Birthday Food

4/9/2015

On Jeff's birthday this week, I made him a dinner of pork loin, carrots and potatoes covered in diluted cream of mushroom soup, which makes a lovely gravy.

For dessert, I surprised him with a cake that I haven't made in many years, and after eating it, I don't know why I haven't.

It's called Apple Dump Cake and the recipe was my mothers.  Once you read the easy directions, you will clearly see why we call it dump it cake:

Apple Dump Cake

2 c flour

2 c sugar

2 teas. cinnamon

1 teas. salt

2 teas. soda

1 c nuts

2 eggs

½ c oil

1 can apple pie mix

1 teas. vanilla

Stir all the ingredients together. Bake in a greased 9 x 13 pan at 325 for 1 hour.  Serve with ice cream or cool whip.  This is really easy to make but not particularly calorie friendly.  Still it was a great dessert that I liked to serve warm.

I promise you that if you make this, your family and friends will definitely enjoy it.  The cake is dense, moist and not overly sweet.

Enjoy!

P

The Yard

4/8/2015

Yesterday, our lawn mowing service came and mowed the yard, our first of the season.  After they leave, it's lovely to go outside and see the tidy tracks of the mower.  At this time of the year, grass seems to grow overnight.

It rained most of yesterday, which for growing things is like adding fuel to a fire.  My daffodils are up as well as a few errant tulips, that were planted years ago and forgotten about.  Our dogwood and oak trees have not yet gotten the message that the temperatures are warming up, and soon they need to be up and at 'em.  

I would love to have a yard filled with a wide assortment of flowers or bushes, but in doing that, it means digging in the dirt, watering and weeding.  I'm good with the watering, but playing in the dirt to pull up weeds today, that will return tomorrow, is hard on my body.

Last spring I planted several plants in the backyard, and babied them along, until I thought they were not in danger of dying.  I will likely add some more plants this spring.  One of the nicest things is going to Home Depot during the week, when the aisles are practically empty, and you have both time and space enough to pick out your flowers - perennials only!  I don't want to plant something today and at the end of the season, the plant is for all practical purposes dead.  

Since it rained so much yesterday, the backyard is now a bog.  Our yard has a low spot that collects water, and it will need days of sunshine to dry up the yard.

 

Happy planting.

P
 

Jeffrey's Birthday

4/7/2015

Today Jeff turns 66 and as I sit here and type I wonder where the time went.  He was 25 when we met and decided to get married.  When you're 25, much of anything beyond the age of 30 is out of realm of your thinking.

Through the years, Jeff has been a wonderful husband and my best friend.  Particularly after the events of 2013, Jeff has done the heavy lifting - he takes the calls from insurance companies, handles my medicine, relieves me from worry (although I fight this), and as bad as 2013 was, he's still here.  And I'm grateful.  

Jeff, as well as I, have aged over the years.  We've had some ridiculously great times as well as some really bad times.  But like the tide rolling in on the ocean, when we get knocked around, we stand up and keep going.

When I met Jeff he had a beard - and I didn't like it.  He shaved it!  Today, 40 years later, he has a beard - I don't like it very much, but he's not shaving it off.  Perhaps I had more sway with him when we were dating!

For a perfect birthday, Jeff and I would fly somewhere, to have the pilot's "$100 hamburger"!  You have to add fuel costs to the price of the burger. 

Jeff has been a good father and husband.  And though the boys are adults now, they still need his expertise and guidance on home improvement jobs.  This works well for all of them.

So Happy Birthday to the man I married.  To the man who has never faltered in providing or taking care of me.  I couldn't ask for anything more - unless it would be bigger diamonds!!

Love you P

Suffering with an "itis"

4/6/2015

My year wouldn't be complete, without at least one bout of an "itis" settling in my chest.  Well that time is now.  At the moment, I sound like a woman who drinks whiskey and smokes cigars!  It might sound sexy, if it didn't hurt so much to talk.

My doctor says I have to let this run it's course, which means I'll continue to sound log a fog horn for a few more days.  As an added bonus for my family, instead of a fairly steady stream of chatter, I talk as little as possible!

In years past, I would get an attack of the "itis" at least twice a year, and if I answered the phone I was immediately called "Mr."  So while I can't talk, I can write, though as it turns out, I don't have very much to say today.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and didn't eat too many chocolate bunnies!  

P

Easter

4/4/2015

In case you've not been in a store recently, then you have missed the Easter buying frenzy.  Jeff and I were at our favorite "mart" store last night, doing what we call a big shop (which means I'm along and over-filling the cart)!  

The aisles dedicated to Easter had, at one time, been overflowing with all things Easter related: chocolate animals, plastic Easter eggs, stuffed animals, egg-dying kits (you can now buy 24K gold egg dye)!  Of course, there were also the obligatory pre-made baskets wrapped up in colored cellophane and tied with a ribbon.  If, you purchased one of these baskets, once your child opened up that basket, you would find some chocolate, maybe a tiny toy or two and a lot of grass.

From Easters in the past, when the boys were young, I know that getting the basket grass off your carpet is no easy task.  It's a bit like trying to vacuum up Christmas tree needles.  I can't remember exactly, but when I was young, I don't think the grass was plastic - of course - I could be wrong.
 
After looking at Google, I am right, the grass was not plastic but made from paper.  Don't those little nests look super inviting?  Turns out that the paper grass comes from Germany.


 

 You can also buy paper mache Easter Sunday eggs, also made in Germany:

 

And my personal favorite the panorama sugar egg:
 












So however you make your Easter baskets, just remember to add the chocolate rabbit!

Happy hunting.

P

Turning Blogs into a Book?

4/3/2015

I've been blogging about stuff and nonsense for several years now.  Some days when I sit at the computer and stare at the blank white "page" where I type witty, informative or damning, I get nothing.  I call that Blog Block!  It's not a terminal disease but because I have a small following, I try most days to have something to say - about something.

When I started my blog, I opted to not throw people under the bus - unless it was Jeff - who is a good sport.  If I'm talking about current events, I diplomatically leave out identifying names for instance.  I have always wanted my blog to be "G" rated, at least most of the time.

I have recently sent some, but not all, of my blogs to an editor for review.  My hope is that while I have put Wilma (a book eventually) on the back burner, I have written a lot of blogs.  

I went through my blogs and was on occasion really proud of what I'd written.  Other blogs - not so much.  So I gathered up pages and pages of note-worthy, in my opinion, blogs and sent them off to be reviewed, edited and/or deleted.

It is no secret among my friends that I would really like to see my name in print, even if it's just on a small book.  If, between my editor and I, we manage to put my blogs in some semblance of order and eventually those blogs are seen by a publisher - I'd be very happy.  To be fair, if a publisher liked or better yet loved what I've written - then I'd be over the moon!

I have in my time started to read a book, only to send it back to the library, because the book was dull, boring - or insert your favorite negative adjective here!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the future, but not too tightly!  If I ever made even $1.50 on something I've written, I'd be pretty content.  Of course if the decimal point moved over just a tad, I'd be okay with that too!

P

Brain Games

4/2/2015

I suffer from short term memory loss, and it's hard to say whether it will improve going forward.  I don't think anyone gives much thought to their memory.  It's just there, and then sometimes it's not.

I'm in the not so much category when it comes to remembering.  Jeff can write down something for me to do, but I, unfortunately forget where I put the note!  This is as frustrating for me as it is for Jeff.

Since I have time - lots of it, I'm making an effort to keep my brain "sharp", or at least as sharp as is possible.  I do crossword puzzles - the Easy and Fast Kind (i.e., with questions like what sound does a cow make?)!  Even with such simple puzzles, I am stumped for an answer more times than I'd like to admit.

Then I discovered a multitude of games on AARP's website.  I enjoy playing something called Ice Cream Blast, where you simply line up three or four candy hearts of the same color for points.  It doesn't require a lot of thinking, but sometimes the three or four in a row can be staring me in the face and I simply don't recognize it!

I also play Words With Friends with friends who are willing to play with someone who generally can't come up with any large scoring words.  I always lose but I enjoy the game and I appreciate the people who play this game with me.

So for now, I keep playing the games that make my brain work hoping that eventually I'll have a better memory.

P