Yesterday, my Dad showed Mark the insides of my little toyota car as they replaced the AC Clutch. I think this was the first time that Mark got inside of a car and saw how easy everything is manipulate- as long as you remember the order you took everything out in :) That is one of the cool things about my 1982 Toyota Carolla- you can see and manipulate the parts yourself, unlike these newer models that hide everything from the owner. It took all morning and a trip to the hardware store, but the little car should have AC for the next 20+ years of its life! Even in Wisconsin the summers get hot enough that without AC you can be miserable- I am very happy to have the AC working again.

While the guys were out with the car in the cold, Mom and I put the Christmas tree up in the livingroom and started on a classic dinner of country fried steak and mashed potatoes. The key with making the crust stick to the steak is to squish all of the air out from between the chopped steak and crust. With a little pan gravy we have one of my most favorite meals!

Today Mom and I made treats of almond bark with pretzles, chocolate with pretzles (the almond bark-chocolate mix was the best), pecan clusters and peanut clusters. The clusters were a new experience and turned out very well. Afterwards we got the oil changed in the little Toyota- unfortunately we went to the Car Care Clinic- which we will never go to again due to incompetent service- but then we hopped over to Mieneke on the West side to replace the muffler and pipe- they were very professional and busy- and we will happily go there for all of our car issues from now on.

This evening we had an early birthday from Mom with pizza, spaghetti with Mushroom and Parmesean Prego, and Lemon Merengue pie, with French Silk Custard (from Michael's frozen custard). All stuffed we watched a wonderful French foreign film with subtitles called Bon Voyage, set in WWII. While I normally dislike subtitled films because reading tends to pull me away from the plot and the visuals, this is a must see film!