So many ideas for posts have been rolling around in my head, and I just haven’t had time to get to them. I miss having time. Do y’all ever feel like you are meeting yourself coming and going? How do you make things slow down??

Right now, I should be getting ready to go to work, but decided I had to write something for Thursday Thirteen. Here are thirteen things I wish I had time to write about:

1. On my nearly seven hour road trip down here to Beaumont, Texas to work I was playing a very eclectic mix of music! One minute it was big band music, then it was country. I went from rocking out to music from Queen to whining along with Patsy Cline. I crooned with Frank Sinatra and wept at Johnny Cash ballads. There was Celtic music followed by polka and then the blues. There were at least 13 different musicians, and some of them might have been new to you. I wanted to put YouTube videos in a post, but when I got to the hotel and started trying to find videos of my favorites, I found that the videos played on my computer in a very wonky fashion. You deserve better than that. I don’t know if they were playing so poorly because of the internet connection here, YouTube, Safari, or just the quality of the videos, but I wasn’t pleased with the results. Darn. I really wanted to play some music for you. It’s on the back burner.
2. Yesterday I had only one performance in the day and got to explore Beaumont a little. I did some vintage shopping and thought I might tell you about it. But, I had to work on my plans for a writing workshop I have to give to 3rd graders here this week, so I didn’t get the pictures taken. Beaumont deserves better treatment than I give it, so I will have to get around to it.
3.

I’ve got this gas mask hanging in my bathroom as a joke (actually, I tell Mr. Tucker it’s a joke, because I don’t want to hurt his feelings). I’ve been trying to come up with something to tell you about it, but it’s evading me.
4. Sherry at Yellow Rose’s Garden and Barbara at Knitting Passions have graciously agreed to work an a special project for Share A Square. Y’all may be aware that some folks are putting together 140 crocheted afghans for children with cancer at Camp Sanguinity. Each square of the afghans has a tag on it indicating who made that particular square. We had given an afghan to Matty’s grandson, and he was fascinated by them. We thought it might be special to create some cloth drawstring bags to hold them. Maybe you don’t know how to crochet, but know how to sew? Maybe you are a weaver? If you’d like to make a bag, check with these ladies to have them tell you more.
5. Dear Dora has her own webspace now, and I’ve been meaning to have a contest to get y’all to write letters to her.

She is confused about whether she writes a “Dear Abby” type of column or a “Heloise’s Hints” type of column. Go ahead and write to me if you have some idiotic question and you want a smart aleck answer. She’s coming soon to a computer near you.
6. My sweet blogging friend Vixen had a post a long time back called “Pay It Forward.” She offered to send a handmade gift to the first three people who commented and said they wanted one. The only stipulation is that they had to “pay it forward.” Do you remember the movie? I commented, and I’ve been meaning to pay it forward. So, here it is:

I will send a handmade gift (sometime during the next 365 days) to the first three people who say they want one. I don’t know what it will be. You must make the same offer on your own blog and pay it forward.

7. Shoot. I’m out of time!

I have to leave in the next thirty minutes to get to a school. So, I’ll end with an apology. I really am sorry that I don’t get to visit and read much. There was a time, before Share A Square came into my life, that I was able to visit blogs for hours a day. I was proud that my blog seemed to almost be a “meeting place” for people, and I know that some of the folks on my blogroll gained regular readers when I mentioned them in posts and linked to them. I don’t get to do that much anymore. I don’t even get to answer comments much these days. I keep hoping that will change soon.

I keep hoping.

Occasionally, people make comments that make me feel as if I am being chastised for not visiting. I would ask that you please don’t take my lack of visiting personally. I have quite a few things going on in my world (as we all do). The choices are hard to make sometimes. If I have a spare moment, I can work on coordinating an effort to get 140 afghans made for children with cancer, I can make time to write a post for my own blog, I can do the real work that pays me the money to have a computer, I can attempt to have a life with my family(without which all else is meaningless)—–or I can visit blogs.

Which should I choose?

I’m really trying hard. I want to visit everyone. All I ask is that if you want to chastise me, please do it in a personal e-mail instead of a comment.

Y’all go make it a good Thursday.

Oh, I’m getting so tired of drama!

I told y’all a couple of days ago that my cat had gone AWOL. I seriously believed she was dead, eaten by coyotes, and I have been weeping and carrying on like a lunatic. I haven’t been able to think or do my work. My neighbors hate me, because I’ve been walking the streets at 2:00 in the morning calling for the cat.

If Momma cain’t sleep, ain’t nobody gonna sleep.

Then, my husband stepped into the garage and saw a flash of gray streak past him! Houdini was still in the garage! That didn’t mean that all was well. If you think it did, you have obviously never seen our garage.

I told you this cat only hunkers down when she is frightened. In my garage, there is a lot of junk behind and under which to hunker! We couldn’t coax her out; and half the time couldn’t even locate her. We weren’t even sure it was Houdini (could have been a rat or an opossum). We put a live trap in the garage, with food inside, but she wouldn’t even come out of hiding for food!

This could have gone on forever!

BUT, I had a brilliant idea. I got Eric to use the leaf blower in the garage hoping to frighten her toward the door to the house. It worked! When she finally dashed across the garage to hide under another workbench, we used flattened boxes to wall off the rest of the garage. Finally, we were able to trap her, and oh my word she was trembling.

Now, she is safe and sound, and enjoying having The Big Guy brush her.

Many thanks to ALL of you who expressed your kind concern!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Now, it hasn’t just been the drama of the cat and the plumbing that has gotten me going crazy lately. I have a grant proposal that has to be postmarked on the 31st. It’s for the Texas Commission on the Arts (because I’m on the Touring Artist Roster). I have been on the roster since 1997, but every two years we have to jump through hoops.

I had a dvd of a performance that I thought I would be able to edit on my computer (there are about 10 of us performing on this, and I didn’t want to show everyone else!). I’ve been pulling my hair out. Finally, I called Marc Herbst at the Panhandle House. It’s a wonderful recording studio here in Denton. I’ve used them before to record some stories. I told him, “I know that poor planning on my part does not constitute an emergency on yours, but could you help me, pretty please?” Oh, the man is magic! Thank you Marc!

It’s not the best video in the world, but he managed to clip it and make it look much better. Now, if we could just remove that crying baby from the video…

But, the grant is ready, and I can breathe again.

Only now I have to drive to Beaumont tomorrow to work! Did any of you read about how exciting business travel is? I told y’all about the motel where I will be staying.

Drama.

Oh, well. It’s bloggable. Is that a word?

Do y’all need comfort food now and then? I certainly do. This week has been especially difficult, and I decided it was time to cook. I had another reason to do so. Amidst all my sadness the last couple of days over the disappearance of my cat, there was cause for rejoicing. My neighbors down the street had a beautiful, healthy baby boy! Congratulations Ann and Olav, and welcome to the world, Torbin. This is almost as exciting as getting a new grandbaby!

Because a new mom needs to get her rest, and because it is expected of Southern women (at least it was when I was growing up), I felt the urge to take them a meal. Doing something for someone else could help take my mind off my own troubles.

It’s been bitterly cold the last few days, so Potato Chowder sounded good to me. Fortunately, it sounded good to them, too. Besides, standing in my kitchen I could look out the window and fret, hoping my cat would come slinking down the driveway. She hasn’t yet, and she probably won’t. But, I thank y’all for your good thoughts.

I set to work in the kitchen whipping up the chowder, and decided to share with you, in case you need some comfort food, too. Keep in mind, that I cook in much the same way my Mamaw did. When my grandmother cooked, she didn’t necessarily “measure;” she just kept on adding whatever she had until it tasted right. There is no exact science to cooking around here! I like this recipe, because it only takes about 30-45 minutes to make it, depending on how fast you chop vegetables.

Here’s what you need to pull out of the refrigerator and pantry:

4-5 strips of bacon (Of course! I don’t know how to cook without it!)
6 Tablespoons flour
3 cups of milk (cream is better if you have it)
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 slices of celery, sliced
a handful of mushrooms (if you have them in the refrigerator)
1 can of chicken broth
4-6 potatoes (depending on how hungry you are) peeled, sliced and diced
1 can of corn (unless you want to get ambitious and slice corn from the cob—if you do, then cook it as you cook the potatoes)
salt and pepper to taste
any other spice to your taste [Here’s where you get creative. This time I used a dash of brandy and a sprinkling of basil. Other times, I add a splash of sherry and some thyme. Then, occasionally I plop in a half cup of picante sauce and some chili powder to give it a good old Texas kick.]

1. Fry the bacon. I cut mine into tiny pieces and cook it on high. I don’t know the science of it, but it seems that if more surface area of the bacon touches the hot pan it makes more grease. You are trying to get bacon grease.
2. Remove the bacon and eat it. Unless you are generous enough to share with everyone else and save it for garnish. I’m not.
3. While that bacon is frying, put the mushrooms, celery, onion, and potatoes in a large pot. Add the chicken broth and enough water to cover the vegetables. Bring that to a boil. You want to cook those vegetables until they are almost tender, then add the corn. That should only take about 15 minutes.
4. About the time you add the corn to the other vegetables, heat that bacon grease again. Add enough butter to the skillet (I didn’t say this wasn’t fattening—it’s comfort food!) to make about 3 tablespoons floating around in the pan.
5. Slowly stir in the 6 tablespoons of flour to make a roux. [When I asked my sweet spousal unit to proof read this, he said some people might not know what a “roux” is. It’s just flour and fat cooked into a paste and browned. You use it to season food, but if you want to know the full meaning, you can follow this link to know about a“roux”. is.
6. Add the milk or cream, stirring like crazy so you don’t get lumps (although in this chowder, people would mistake the lumps for potatoes).
7. When that milk and flour mixture is thick and creamy, plop it into the pot of vegetables and stir.
8. Salt it, pepper it, and spice it up.
9. Heat it for five more minutes, then dish up a bowl and go sit by the fire to eat it.

Anyway, that’s how potato chowder gets cooked around here. How do you cook it? I’m always open to new recipes.

And, given your choice, what is the comfort food you cook when you need it? I may be needing some more comfort.