Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The bees are a buzzin'-- - - --- --

                                 The ornamental pear tree is really keeping the bees busy!!
TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart is a bee keeper, so he really enjoys watching his bees thrive and buzz with excitement at the arrival of spring flowers! The honey is sooooo delicious!! It's one of the food items TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart loves to slather on! I think I mentioned once before that slather is one of his most favorite words and he uses it as often as possible! Hehehe
More spring pictures to come! I'm lovin these above average springtime temperatures :-)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Baking Lesson

Peanut Butter Twists

TheOther#1Son and his girl K wanted to learn how to bake PBT while here on spring break! What do you think? I give them an A++++++++      I did cheat though and mixed the dough up in the bread machine, so next time I think we will do some kneading, everyone really needs to get the satisfaction of kneading by hand. Kneading lets you work out frustrations, clear your mind and get a good arm workout leaving you feeling refreshed and rewarded with a great bread treat. The recipe we mixed up made approx. 36 twists, but we had no trouble eating most of the first tray while still warm with the frosting barely set, and the peanut butter filling still gooey, uummmmm.
These rolls are a close replica to the ones that use to be served in my high school lunchroom. Russell High School had the best lunch ladies, who made the best school lunches!! Everything from scratch and extras if you told them how much you liked whatever the entree was for the day. Fresh rolls most days so when the smell started wafting through the school your stomach was growling in anticipation!
I'm sure by now I've got you licking your computer screen, so stop! Just come on over and I'll see if I can turn out a pan of rolls in a few hours and we can chat while we wait!!!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Friday Morning Coffee [_]p

It's suppose to look like a mug of coffee [_]p in the title! Can you see it?? Squint your eyes!!

I awoke to a beautiful spring morning, we've had rain now for 4 days (1.52"), but this morning..... glorious sunshine. So I woke TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart, I dried two deck chairs, he got out the cushions, I made the coffee and we sat out there, sipping coffee in the sunshine! The air was so fresh and the birds were singing lots of different tunes. I could identify a few, robins, meadow lark, black birds, turtle doves, pheasants, quail, and TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart thought he could hear prairie chickens! Nice Huh! We probably sat out there for almost an hour, then the breeze began to pick up, cooling things off just a bit too much. Now it's partly cloudy with fluffy,low gray clouds.

Oh I must tell you what I got to do yesterday! TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart had taken the day off to hit the sale barn and price/buy cows! So while he was there I went to the library, picked up some books on herb gardening, canning, bread baking, meals for 2 cooking and a fiction book. Then to the mall to buy earrings for my nieces who recently got their ears pierced and get to remove them this weekend since it will be the end of the initial 6 weeks waiting period. I found a cute card of 9 pair at Claire's. Looked around some at Penney's but no great sale prices, I really don't care for their new retail style of always low prices. It doesn't feel like "Woohoo I got a good deal, look at what I saved!!!!!" So I went to Sears and found a really nice winter coat-eggplant purple with a fur trimmed hood, for $25.00! In fact all the winter coats were $25! I also found a sweatshirt style jacket w/pockets to wear around the house (I layer a lot) for $5! So then TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart called and said he was ready to be picked up from the sale barn. After I picked him up we ran a few more errands, THEN since we were so close to Petco I said we should go in and play with the ferrets for awhile! Usually they are sleeping and don't acknowledge your prescence, But I guess something about my voice sounded like I was a ferret's friend so they woke and wanted to play. One of the pet handlers opened the enclosure and I got to hold one that looked a lot like the one we use to care for (Hobbs, he belonged to #1Son) and grew to love so much. #1Son lived in Hawaii and still does, but was not allowed to bring a ferret to Hawaii so Hobbs lived his last years with us!!! Oh they are the most smellest pets But oh what personalities!! So anyway we played with both ferrets for about 20 minutes then said our goodbye. I would really really love to have another, but when Hobbs died my heart broke all over the place, I'm even tearing up now writing about him and that was in May of 09'. He had a tumor in his mouth and we (the vet and I) decided it was time to put him to sleep, so I held him for his last 40 minutes, then took the little box home and we buried him up on the hill under the mulberry tree. I've always been tender hearted but maybe old age is making me feel emotion more deeply or it's that damn menopause again! So playing with ferrets at the pet store lets me laugh and remember all the funny antics of that very special little ferret!!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Wild and Windy!

It's very warm and sooooo windy! But we are going to try to find a place down by the creek to have a picnic! I made a muffulatta sandwich and potato salad. TheOther#1Son and his girl K are here for the spring break weekend. YEA or is it Woot Woot. Whatever it's so nice to have them here. And in typical college boy fashion he came loaded with a huge basket of laundry. It should be record drying time today with our gusty winds. I still hang out clothes on the line whenever I can I just love love love that smell! So as soon as the basketball game is over KSU vs Syracuse we will be off picnicking!! TTFN
GO CATS!!!!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

It is a REAL spring break!

It's Spring Break time!
This week for K, TheOther#1Son's best girl and then next week for TheOther#1Son. I guess with temps in the 70's & 80's K has had a nice break from the snowy conditions in Wisconsin. Today it's suppose to be 82, but with the usual windy conditions. This morning at 6:30am it was 62, with some humidity. Yesterday morning we had fog in the low lying areas of the pasture, it made a Brigadoon effect! It feels so good to have the warm temps but makes me wary, that we will most likely have a freezing kill on all the plants and trees that are in a rush to come up or flower this early. I'm just superstitious enough that I won't put the snow boots or shovels away just in case that's keeping the snow away! ;-) Speaking of snow, DD and her husband went to Colorado, for some spring break skiing this week, at Breckenridge. She started wedgie skiing on those slopes many years ago and now gleefully announced she is conquering black diamond runs!
Usually spring break is cool, cloudy with rain, so this is a real nice treat. Almost makes me feel like we live in Hawaii, wink, wink, to #1Son. Today I'm hoping to get in a bit of sewing, because as it gets warmer, other duties and needs arise and so less time is spent at the sanity machine. Sewing always makes me feel good, creative and relaxed, it's my therapy!
Time for breakfast, some applesauce cake and another cuppa coffee!! Yes, cake for breakfast ;-)
 It is full of good-for-you stuff, like applesauce, dates, raisins, and I substituted half whole wheat flour for the unbleached amount, an egg, etc, you get the picture! Hehehe YUM Wish you could join me!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Oh what a great March day!

It's warm and windy, did I say it's WARM! It's days like this that make my heart sing, and my arms throw open every window in the house!!!!!!!

My accomplishments for the day (thus far) in no particular order:
1. Shaved my legs so my capri shorts don't look like I'm wearing leggings!!( really wooly ones!)
2. Made and canned Pumpkin Apple Butter, found recipe at Allrecipes.com while looking for a way to use up applesauce that has been in the freezer since last fall, and the pumpkin was from there too! It's so yummy! I slathered (I used that word for you ManWhoHoldsMyHeart) some on a slice of toasted french bread, oh this recipe is a keeper in my on-line recipe box.
3. Cleaned the oven! Easy since I have a self-cleaning one,(oh wouldn't I love, love, love self-cleaning toilets!!!!!) but always have to wait for a day when I can open the house, it always makes a horrible smell, from all the oven spills getting incinerated! ugh :$
4. Applesauce Bars--I want to try a new recipe from the above mentioned recipe site, also found when looking for a way to use up still more applesauce in the freezer, it was just a marginal year last year for apples, but since we have so few kids around home now, I bake less. :(
5. Finished my book, Undead and Undermined by MaryJanice Davidson #10 in the series, #11 Undead and Unstable comes out in June. =) Now maybe I can get some stuff done, you know how books can monopolize your time!! I'm always taking 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there, I set the oven timer so I will be reminded to get back to the task at hand but sometimes I just have to take mmmm just 5 more minutes!!!!!! TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart read Hunger Games on our New Orleans trip and now he wants to go on to book 2 Catching Fire. I told him it was good-- it just took me purchasing a paperback copy for our trip and him some uninterrupted time to really get into it! Now we're ready to see the movie on opening weekend March 23rd. I think we will go to Manhattan and take TheOther#1Son with us since he is the one responsible for getting me to finally read the trilogy!!
6. Clean toilets.....nay it's too nice a day for that, maybe tomorrow!!
Well it's time to mix-up and bake those applesauce bars in the CLEAN oven!! TTFN

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Aww vacations! Just back from N'awlins!

4 days away....it was so fun, exciting, interesting, and all New (Orleans)! Pretty clever intro, hehe!
TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart and I took a belated 35 anniversary trip for some R&R to a place known for it's laid back ways. We ate, took in the sights, ate, walked some more, ate, and then ate again. TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart loves raw oysters so he had a few dozen of those plus, crab cakes and scallops for his other seafood selections. I had shrimp and redfish for my seafood meals. We took a walking tour of the French Quarter, the Garden District and Lafayette Cemetary. But the very best part was the cafe au lait (made with ground chicory root) and beignets at Cafe du Monde! Oh little pillows of heaven, with their powdered sugar coating. We went to Cafe du Monde all three days we were there, at various times, first time mid-afternoon, then late afternoon and late evening on our last night. All times it was busy, and almost magical on that last evening! The weather even cooperated, we had sunny to partly sunny with the temps getting a little warmer each day. Rain was moving in as we were making our way to the airport to return home and staying for several days thereafter. So our time in The Big Easy was perfect and just a bit magical dusted with powdered sugar!!

Completed project :)

I completed this table topper for the cedar chest in the guest room a few weeks back but never got around to posting the photo.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Repost--sort of!?$%#

First let me start with a THANK YOU to all my followers! Yea all 8 of you, +1, TheManWhoHoldsMyHeart says he is a follower too, he just doesn't have a picture icon/account.
Hope you enjoy my musings, I like composing them. I always look forward to your comments!!


So I had a great post last Wednesday but when I hit save it got lost in cyberspace, thanks greatly to our lousy internet connection. I was so frustrated, pissed, and blowing my top like a cartoon character that I wanted to write a scathing post about our internet provider, but my blood pressure was at boil, so I just walked away.


Ready to begin anew! 
I had titled my post: I'm a Believer a Daydream Believer!


Yes, I was a Monkees fan! So the news of Davy Jones death, stopped me in my tracks and gave me such a sad heart, a bit of my youth was gone. I was 12 and so sure I was going to marry Davy Jones, Bobby Sherman, or wait for it.......David Cassidy. All swoon-worthy (swoon 1. to enter a state of hysterical rapture or ecstasy: The teenagers swooned at the sight of a singing star.) and attainable if I followed the suggestions in Tiger Beat magazine!! My best friend lived across the street from me and she had a Monkees album that I would borrow as often as she would allow. Daydream Believer-She- Mary, Mary- Last Train to Clarksville- etc. you name it I knew the words. I would lay there on my bed, albums stacked on the turntable playing at top volume (which usually brought a stomp on the upstairs floor from my parents--I had a basement bedroom), staring at the latest above mentioned magazine and dreaming. I just knew he was singing to me and only Me! I even use to practice kissing their pictures in the magazine!!!
Fast forward a few years and it's no great surprise that my high school sweetheart had the same mop top hair style, clear blue eyes and dimples, like my first crushes. So, it is with a sad grateful heart that I say THANK YOU to Davy Jones for the enjoyable hours of TV viewing, music listening, and Day Dream Believing. Rest in Peace


FYI----I married my high school sweetheart! While the mop top is gone---long gone. He still has the blue eyes and deep dimples that made me swoon!! Plus sooo much better than kissing the magazine!!!!!!!!