we started for our house. We are having a half bathroom added to the main floor of our house. We hired a contractor to take care of the work, but runs to Home Depot, and settling on designs and features has been quite time consuming. So far, we are very happy with the result. We now have an extra toilet on our main floor for visitors, and this was sorely needed.

Halloween was a success this year, Lynne went as a princess (what else?) and Jade went as a "Mad Japanese Geisha." They both had a pretty good take in candy.

Our Recipe Website Gets a Revision

I have been doing a lot of work on my little side project, which is kickthefridge.com. This is a website that I started more or less as a little hobby about a year ago. I let it go for a little while, but recently revisited the site and working harder to keep it updated.

KTF has slowly progressed to take a pretty good chunk of my time. Ann and I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen, cooking up all kinds of dishes, so I started to post some of them on KTF. If you are looking a good recipe for Chinese lettuce wraps, pan fried flounder, or baked macaroni and cheese, then this is the place to go. A recipe that seems to be popular uses kielbasa and beer as the main ingedients. Another one that uses beer is this green chile in a thermal pot for green chile burros. You really do not need a thermal pot to make this, just simmer it on low heat for an hour or two instead. Both dishes taste really good because of the beer. It is an interesting combination of ingredients.

Lynne Drives the Bus at Hillbilly Hot Dogs

We finally made a pilgrimage that all West Virginians must take at least once in their lifetime. We went to Hillbilly Hot Dogs. this past summer and I am finally writing about it. We went to the one that is in Lesage, WV along the Ohio River. This is the original. The place is sort of like a regular roadside hot dog Stand with a definite slant towards red neck and Hillbilly culture thrown in. There is a lot of interesting stuff lying all over the grounds. The food was very good, and Lynne got a real kick out of eating on the bus. I thought the place was going to be a little pricey, since they have been featured on the Food Network and have become a tourist destination. However, the prices were reasonable, in fact, downright cheap. There were also a lot of locals eating there, too.

WVU Marshall Game Eve

It is the night before the WVU Marhall game. I was a little down on the Marshall team in an early post, inferring that they would get slaughtered in tomorrow's game. I am not so sure now. The Mountaineers have looked pretty lackluster this year, and now amount of spin the local sportswriters and sportscasters put on their reporting will change that fact.

The Mountaineers have a real chance of losing the game this year. So here is my pregame prediction. I think it will be pretty close, and Marshall will win. Here is my score:

Marshall 28
WVU 24

But this is just a prediction, and it is longshot for Marshall to put up 28. But who knows...