G'morning, friend! I know many are delighted by the warm weather and getting started on gardens and such. If you're one... Enjoy! I used to love watching our veggies grow, and miss that. None of them now (from store) taste as good. Have a great today, Darlene!! *hugs*
Hi Darlene. Late afternoon here and I'm at home relaxing after being out all morning. That's a nice St Pat's page you have. I'd completely forgotten that it's coming up next month. Just short of 100dg today but cooling down now. I watered the garden yesterday evening so won't have to do that again for a day or two. Hope your doing OK. Hugs Pat.
May today bring you quiet time and peacefulness! Darlene, I have chickens solely for the purpose of eggs and as pets. The ones I have will be smaller chickens and just fun to have around and enjoy. I have no idea what I had in the crock pot the day you asked about. I use it so often, it's hard to say. It had to be some sort of chicken meal. I do have spring fever but I do NOT and never will look forward to summer weather. I love the produce of summer and enjoy a good BLT with a freshly picked tomato from the garden. But I have never been able to appreciate the sweltering, suffocating heat of summer. And summers down here seem to last forever. UGH
The week was a blur..busy one too. February has faded quickly. No big plans for the weekend. Won't be long now and our lawn will need to be cut. The grass is turning greener and spring is one day closer. Oir neighbor's yard actually got cut this past week. I'm going to start decorating for Spring next week. I hung a string wreath on front door a few days ago. Slowly digging out other stuff as I come across it. Hope you have a wonderful weekend -:)
Our kitty gives us these looks daily, saying the very same thing! :) Have a happy Friday, Darlene. I've gotta have at least one more COLD day, 'cuz I need to use the self-cleaning oven cycle. No way can that be done in any other season. haha *hugs*
Hope your today is feeling down-home & cozy, Darlene. I want to re-visit some of these country scenes from "when". It felt different... back then. *hugs*
It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood and hope the same for you. I've got supper ready to cook in the crock pot and the kitchen cleaned up. Now what else can I get in to???? Enjoy the day, my friend.
... I just know it is, Darlene! :) WoW! So glad you got your snow, and two nights of it! Did you get to see it falling? Good things come to those who wait, right? Wait... I 'been waiting... ... haha Enjoy and take lots of pics to post to your gallery so we can enjoy teh beauty, too. Have a super new week, pal. *hugs*
It is a sunny, breezy, spring-like Saturday for me and I am in my happy place. I've nowhere to go and no chore list to accomplish. I feel the back porch calling me, Darlene! Have a great, safe, fun day.
G'morning & happy Saturday, Darlene! Will you get snow from this latest front coming your way? Hope so, pal. Otherwise... we'll both just keep watching snowfall on our pages. *hugs*
How is your day coming along? Mine is great; we have sunshine again and temps in the 60s so I've been outside a bit. In the next week or so, I will be getting some new baby chicks. This time, bantams. Yes, they do lay eggs but the eggs are smaller than regular hens. I want to get 6 and have them more as "pets" (as much as a chicken can be a pet) than a source of food. We bought a coop-kit and so did our middle daughter, Melanie. She, too, wants some little babies. Can't wait. Our old hen hasn't laid an egg in ages, bless her. But she's happy and living her best life. Yes, Darlene, it appears to be another winter without snow in my area. By now, though, I'm itching to see flowers and leaves and life returning. Come July, I'll be singing a tale of woe but for now, I'm going to enjoy the gorgeous weather.
Hoping your day is amazing, too:) I hear ya' about overweight, Darlene. I have to watch sugar intake, and seems the older I get, the more I want something sweet. It may be a mental thing? ha We ordered out for Chinese, another thing I can only splurge on, maybe once/mo. I get weary of changes in eating habits. Do you? Find joy today, pal. *hugs* -di
Good morning:) Having my last cuppa, then on to Tuesday chores. Happy today, Darlene!
We watch the Super Bowl for the ads, usually not having a dog in the fight, but ended up enjoying the tight game til the end.
Are you getting snow like Augie? 12" of pretty white stuff? Oh wow... send me some, whoever can. lol Our 24" blizzard of '93 began on March 12th, so I'll hang on a bit longer:) *hugs*
Rather you're a fan of the game or not, Super Bowl Sunday is a great excuse to make special snacks. Eat and enjoy! Happy game day. Darlene, Dave usually does help me put clean sheets on the bed. But he was working outside and I just did them myself this time. Yes, we will watch the Super Bowl even though we don't have a team in the fight. I will pull for the 49ers just b/c the Chiefs have won recently and I like to see someone else have the win. I won't be making any special snack for the game. I made blonde brownies a couple days ago and we can have one of those. I mixed up pizza dough yesterday and will make pizza tonight for supper.
Fantastic Friday to you! I have blonde brownies in the oven, sheets in the dryer, clothes in the washer, tea brewing for iced tea, and all dishes washed and kitchen cleaned. Now if the bed-making fairy would just come and put the sheets back on the bed when they finish drying, I'd be set. Might you have a spare bed-making fairy I could borrow? I'll trade you a brownie for the use of her, Darlene!
I, too, used to eat only cranberry sauce from the can until I discovered how easy it is to make yourself and how much better it tastes. I've always preferred the "lumpy" kind, rather than the jellied, so that's what I make. I like the cinnamon taste I get with tossing in a cinnamon stick (easy-peasy) while the cranberries cook down, but you can adapt the sauce to whatever flavor(s) you like or just leave it plain. The lemon stuffing I make is one that my daughter and I enjoy--the guys prefer "regular" stuffing with sausage in it. I've been collecting recipes since I was a little girl but I find that I tend to make the same ones over and over again. I have two binders that I have my five star" recipes in. One is for savory dishes, the other is for the sweet ones. Each recipe is in a plastic page cover so I can have it on my counter and not worry about spilling stuff on it. Well, not as much, anyway. If I want to make something I know we'll all enjoy, those binders are where I look. If I feel like trying something different, I have plenty of cookbooks plus the internet to browse through. And maybe whatever I find will make it's way into one of my binders. Or not. There always seems to be recipes that sound good to you that just don't live up to what you expected. If they're in a recipe book, I cross them off. And yes, I make notes about recipes in my cookbooks. I rate them, make a note about any substitutions, ideas for any changes I may want to try, etc. I have a decent memory, but I'm sure as heck not going to remember if I tried some recipe ten years ago and thought it was awful, or would be improved with certain changes, or even if we really loved it. I learned that a long time ago about myself, so have been scribbling in my cookbooks over the years. Besided, my Mom did it and that's probably where I really picked up the habit, as I thought it was pretty smart of her.
I love listening to Josh Groban (who sang the song "Believe" at the end of Polar Express". Even if he's not singing in English, his voice is so beautiful that I don't care if I have no idea what he's singing. In fact, one of my favorites of his is called "Oceano". You can listen to it hear, if you'd like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJOle1kiKxI I have it playing right now, since I found it for you. Ooooo, the power in his voice...I sure wish I could sing, but I can't stay on key/tune to save my soul, I'm afraid. Back to Polar Express--I didn't know you could get a copy of the sleigh bell from that movie, but it doesn't surprise me. And it's pretty neat that it even came with a laminated ticket and was so nicely packaged. What a treat to have, right?
Montezuma and his heavy chocolate consumption has come up in other movies; it's super that hearing about it in one inspired you to look the old Aztec up and read all about him and his chocolate/chili pepper drinking habit. And yes, that smart-alec kid in the Polar Express movie is a hoot. Annoying, but in a cute way. I like the scenes of the train out on the icy lake, zigging and zagging to get back onto the train tracks--and all the different ways the conductor gets the engineer to go left or right. Ha, I'm a word girl...of course I'd appreciate that!
Actually, I abhor Nyquil. The pic of it on my page and the blurb on it is a highly sarcastic posting at the end of it. I can't stand the taste of it, nor any of the other cold remedies they think you'll be happy to gag down. Instead, I put a wine cooler into a blender, add enough ice so there's about as much crushed ice as there is liquid by the time I'm done grinding it all up and drink that. The alcohol content is probably about the same but it tastes a whole lot better and the ice numbs your throat. Works for me, and it's the only time I drink alcohol, as I don't care for anything with a bitter taste to it, such as alcohol has. And dark chocolate. I'm a real lightweight when it comes to spicy "hot" things, so I think old Montezuma's daily concoctions would send me into a tailspin...or straight to the throne room to hug the porcelain god. Bleah!
I've put up most of my winter items that were on my china cabinet; it's now filled with any and all red items I could scrounge around the house, pink ones, hearts, etc. Just so you have an idea of what I put out...there's a jug of Drano, a box of staples, a couple cans of Campbell's soups, books, vases, decorative soaps, a can of Raid, a union suit, maraschino cherries, a box of raspberry jello, a spatula, shotgun shells...I go through our house and just round up red items. It doesn't matter to me what they are, just that they're red. I do the same next month, but I hunt up green items for St. Patrick's Day. I have tablecloths covering the shelves of my cabinet that match my "theme". It's a lot of fun going on a scavenger hunt in my own home. I suppose some folks might think I'm looney, but I don't care. I enjoy the heck out of the whole process and it helps keep the house from looking kind of dull and bare after the holiday season ends.
It's great that you have a collection of cats/kittens that you've acquired over the years. I had no idea what the Lennox figurines would look like, so I Googled. There is quite the variety from that one company--shoot, they even have a collection of spice jars with cats on them! Do you have those? I think the only cat item I have is an old salt shaker (or maybe it's the pepper shaker) that I'd given to my Mom for Mother's Day when I was a little girl. I gave her the set, but somewhere along the way one of them got broken (or lost in a move), so Mom offered it to me. And since I still love it...I'm happy to have it. Here she is: (Google pic, but this is the one that I have.) Mine has a chip at the bottom and the closure that would hold the spice inside is missing so it isn't much use as either a salt or a pepper shaker, but I just love her sweet face and the daisy-flowered mob cap she wears.
It's nice you finally got some snow; ours is finally gone. I was worried about making the appt. with the cardiologist for my hubby at the end of January, but I could have saved myself the mental hoo-haw. We got a call on our way to it that it had been cancelled--the doc got a call-out. Well, SHOOT!! As we were almost to town anyway, we stopped at a Safeway store and grocery shopped, then went home. Got home before dark, which I was thrilled about, since my eyes don't adjust quickly enough to changes in light to make driving in the dark anything I should really be doing. They have us scheduled for March--which is a long way off and we were both mightily peeved about that, but there isn't anything to be done about it. We're on a waiting list in case there's a cancellation, but I'm not holding my breath that they'll call us. So, we take it one day at a time and deal with whatever comes up.
Summer is my least-favorite season as I don't care for the heat. I'm fair skinned and used to have more freckles than I do now, so intense sunshine isn't my friend. And I wilt mighty quickly when it gets too dang hot. I do enjoy having the longer days with all the extra light, but the heat that comes with it...I could do without. Keep it around 70 degrees during the summers and I'd do a whole lot better. I don't care for how high the fire danger gets in the summer, either. We had a bad fire catch hold on the Oregon side of the Columbia River and let me tell you...I don't care to have another one like that. Looked spectacular, but it was scary as heck. We had twigs fall in our yard from that fire, as did others. And yes, it jumped the river to the west of us, but firefighters got right on it and kept it from sweeping either up or down the Gorge as it did on the Oregon side of the river. It was called the Eagle Creek fire, if you want to look it up. Or you can check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Creek_Fire This tells about it, but you can see photos of it here: https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=9ef6fbfb68d43af6&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS830US830&q=eagl e+creek+fire&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipvpmw2Zy EAxXcMjQIHe9EDWEQ0pQJegQICBAB&biw=1280&bih=559&dpr=1.25#imgrc=93k-rQkrdvq3BM All in all, I could happily skip summer and not be bothered at all. But I know my gardening friends would not be at all happy if that happened, so I'll just grin and bear it every darned year.
We did get down as low as 8 degrees and lost power a couple of times, but our house (and ourselves) stayed warm with a pellet stove in the basement and a wood stove on the main floor. Dennis had a generator on standby in case we needed it, but I'm thankful it didn't come to that. They're very nice to have, but also very noisy.
You were curious about what kind of car we have; it's a Chrysler 300 and it's a dark red color. We're paying too dang much for it and that's the last time we'll ever go to a car dealership to buy a car. No, this one isn't new, but with what we're paying for it, it darned well should be. Live and learn, even at our age! It sounds like you have/have had some nice car(s). I hope they last a long, long time and are safe as possible to drive.
I know it's been an age since I last stopped by, but I hope my page-hogging letter has made up for my sparse communication. The only thing I have to report is that one of our barred rock hens died the other day. I was checking the coop for stray eggs and found her. They're really my hubby's birds and are kind of his pets, so he wasn't happy to have lost one of his 'babies', but it's gonna happen whether we want it to or not. No idea what happened to her, but hope she enjoyed her life here with us.
Keep warm, safe, and dry over there, Darlene and I'll try to do the same over here. Until the next time...
Have a delightful day, Darlene:) It's so warm outside I just wanna scream, but this and next month usually have surprises along the way... HOPE SO! lol *hugs*
An' dat's da truth! :) I hope we do have some winter still left for us, Darlene. Too, too early to be this warm. I usually am on way to bed around 10:00p. Sometimes maybe 11:00 if something interesting is on TV. Think I'll sit here awhile and watch your snow fall:) *hugs* !!
A busy Monday it was. We are warming up yet again. At least for now, no rain in forecast. Cooked a ham today in oven. Lots of leftovers..put most of it in freezer. Made another trip to the grocery store. But they had a good sale. Have a wonderful new week ahead -:)
It is a gorgeous day in my area and I have enjoyed being outside a bit. What are you up to today? I hope whatever you are doing (or not), you are enjoying every minute of your Saturday. Darlene, so often the baked potatoes in restaurants are ginormous and Dave and I will share one. We will share one for supper and then share the one we bring home the next day. Restaurant portions are usually generous enough that we can eat leftover the next day. We went out to youngest daughter's this morning and then into Lowe's. This afternoon we've been piddling here at home. The weather is
Be safe, too, Darlene, whether you have w/e plans or not. Yeppers, we still have our wee snowmen decor out and about in the house. It's not March yet, so they're still around. Y'know... those critters wouldn't know a shadow if they saw one, right? haha Hope you and DH are doing well, my friend. *hugs*
A very happy almost-Friday to you! How has your day been? We did our grocery pick up this morning and I have laundry hanging out to dry. It is a sunny 60* F day and just beautiful. Enjoy your afternoon and evening. Darlene, being a cool weather person like you, I do dread summer. I love the garden, flowers, sunshine, etc., but the humidity and heat are unbearable. Summer is my least favorite season except for the fact that we grow our garden and flowers. I do love those.
I think many of us will be glad to see the back side of January; it's such a long and dreary month. Dave and I will begin our seed starting for the garden this afternoon. We have grow lights and heat mats and usually do quite well starting plants indoors. Generally we don't plant the garden until mid April but it takes time for seedlings to grow and be ready for the garden. I also have cockscomb seeds to start today. Time to get my hands dirty, Darlene!
Wow, Darlene... a new month arrives and I'm not done w/this one. Maybe February will appease us snow-lovers w/some white magic on our lawns. Hope so! Yes, how I the coming months of sweltering, oppressive, stifling, humid, torrid heat. I have more descriptive words, but that'll do. lol Hope your midweek day is pleasant, dear friend. *hugs*
Hello Darlene. A very pleasant 80f this afternoon. Here we are at the end of January and already heading into our last month of Summer. Does not seem all that long ago when it was the first month of summer.
Had to fast overnight as I had to have a Blood Test so no brekkie until late morning. That's OK as I usually only have a slice of toast and a cup of tea. Also had my hair trimmed while in town then back home again. The town was busy and it took me sometime to find a good convenient Park.
Our morning and afternoon gatherings have started again for the New Year. Scrabble on Monday and the Fortnightly Friday Social Group commences this week. Also went to a friends 90th Birthday gathering last Saturday and met up with some people that I had not seen for awhile.
No, I’ve not played Dominoes. I’ve heard of it but never seen it played. I used to work with Jigsaws but since down grading to a unit I’m limited in the space of setting one up so that I don’t have to move it until it's finished.
Spent much of last week working in the garden, cleaning and trimming shrubs, re potting plants and I also planted Petunias in pots and a Tomatoe bush. At this stage they are all looking good.
It's Friday! So happy to see sunshine today. Yesterday was dreary and tomorrow is supposed to be a washout so I'm beyond grateful for the sunshine and 70* today. Enjoy what is left of today and let's get our weekend off on the right foot. YES, I understand what you're saying about being chilly in the house when it's warm and rainy outdoors. We commented the very same yesterday, Dave and I. There was a chill in the house but it was humid and upper 60s outside. Weird.
