Of Mice and Men

Do you see that? Right in the middle of the chocolate frosting? MOUSE TEETH MARKS! The smear on the lower left? WHERE IT RESTED IT'S NASTY LITTLE BODY WHILE EATING MY CAKE! Bastard! I had to throw the whole thing out. That mouse has to go. I have already trapped one (very plump from eating the butter last week!) and the traps are still out. I don't want to use the super 5-gallon bucket trap yet. GRRR! But wait, you say, don't you have a cat?
Why yes, yes I do. He says he cannot eat them because they have not bathed.
Our family has joined an archery league. This seems like it might be really fun! We went to the first shoot the other night. The place is (not surprisingly) full of men! There were only 2 other women. (If you are a single girl, it is a TARGET-rich environment!) I had thought there would be more families. With more moms like me. (Yeah, I know, there IS nobody like me!) (and that is a good thing!) All the fellas were really nice and helped us get up to speed on how the league works and the proper archery etiquette. Nate has good form.
Look! Those are my arrows with the red feathers on the top left target. Right in the middle. Unfortunately, that is also my arrow on Nick's target on the lower left target. I didn't get any points for that one. When we practice in the yard I only shoot 20 times or so. League shoots 60 arrows a night not counting warm-ups! My arms are a little sore still. I'm pretty sure this counts as exercise, yay. I'll let you know how it goes, maybe I'll win an award for "most improved", like when we were in bowling league. (There was nowhere to go but up for my bowling average).

I wanted to give you the recipe for the banana cake, but frankly, it wasn't all that. My friend Martha (not Stewart) has promised to give me her recipe which really can't be beat. I'll pass that along later. I don't have any mouse recipes, so I will give you a manly one.

A note on the Redneck Coq au Vin recipe: When I have made this before, I have omitted the lemon pepper because I didn't have it. It turns out lemon pepper has lots of salt in it and made the dish too salty, I think. I suggest you just put in some black pepper and call it good.

Manly Meatloaf (My mother-in-law's recipe)

2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups crushed crackers (MIL uses saltines)

Mix, shape in a loaf, bake (with potatoes and carrots maybe) for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.