Service with a smile

My Virginia driver’s license expires on Thursday, forcing me to apply for a Wyoming license.

I have nothing against carrying a Wyoming license, and if fact, I think the reciprocity laws might even require that I carry one after living here for one year—or maybe even before—at which time I become an “official resident” of the state.

My issue is the nightmare that is the Virginia DMV—having to queue-up before the DMV opens at 8 A.M., and then having to sit and wait—and wait—and sit, if one somehow manages to queue later down the line.

I don't ever remember seeing a sign like this at the VADMV

But then the VADMV is 4 x as large, so maybe I missed that
warm and welcoming sign to be ever so helpful... 

The Virginia DMV has a process by which you can renew on line, but I don’t think it applies to someone with an out-of-state license, like from the great state of Wyoming.

All of this is not to say that we will be heading back to the Old Dominion.

We have no plans for that now, nor for any time in the foreseeable future.

It’s just that everyday life occurrences, tasks and events are so much easier here I have mini nightmares about how much less pleasant certain tasks can be beyond the borders of this beautiful and barely populated state.

Everyone is so kind and helpful, and pleasant.

Well, I am sure there are unpleasant folk here, but I have yet to encounter them.

Then again, I went shopping at K-Mart this afternoon—and not a very good K-Mart at that.

Sigh...

Anyway, thought I would share some photos of my afternoon at the Laramie DMV late Friday afternoon…

No one to  the left...

And no one to the right...

There are three of these, but two of the employess were at lunch

The view across the street and as you step out the door

Another view directly across the street

The vista behind the Laramie DMV

That's my DMV...

Happy Father's Day...

to all the fathers out there.

Hope you have a great day!

Iced Coffee

Yesterday, the teenager asked if he could have an iced coffee made with that morning’s leftover decaf.

Yes, I admit it.

I occasionally let the teenager have a little decaf with lots of cream and sugar, much to the dismay of the Legal Dude.

I made it with lots of cream, added sugar and topped it off with whipped cream.

He made a face and said it had w-a-y too much sugar.

“Too much” and “sugar” never are used in the same sentence by the teenager!

He said, “Taste it.”

He was right.

It did have too much, but it wasn’t sugar.

I had inadvertently added salt, and lots of it.

Large Kosher salt crystals to boot.

I haven’t used salt in place of sugar since college, when my friends and I "intentionally" replaced sugar with salt in brownies or other sweets, to get back at our guy pals for some infraction or other.

Being the nice mom that I am, I gave him my iced coffee.

I don't use sugar, so there were no Kosher salt crystals to contend with.

Remember, I want him to have nice memories, "so he’ll be sure to put me in a nice nursing home when the time comes."

I think it's a safe bet that iced coffee with salt won't get me into that "nice" nursing home!

Not for the faint of heart…

or for those who keep Kosher or who are vegetarians.

We went to the Butcher Shop this afternoon to purchase this smoker…

which unfortunately is not working.

It's a pellet smoker but the thingamajig, which is supposed to turn and add pellets ain't turning and the shop is now closed.  Bummer! 

While we were there, these are some of the things I spied…

The butcher's shoes...he was out at a ranch
doing some cutting

Usually I see these things filled with pastries and bread

Notice a resemblance?

Now that's what I call a hog!

Kind of makes one want to become a vegan...

Wyoming Worm Jerky...

Need I say more about the hot and intense Wyoming sun?

This poor little guy/gal--I believe worms are hermaphroditic--obviously ran out of time before the sun rose to a new day.

Actually, we're always finding these little guys all over the patio and I just now realized it's all our fault!

The underground sprinkler system is set to start at 3:30 in the morning. 

These guys must come out and then never make it across the patio before the sun rises to it's full glory. 

Oh my gosh!

We're annihilating the worm population around our house...

To toss, or not to toss—

that is the question.

When we moved here last August, we arrived with a truck full of furniture and belongings, and hundreds upon hundreds of pounds of “stuff” we paid good money to move, only to have it sit in boxes—or on shelves—lo these past 10 months.

Granted, we don’t have nearly the amount of cabinet, or shelf space, we had back east, and some of it is unsorted family photos and things the teenager made, wrote and created over the years that I just can’t seem to part with.

I’ve begun to sift through the “stuff” stuff and to weed out those things we haven’t used, or seemed to need, since we moved here.

Over the weekend, I spied four or five cookie tins—filled with Halloween, Valentine Day, Hanukkah, Christmas and other specialty cookie cutters—that the Legal Dude has placed high on a shelf in the storage room in the basement.

miss mash from one of the containers

I don’t have room in the kitchen cabinets or the drawers for these oh-so essential tools of the trade of any self-respecting mom who has the time to bake.

My child, however, is now a teenager who seems to despise everything he once loved and embraced, and at nearly 14 years of age, would prefer to pull his own fingernails out rather than have his mom bake cookies using “cookie cutters” for his class or his mates.

So—I’m thinking, maybe it’s time to pass them forward, to a neighbor who has a three- and a seven-year old.

They celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, and all the holiday baking I do these days seem to be bar or drop cookies, rugelach, peppermint marshmallows or other goodies that don’t require cookie cutters.

Besides, I’m hoping NOT to be a grandma anytime soon, like say within the next fourteen to sixteen years!

By then, who knows what the whole cookie-baking industry will be and I’m certain my cookie cutters will be considered obsolete.

Then again, maybe I have some “soon to be vintage antiques,” if I keep them that long.

So back to my query—to toss, or not to toss?

That is my dilemma...

It's always something...

Yesterday we set the oven to self-clean and then the Legal Dude roasted a prime rib.

We followed the butcher’s directions—roasting for an hour at 450 (well, the butcher said 400), then turned the oven off and left the roast in the sealed, turned off oven for another two hours.

I was actually worried about letting meat sit in a hot oven—not actually cooking—for so long.

It was delicious, if a just a tad overdone for our taste buds, so next time we’ll take it out a half-hour earlier.

When dinner was done and the oven cooled, I wiped it down to remove the grease and smut that was causing the kitchen—and the rest of house—to smell like cooked meat.

This morning after returning from errands, the house still had an overly strong oder of cooked meat coming from the overn, so we re-set the oven for self-clean.

When the beeper went off indicating it was done, I opened the door and without thinking, took a damp paper towel to wipe down the glass window.

Big mistake...

Big, BIG mistake…

This is what happened, immediately upon touching the hot, hot glass with the damp paper towel.

Photo upside down, for some reason can't right it.

I’m not too proud to say I shed a tear of frustration.

We don’t know if we can just replace the door, or just the glass—or have to get an entire new unit.

We don’t know if it will effect cooking if the glass will continue to crack.

We have family and friends coming to town in a few weeks and have plans to do lots of cooking and baking, not to mention just day to day cooking.

It’s always something...