What with Mother's day and all, I have been remembering my dear mother-in-law. Even after all these years, I still miss talking with her. Now that I am back in the USA and watching USA television and therefore commercials I often wonder what she would say about them. I remember how stupid commercials would bug her and she would want to write to the companies and tell them just how offensive the ads are. My current candidate for most offensive commercial is a candy commercial where a candy bar lands in a drum of 'something' and the idiot reaches in and come out minus an arm. So of course, he puts his other arm in it and loses that one also. The final scene is a second guy getting ready to stick his arm into the drum. Now, really, that is just sick!!! Anyone else want to suggest a candidate?

Isn't this a lovely sight? This is what Mike sent me in todays email. He is in Mannheim, Germany, the place where there is another John Deere Plant. This must be a good time of year to be in Europe, it looks beautiful.

It's Mothers Day! Here is my mom with the great grand puppy Olivia. Also a picture of mom, me and Katy. Notice how the generations of women keeps getting taller?!? Following that reasoning, Katy's daughters will be amazing. Anyway, I want to wish all my family and friends that are mothers a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY. I miss you all and hope your day will be very special. Katy has spent the weekend with me, and so my Mothers day is a very special one. Hugs to all.

This is what was happening in Orleans, France the day Mike arrived. They were having a parade in honor of St. Joan of Arc liberating France. Now I wish I would have gone with him. I love parades! Orleans is a city near where the John Deere Plant is in Saran, France. See previous two photos to see more of it.

Here is another site from where Mike is. Anyone know which saint this is? It's a girl, and this town is either where she was born, or where she died. I cant remember which.

Here is what Mike is looking at this week. Care to guess where he is? I cannot believe it is 2 years already since I have been here. Beautiful, yes? As usual, when Mike is not available, things here at home do not go smoothly, by the end of yesterday, I was ready to go to bed and pull the covers over my head and hide. Besides, the vacumm cleaner breaking, my pot painting did not go as I had wanted, and just before going to bed Gracie got sick and left a big mess that took both my "spotlifter" and my "Spot Bot" to clean up. And I had to try again this morning to remove the remains. UGH!!! But she seems to be feeling better today, at least she is eating after 3 days of no eating. Ahh, the joys of having a 15 yr old dog.

Now this is getting ridiculous. Another of the new appliances we bought this past February has broken. I was vacuuming this morning and started to smell burning plastic or something. So I figured the belt had broken and checked. Well the belt was intack, but had slipped to the side and the friction melted the plastic around it in the housing. I had to call Bissell and was sent to the closest authorized dealer in Ceadar Rapids, 50 miles from here. The guy there was very nice even offered me a loaner machine, and is going to hopefully get it fixed under warranty. We will see what happens. This is frustrating!! He said I will need a whole new housing piece. Does anything last anymore???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE MIKE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.

This picture may be 40 yrs old, but you are still looking good!! We hope you are having a great day. Best wishes hugs, and birthday kisses from us.

Here is the English Tea Party that was Ann's idea while in Torreon. Aren't the ladies elegant in their hats and gloves??

I am loving having this Vonage telephone service. I can call over the USA and Canada for one low price. So this week I called my friend Ann up in Canada. Here she is with me at our 50's & 60's dance party. We had such fun together, she was there to help plan, and excute several of our theme parties. I have missed being able to chat with her because we discussed everything from men to menopause. She made my time in Mexico a much happier place to be. Our wish was to be sent back to the states the same week. Unfortunately, she left over a year before I did. Missed ya, my friend. Good to have you back.

I spent this morning making Goetta. Goetta is a german traditional breakfast food. The recipe that I have was given to me by my dad, and he got it from his sister-in-law, my Aunt Gracie, who I belive used the same one as my grandma Wuennemann pictured here on her wedding day. Note any family resemblance? No? But I did look a lot like this when I was young. Anyway, I was talking to my brother while I was cooking and we went online and found several recipes though most of them were the same. Funny, but my recipe is the only I found that calls for tapioca. We found some that added sage and thyme for spices, I added some to half of this batch to see what that is like. Anyone out there heard or ever tasted Goetta? So far it seems to be a Cincinnati metro area food. It is even sold in the stores under the brand name of Gliers. It takes about 3 hours to cook the traditional way, but I also saw where someone has converted it to a slow cooker recipe. Next time I would like to try that too. Time to bring this family favorite into the 21st Century.

Another note about the Cuisinart Coffee maker. I took it to UPS to be shipped today. And got to talking to the guy there. He said they get a lot of those going back to the company. So, if you have one, or want one (They do make good coffe, I am told) be sure to save the receipt!! I plan to send the company a letter of complaint about the return shipping costs. I'll let you know what, if anything, happens.