Deployment news and Raffle Prizes

Wow!  I had a busy day yesterday.  I was up pretty early (for me!) and headed to the Soup Kitchen to help prepare meals for those less fortunate.  It always makes me feel good to do that.  Somehow, I have gotten to be the "go-to gal" for meal preparations when I am there.  Jan, the head of our group is one of those cooks that is not very adventurous and follows a recipe to the "T".  I have convinced her it is ok to add a little of this and a little of that to make a recipe your own.  Today the dish that was chosen to prepare was a Hamburger Casserole.  They got it out of a book the Girl Scouts put together for a badge and presented to the Soup Kitchen.  The recipe called for mixing hamburger meat (already cooked) with Cream of Celery & Cheddar Cheese soups and  mixed veggies (ugh).  You also mix up Bisquick into a dough and put on the bottom of the casserole and then spread cheese over the top.  Well, we decided that sounded pretty bland.  So, I found a few green peppers and scallions that someone had donated and we chopped those up and added them.  The gals who were preparing it decided to put the biscuit mix on top instead of on the bottom.  Sounded good at the time!  Luckily, we fixed one pan first as a test model without the biscuit mix - we were going to add it after cooking the dish for a while.  Well, after about 20 minutes we took the pan out of the oven and it was really soupy!  I think the biscuit mix is supposed to absorb some of the liquid of the dish.   We already had 4-5 pans made up and ready to go in the oven (without the biscuit mix).  So, we got another pan and put the biscuit mix on the bottom and dumped the casserole on top.  That came out much better!  It tasted ok to me - probably not something I will make and serve at home but the patrons of the Soup Kitchen loved it and many came back for seconds and requested to take a plate home with them for dinner.  So, that is what counts!  We served about 100 people today.

After Soup Kitchen duty, I headed over to a Board Meeting that lasted way too long!  We had a lot to discuss with our big Horse Racing Fund Raiser coming up in early June.  Unfortunately, it is on June 8 which is when I will be returning from Texas so I will not be able to attend.  From the Board meeting, I met Sonny at Red Eye Bar and Grill in Mooresville for a late lunch/early dinner.  We had a couple of beers, some food and played a little trivia.

I have not shared publicly the news that my daughter is being deployed to Iraq - probably because I don't want to believe it is real until I have to.  We have known that it was probably going to happen for a couple of months now.  Well, this week, she finally got some specifics on the deployment.  As it stands now, she will be deploying with a unit out of Fort Hood.  She reports to them in mid-August for a mid-September deployment and will probably be gone 8-9 months.  She is scheduled for training at Fort Polk in Louisiana in June just after my mom and I leave her in Texas.   Although she is an Infectious Disease Pediatrition, she will act as a Brigade Surgeon with her unit.  I told her that sounded pretty impressive to me.  She told me she will be basically the unit's doc - treating the soldiers in her unit if they are sick or wounded.  Although if the injuries are severe, they will be sent to a CASH (which is today's equivalent to MASH.)  We hope that she will be able to spend a couple of weeks with us in July.   Several people have requested her address when   she is deployed.  When I know, I will let you know.  I will miss her terribly, but I am so proud of her and of her commitment.

Here more of the raffle prizes I made for my Newcomers's Horse Race Game Night.  I gave the items to the chairman today and the ladies really "oohed and aahed" over them.  Made me feel good!

This is a Flower Brooch that I made out of upholstery material with the Kiwi Kiss button in the center.

This is a box I made that holds cards.  I stamped the box with the butterfly from Flight of the Butterfly and the swirl in Priceless.  I scalloped the edges.

This is the top of the box - I just love the flower!  It matched the paper great.

The cards ar all made using Inspired by Nature and the Embosslet Butterly.

I really like how this gift came together.