The Prince Who Loved Me

How quick of a read was this book? It only took a day!

"The Prince Who Loved Me," by Karen Hawkins was a cute little Cinderella story. The heroine has a step-mother and two step-sisters, and a prince to fall in love with. I thought it was an adorable story.

An Excellent Mystery

Well, I must say that "An Excellent Mystery," by Ellis Peters was a good book, but not an excellent mystery.

I read the first couple of chapters, then the back of the book to see what it was supposed to be about, and thought I knew what happened. Towards the end I started to doubt myself, but in the end, I was right. Although I love this series of books, my biggest problem with this particular one is how much it lingered on the politics of the nation, and not so much on the mystery at hand.

Moist Delicious Cornbread

I had the night off from work, and had decided a while ago that the next night I had off would be chili night. With that in mind, I decided to make cornbread to go with it. The recipe I decided to use came from grandmabeesrecipes.com.

Moist, Delicious Cornbread

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. milk
• 1/2 c. margarine, melted
• 2 c. Bisquick or other baking mix
• 1 c. sugar
• 5 T. yellow cornmeal

Directions

1. Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan. Set aside. Combine the beaten eggs, milk and melted butter. Stir until well blended. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients, a little at a time and stir lightly. To keep a light texture to the cornbread, don't over-stir. The batter may still be slightly lumpy. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350°.

It was pretty tasty. Tom was concerned that the cornbread was too crumbly, but the flavor was good, the bread was moist, and it had a tiny bit of sweetness to it, which I liked.

Reggie's Vet Visit

I got home from band tonight to see the best surprise in the world - a slightly woozy, but otherwise functional, boy cat!

We had taken Reggie in to the vet on Monday because he hasn't been eating, and we were really worried about him. The vet said Reggie's gums were infected, and recommended having dental work done, which included days of hydration and anesthesia on the day of the actual dentistry/surgery. Considering his age - almost 16 years old - his chances were 50-50 as to whether or not he'd come out of the surgery alive. He stayed at the vet most of Monday to get hydrated, and I dropped him off yesterday for another full day of hydration, which could only increase his chances of survival. This morning, Tom took him in for his big day, and all we could do was wait. Around lunchtime, I learned that the surgery went okay, but the vet needed to keep him to see if he came out of the anesthesia all right. I left for band before Tom picked Reggie up. Now, it's up to us. We'll have to administer pain meds and antibiotics, and make sure he eats, all while keeping him warm and happy.

Ravens vs Titans

The Ravens played the Tennessee Titans today, and the Ravens won 21-7. I was quite worried about the outcome after the first quarter, but luckily the Ravens got it in gear and dominated the remainder of the game.
The band didn't do a halftime show today, the Marine's Silent Drill Team performed instead, but we did do the halftime show from last year's Veteran's Day for our pregame show. After we exited the field and player introductions were made, a really large flag was unfurled over the field by service members.

Craft Show - Take 2

Mom and Dad came to visit for a few days, so that they could help me out with the booth at the annual High School Music Booster Club craft show. We participated last year, and didn't make enough to pay for the booth, but Tom had encouraged me to pre-pay for a booth for this year. This year, I'm happy to say, we made enough to break even for both years and even walk away with a profit of $16!

I was so worried that this year would be a complete waste of time, like last year. I have never been so glad to be proven wrong, I would have hated for it to be a waste of time for Mom and Dad.

Fort Delaware Paranormal Investigation

As a "birthday gift," Tom and I had discussed going away for the weekend - either a train ride in Pennsylvania or a bus tour in New York City. Then, Amy turned me on to ghost hunting tours held at Fort Delaware in the month of October. I looked it up and discussed the option with Tom, and we decided to do that instead.

We took the five hour tour, over the midnight hour, and had a few items of interest in our investigation; Officer's Kitchen - K2 meter readings, Prisoner's Barracks - nothing, Tent - nothing, Officer's Quarters - K2 meter readings, Enlisted Men's Quarters - nothing, Endecott Section - K2 meter readings, the Casemates - nothing. The whole evening, while enjoyable and nice to get out for a change, seemed a little anticlimactic. But upon further consideration, I think our encounters were more substantial than I initially thought.
Our first encounter was in the Officer's Kitchen, and there were just K2 meter readings that seemed kind of random. In the Officer's Quarters, I had one really big K2 meter reading, but it was when two people had just walked into the room. I initially figured that they hadn't turned their cell phones off, and that caused the spike on the K2 meter. There were also a few smaller blips on the meter. On to the Endecott section. Three of us in our group had simultaneous K2 meter readings that were pretty strong that continued for several minutes. They stopped after we discounted the readings. Now, after getting home and thinking about it, these K2 meter readings could have been more than we realized. If I held the K2 meter right up to my phone or to an electrical outlet, I got a really weak reading. What we got in our investigation was considerably stronger on several occasions. Knowing what I know now, I would go on another tour with more sensitivity and better questions and suggestions on how to interact with any potential spirits.