This blog is a "Political" free blog - I will not post any political opinions here as I believe that everyone should be entitled to their own opinion and not be put down for their beliefs or subjected to others personal political beliefs.
Thank you for your visits and comments. They are greatly appreciated. I'll try hard to return the favor on your blogs. Have a wonderful day.
You may have notice that I've been absent from the blogging world for a couple of weeks now. - I haven't been feeling well and developed a bad cough and just didn't have the energy to do much at all. - So sorry I have not visited any of your blogs during this time.
1. So how much would you pay for an Onion? Below is a wonderful Walla Walla Sweet Onion that I bought the other day.
The clerk was ringing my items up and she noticed that something seemed off on the total of my bill. Seems this onion was listed at costing, $24.79!
As it turned out the scale didn't register the onions weight and she had already entered a code for the tomatoes I was buying and it charged me the code price instead of the actual price of the onion. Whew...I know they are wonderful tasting onions but I wasn't about to pay that much for one onion.
2. So hubby and I are sitting out in the living room the other night watching TV when we here this loud bang. Thinking that one of the cats had knocked something off a shelf I went to investigate. Nothing seemed out of place and all the cats appeared to be fine as well. Then I noticed that the door to a little mini refrigerator we have was open and I thought that's weird. So I went to see why and discovered that we had turned it up to high and one of the cans of soda pop we had inside had frozen and exploded! It was a bit of a mess cleaning it up. This is the can after it exploded.
3. Our sweet Miss Dottie hasn't been feeling well lately either. We took her to the Vet two weeks ago and she had a mild infection in one of her ears and had bumped the tumor on the roof of her mouth opening it up. They put her on antibiotics and put some wax stuff in her ear to clear up the infection. She seemed to be getting better but I had to take her back again this morning for another wax treatment as the ear started irritating her again. Poor thing. She's 17 years old but they say she's in pretty good shape for a cat her age.
4. During one of my better days last week I tried out a new recipe for:
Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats. (Recipe can be found here)
They were YUMMY!
5. Had a wonderful visit yesterday. One of my best friends that I have not seen in atleast 25 years was driving through this way and stopped in for a brief visit. It was so much fun seeing her again. She and her husband took us out to lunch and we had a great time with them.
My friend, Twila and Me.
Mike (my hubby) Me, Twila and (her hubby) Lee. What fun to be able to enjoy a few hours with them.
That's it for me. Life has been busy and I don't always have time to stop by your blogs. Taking care of my mom is becoming increasingly more demanding so if I don't stop by as often it's not because I don't care anymore. I enjoy all your blogs & visits and want you to know I appreciate all of you very much.
4. I'm thankful for Food Bloggers. There you can find great recipes for food like this: Beef Tips and Gravy (Found HERE)
5. I'm thankful for Nature and Beautiful Trees like these Magnolia's or Tulip Trees as we call them.
Did you know they come in other colors beside's pink?
How about a Yellow one...
6. I'm thankful for having a sense of humor because you need one when you see things like this...
7. I'm thankful my mom taught me how to cook or rather let me learn to cook by allowing me into the kitchen to try out recipes on my own. I finally have mastered a flaky pie crust and oh my Apple Pie never tasted better.
8. I'm thankful for music. This week I started listening to a Bob Seger album (Ride Out) that I have and really haven't listened to all that often. It has some great songs on it. I wanted to play a song called, Listen from the album but YouTube doesn't have it. So how about California Stars instead.
9. I'm thankful for making it down this road we took up in the hills last week.
Towards the end of the drive down it the road was super "rutty" and I had to really drive slow so as not to drive off into one of the ruts and get stuck.
10. I'm thankful that I can see things that I would never get to see if it were not for bloggers like Jackie (Junkboat Travels). Check out this POST, It's pretty awesome. Thanks Jackie for sharing.
That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. Have a very Happy Easter.
It's Friday and for Coleen the last day of school (Hallelujah!) - Yes I actually look forward to summer and having her home. It's also time for some Willy-Nilly Friday Five (Hosted by Tanya from Around Roanoke) so let's get started with the fun.
1. Coleen was playing with her Lego Friends the other night and I just had to snap a picture of her playing with them. I was looking for stuff about Legos this morning and found several different websites but thought this one was pretty cool. Check it out: HERE What a good way to help the environment and have fun doing it.
2.
I love flowers of all kinds and have been super busy this summer trying to keep up with the care of my flowers and my mom's as she just isn't able to do that much gardening now. This is one of the pretty poppies in her garden. So once again I like to try and include something about my photos that is interesting and I found THIS ARTICLE about a poppy display at the tower of London from 2014 that is super cool. I didn't know about it but now I'm glad I researched poppies because this was so interesting.
3.
Sometimes as I'm walking around I spot things that just catch my eye. This vine covered house was just such a thing. I like the patterns of the house, the curtains and the way the vines seem to be taking over. So what could I find that would be interesting about vines? I looked up: Vine Covered Houses and found this LINK - I hope you check it out.
4.Speaking of vines....
Coleen and I spotted these berry vines on growing in someone's yard on one of our walks. She thought they were Blackberries but I told her they were actually raspberries and she wanted to know why they were turning black then. Of course I had to look it up and discovered these are actually Black Raspberries (often called, Black Caps). Here's a brief article about them that has some interesting facts.
5. Speaking of berries.... I recently purchased a half-flat of Blackberries that we have been enjoying. I wanted to do something different with them so check out Gina Kleinworth's blog, (Kleinworth & Co.) and found this awesome recipe for Blackberry White Chocolate Buckle and decided to give it a try. Below is my photo of the dessert but Gina is way better at food photography then I am so do check out her photo's and the recipe. It was scrumptious!
It's time now for CAPTION THIS: Last weeks winner is.........
Marie from A Colorful World - I had Coleen look through the captions people left since she was the subject of the photo and she liked Marie's the best so here it is:
Now here is this weeks photo for you to caption.....
Get creative and send in those captions. At the end of the month we'll have a poll for all the winners and the winning photo/caption will receive a $10 Gift Certificate to Zazzle where you can find all kinds of neat stuff and even create using your own photos.
These are two of our cats, Captain Cuddles (L) and Spooky-boo (R) enjoying a nice little nap in the back window perch. I edited the photo on BeFunky and PicMonkey.
Here is the original (I'm using for Feline-Friday) with a quote I thought was appropriate:
I haven't done Fill-In Friday for awhile so today I'm joining in on the fun:
The statements:
___ tastes like ____
___ makes everything _____
If ____ then ____
One word to describe _____ is _____
My answers:
1. Watermelon tastes like something awful to me. It makes me sick if I eat it.
2. Bacon makes everything taste better! Well not everything but it sure makes a lot of things taste better.
3. If I could win the lottery then I would be able to travel more. I'd like to visit a few places but I do love where I live as well.
4. One word to describe summer here is HOT We've already had a record breaking 102 for June and it's expected back into the upper 90's again next week. Oh goodie! (That was me being sarcastic) I really don't like the heat at all.
I'm not sure my post fits the idea but I'm going with it anyway.
I like to cook & bake and try new recipes. This weekend I tried,
Peach, Blackberry Cobbler. You can find the recipe HERE:
First you need some GOOD fruit: What's really good is that we have fresh, local produce to enjoy all summer long.
Next you RANDOMLY mix them all up and add some dough
Then you have the FUN of Baking It and Eating it! (Sorry I don't have any pictures of myself eating it but you can see the end result.)
A Funny little story...all the time I was preparing and baking this dessert I was taking photographs to share. As I got into bed that night I realized one important thing.....I forgot to get any pictures of the dessert being served and eaten! - Thank goodness there were left-overs and this morning I managed to get a half way decent shot of the cobbler before I ate it for breakfast!
It's Friday and time to share a few random thoughts with you via Nancy's blog, (A Rural Journal) and Random 5 Friday. - Also along for the ride, Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Maria over at Life's Sweet and Spices.
How's that for some Orange! (My entry for Orange You Glad It's Friday).
Random Thought 1: You probably know that my hubby plays guitar but did you know that in Junior High (they call it Middle School now) I played the Viola. Not the Violin (my parents couldn't afford one of those) but a Viola. The school supplied them for Free while you were in Orchestra. I have an embarrassing story about running after the bus with my Viola Case in hand but let's just save that for another time.
Random Thought 2: I love to bake (and eat what I bake, it shows!) Today's baked goods....Strawberry Streusel Muffins. They were yummy. So was the new recipe I tried for Spanish Pork Steak today as well. Big Hit with everyone, didn't take any pictures though.
Random Thought 3: Why can't I have every cute kitten that I see? The neighbor kids brought down all 4 of Fluffy's kittens today. My favorite though is a little Calico. I'd love to take her but with 6 cats already inside it's out of the question. But seriously isn't she adorable.
Random Thought 4: I have a weird memory. Oh nothing like Marilu Henner's but I memorize license plate numbers, phone numbers, etc...super easily and I can pretty much tell you the layout of furniture for the rooms of every house that I've ever lived in. It's weird but true.
Random Thought 5: I'm dying to go read the latest book by my favorite Sci/Fi Fantasy author, Terry Brooks, (Witch Wraith) It's the 3rd in a series and I just started it last night. I usually only read after I go to bed though as I'm busy with other stuff during the day and then I tend to stay up till 1:00-2:00 sometimes as I get so engrossed in reading I forget that I need to go to sleep.
Well that's it for this week. Do pop on over to Nancy and Maria's blogs and check things out.
So I'm at the dentist the other day and saw a recipe in the Better Homes & Garden magazine there. It sounded good so I had them make me a copy of the recipe.
Here it is:
Slow Cooker Indian Stew.
2lbs. Skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cute into 1-inch pieces.
1 Medium onion, chopped.
3 Cloves Garlic (I only used 2) minced.
5 tsp. Curry Powder
2 tsp. Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper and or cayenne pepper.
2 15-oz. cans Garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained. (I used reduced sodium beans).
2 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes, undrained.
1 Cup Chicken brother (again I used reduced sodium broth).
1 Bay Leaf
2 Tbsp. Lime Juice (I used fresh lime juice)
1 9-oz. pkg. fresh spinach - Optional
Hot Cooked Rice - Optional.
Lightly coat a 6-quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray or oil. Add chicken, onion, and garlic to the slow cooker. Add Curry powder, ginger, salt, and pepper to the slow cooker. Toss to coat. Stir in drained beans, undrained tomatoes, broth, and bay leaf. Cover and cook on high-heat setting 4-5 hours or low-heat setting 8-10 hours. I used the low heat setting on our cooker.
Just before serving stir in the Lime Juice and add spinach to the pot. Let stand 2-3 minutes to wilt spinach. Serve with rice.
Yields Approx. 8 - 1.5 Cup servings.
Well I finally decided to start posting again to this blog. I created it for the sole purpose of sharing bits and pieces of my every day life. I hope you'll stop by often to see what's happening in my world. You never know what you'll get. Today it's a "Mixed Bag" of stuff.
Since "Blogger" doesn't allow me to move photo's around the way it use to I'm not sure what order these will appear but hopefully you can follow my post so you'll know what is what.
First up I'm sharing a picture of my Granddaughter, Coleen taken at the Pumpkin Patch this year. Normally we pick out pumpkins and carve them to display on Halloween. This year we opted not to carve pumpkins but I still wanted pictures of her in the pumpkin patch. She is really growing up so fast. If you'd like to see how she's changed in just a year you can check out last years Pumpkin Patch Photo here:
Next we have the newest member of the Krause family: Captain Cuddles! - This was a kitten that was wandering the neighborhood having gotten lost from it's owners. After seeing it nearly get hit by a car I decided to bring it inside and well the rest is history. No one has advertised they are missing this little guy and he had a bad ear infection/mites that we've been doctoring now so whom ever owned him before doesn't deserve to have him back so he's ours now. Isn't he adorable. We now have 6 - yes SIX cats! Just call me the, "Crazy Cat Lady!"
Lastly a picture of a recipe I tried last week that's pretty good. It's called, 3 Beans and Sausage and is cooked in a Crock Pot: Ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs. smoked sausage cut into bit size pieces 1 Can Kidney Beans (16 oz.) rinsed and drained 1 Can Great Northern Beans (16 oz.) rinsed and drained 1 Can Black Beans (16 oz.) rinsed and drained 1 Cup Chopped Onion 1 Cup Water 1 Can (8 oz.) Tomato Sauce 2/3 Cup Chopped Celery 1 tsp. chicken bouillon granules 1 tsp. minced garlic 1 Bay Leaf 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper 1/4 tsp. dried oregano (optional) 1/4 tsp. dried thyme (optional) Hot Cooked Long Grain White Rice
Directions: In a 5 Quart slow cooker, combine the first 12 ingredients. Sprinkle with Oregano and Thyme if desired. Cook on Low for 4-41/2 hours or until heated through. Discard Bay Leaf and Serve over cooked rice.
Note: The sauce was a little watery so you might not want to add the water or reduce the amount.
