Category Archives: Me stuff

Oct21

Sammies aka Sandwiches

Posted on by
Standard

My pal Zoey was talking about making a sandwich spread that her husband loves-ground bologna spread (pick a recipe that appeals to you!). I’ve never had it, nor has Brian or the lady at the grocery store who checked me out. So I did a Google search, and lo and behold it’s a Midwestern thing. I definitely want to try it as I purchased buy one get one free Oscar Meyer bologna yesterday. The recipe called for grounding up the solid piece of bologna in a meat grinder. Think I’ll use the food processor. Also it has sweet pickles-will use pickle relish like Zoey does, Spanish onion, mayo and yellow mustard. Zoey skips the mustard. Sounds good! I’ve had my share of Deviled Ham, so this sounds similar.

I asked Zoey if she had heard of Lebanon bologna. She had not. It’s a Lebanon County, PA lunchmeat. I had a LB food jag as a teen. Everyday I had it with a slice of American cheese, a dab of mustard on white or rye bread, but mostly on white bread and potato chips (when I was skinny). It’s smokey and tangy at the same time. I do still buy it on occasion.
Update:
I did mix up a fast batch of the ground bologna and it’s quite good. Like ham spread, not as salty and very similar to a hot dog taste because of the relish and onion. So we give it a ‘thumb’s up’! We thought black olives or red peppers would be good in it too. Thanks for the idea Zoey!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m wearing the waist trimmer as I type this. Bri’s been wearing it while using the ab-lounger (doing sit ups) and then leaves it on for a few hours afterwards. I put it on him. I have to put it on me, so it probably could be tighter. I like it! Mom said she’d go get me another one. I guess it gives you support like a girdle. One reason we are fixated on our tummies is because of what Bri’s dad has been going through. He’s had a huge tummy as long as I’ve known him. When he finally ‘deflated’, he got the terrible sores from the skin hanging down-I know gross. Sure would do everything I can to avoid getting that problem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for all your sweet comments on my ‘Think Pink’ ATC card. I must join in some more challenges. : )

Oct19

Gadgets-I love gadgets

Posted on by
Standard


Zoey over at Perennial Passion said she found some really ‘rad’ kitchen gadgets lately. It’s true, I love gadgets and have an entire drawer of them!

I noticed my static duster (a larger household gadget) was looking old and worn and the handle, made out of plastic, had broken in several places, making it hard to shake out.  Today, Bri took me out to lunch and then to a store that he collects ads from for the paper. I hadn’t been in there in years and it was much bigger than I remember. They are a bit pricey, but when I saw that chartreuse duster with the telescopic handle, I knew I was bringing it home! The handle part is metal. I have already tried it out and it reaches the corners of most of my ceilings (the family room is higher as it was the garage at one time), and holds the dust like a trap! This was my consolation for Bri not taking me to the Delaware Home Show where I could have meet Nadia Geller from the Learning Channel. She was the only reason I would have gone.

I hope you can see that I placed the duster, that looks like a broom, under my Wicked Witches’ house sign. I do live on the west end of my road. ; )

Yesterday my mom and I were in a 5 Below store (everything is $5 and below as the name implies) and I saw this waist trimmer, thinking of Bri and me. I decided to try it on and it’s comfortable. I took that photo, hello girls! LOL I guess you are suppose to make it as tight as possible. My mom was commenting on my tummy the other day and how it needed squishing. Well it’s been out of control for almost 22 yrs (with the one exception when I lost some decent weight). I guess you are suppose to ‘exercise’ wearing this thing? My tummy muscles have been really weak lately, moving involuntary like an eye twitch when I sneeze. In my mind’s eye I keep seeing Sigourney Weaver in Alien. Also, Brooke Burke, one of the celebrities on ‘Dancing with the Stars‘ wore some kind of contraption after she had her last baby and her tummy is flat as can be (it’s called ‘Taunt’, but what I linked to looks like a pricier version of what I bought). Hey, I think she’s going to win! I’m really hoping the fat gets pushed down to the butt region as it’s suppose to be better to have it there. In my dreams.

Oct18

Photo Hunt-Family

Posted on by
Standard
PSHunt

Christmas 1960

121_2145
The first photo is of a mom (my mom) without a husband. She is trying to make the best of it because it is Christmastime, 1960. She has a 6.5 yr old, a 1 yr old and a newborn.
Below that is my wedding photo of our entire family at the time. Can you pick out my mom and two brothers from above? I am so happy we had this photo taken (April 14, 1984) as three of the matriarchs are now deceased and the patriarchs haven’t been well lately

Oct15

Watch this space

Posted on by
Standard

…for my latest cross stitch finish. For some reason, I diligently stitched on it since late July, to early August until now. I have a few stitches left. The designer didn’t use quality paper (yet charged $10 for the chart) and many of the symbols were terrible to read or rubbed off. I had to improvise a few stitches, but you can’t tell. And I did use the tape that Lee sent me-thanks again. I want to do a quick Halloween design next.

I went down to my hometown Tuesday afternoon and got my hair done and so did mom! Colleen gave mom a reverse bob-very cute. We went to Olive Garden for dinner (mom’s had the same tummy bug or whatever I had and I wanted to give her a treat) and then hit Micheal’s Craft store. I didn’t pick up anything to buy for a long time, then I saw a ‘now you can knit socks’ book, but didn’t see the correct weight of yarn in the vast collection in the store, so I scraped that(but it’s something I want to try). I purchased some stickers and papers-some with a Christmas flair!

I’m still thinking about having a table at the church Christmas bazaar, but then it may be better to have a yard sale  which wouldn’t cost me $35. Our basement really needs to be tidied up.  I had a sale years ago, but not sure that people want craft books and baskets. It’s a lot of work too.

So watch this space! : )

Update!! It took me 2 hours to finish this. Then I washed and pressed it. Introducing Sleeping Kitty by Ellen Maurer Stroth:

I can’t believe a strand of my own hair showed up so well too!

My inspiration to do this piece, my own brown tabby Cosmo!

Oct7

SSSssssss

Posted on by
Standard

Brian thought he’d contribute to my blog tonight. He almost stepped on this guy:

He’s showing you his tongue there! I’m pretty sure this garter snake (who looks bigger than he really is) lived in the vicinity of where I have an herb bed as I saw him there this summer.

It’s not funny how much I have to do outside to separate irises and put away decorations. I’ve felt a bit blah these last few days, so I’m waiting until I feel stronger to get the work done before it gets too chilly, though that is nice weather to work in. You bet I’ll be wearing gloves near that herb bed.

Oct3

Show & Tell #12

Posted on by
Standard

Lily slate I designed, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This is hanging in our family room.

Several years ago, I use to stencil ‘Welcome’ signs on slates for a local businesswoman. I think I did at least 300 of them using store bought stencils of her choosing. Linda would let us buy a few from her for our own stenciling. This lily one was made over 12 years ago. It’s a layered stencil, meaning the leaves are a stencil that are put down first and other layers are added. I should say, all the slates got a coat of the ecru acrylic paint first. We were told to follow the natural edges of the slate, which I did here. This is an okay design for someone who never made a stencil before, let alone a layered one. My inspiration was an old botany book (gee, wonder where that is?) I only made a few more as gifts and then turned my attention to cross stitch. I won’t tell you how the lady closed down her business-well I should-so you never do it-hold a meeting to insult people’s stenciling and then close down! She did it to mine-I had added a spray of foam to waves in the ocean and made seashells a bit pinker. That’s me and they looked fine. Plus I had done 100s of them already! She made another stencil lady cry (the poor thing couldn’t even copy or blend well, but she really tried). One stencil lady, who followed the stencils to a ‘t’ got kudos. She also spent way too much time on them for what she got paid-IMHO.Let’s say she was a good copier.

It’s really not too hard to do and if you ever try it, make the design your own with your own special touches! : )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If anyone would like to read ‘The Secret Lives of Bees’, which is coming out in movie form soon, I have a copy I just finished. Let me know.

Sep30

Did good

Posted on by
Standard

I’ll have to remember to schedule my yearly appts on Tuesdays, as I was in and out of the doctor’s office in 30 minutes-there weren’t any other people in the waiting room! The young woman who checked me out heard about things that were bothering me like the tingling from my back to my front, etc. I wrote stuff down. Got the script for a mammogram. Seems if you get a benign on the biopsy, it’s like starting from scratch again. I’ll have to schedule that. (I hope you caught Oprah today. Christina Applegate was on and talked about early detection as she was only 36 when she found out she had breast cancer. 70% of women who get breast cancer don’t have a family history. So be aware of any change in your breasts, even if you aren’t 40+)

I went in a few stores on the way home- a Hallmark store and then Walmart. I wanted to look at the Halloween things in the Hallmark and got my niece the cute singing  ‘trembling toads’ decoration in the black cauldron special for this year and reduced in price there.  My brother and his family absolutely love Halloween. That’s why we all head there each year.

I also got Sean a birthday card that almost made me cry in the store, but when I tried to read it to his dad, I was a blubbering fool. It mentions about the first heartbeat of his to growing up to be a fine man who is my friend too. That’s how I feel about him too.

I wanted to get some cute cropped pants I saw in a magazine in the doctor’s office that were sold at Walmart, but when I got there, one of the sales gals said they didn’t get Metros in this year. I founds some others. Also wanted some spray paint to freshen up my art desk.

I’ve been cooking more from scratch, thanks to Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine. Last night we had pork and broccoli stir fry which was good, but I’d have to tweak the size of the meat cubes (I cut them too large) and the sauce. Tonight I had herb encrusted Salmon (both recipes from the Sept issue-I think it’s #55) and it was delicious! Also made the tomato and white bean salad. It called for cannellini beans and all I had was butterbeans. They are good too. Bri enjoyed the dinners, plus I am serving some heart healthy meals too. Goes to show I like new recipes, especially if they are quick to get together. That magazine is wonderful.

Sep18

Proofs

Posted on by
Standard

We got our portraits today and I’d thought I’d tease you with showing you the proofs. Our church is making up a directory and one of these will be in it too. That’s the main reason we had them taken.  I will show the excellent shot of Sean as we are calling it his graduation photo (May 09). We also purchased one of the two of us to represent our 25th wedding anniversary coming up in April.  I did buy some Christmas cards with one of these also. Can you guess which two we used? And the seat belt mark is softened (my neck) on the 8x10s as is Sean’s shiny head, but they didn’t get rid of the string from my upper dress (like my Liz Claiborne?). You’ll have to look at these in larger mode. I didn’t wear my glasses so I wouldn’t have nose marks and then I get the selt belt mark! I personally like the one with #26 on the end of me and the one with  #18 on the end of Bri, but I had my eyes closed (we didn’t use them)!

I love this photo! Look at the cute dimples! His shirt is green, though looks gray for some reason. This is the air-brushed one. As I mentioned last month, it was the last shot the young photographer took when Sean was more relaxed. I can’t believe my baby looks so grown up here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Went to my mom’s on Thursday (I am writing posts late at night now) and took her to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. They had the nerve to change their chicken salad recipe which I have salivated over for 26 yrs! They added tarragon, almond and grapes which doesn’t go in a club sandwich at all. Shame on them!

We then went to AC Moore craft store, another disappointment. Before that, we had gone to say ‘hi’ to the rescue kitties in Pet Smart. They were so cute. I fell in love with a black and white one with long fur and a pink nose who seemed playful. Most of the other kitties were around 7 and miserable looking as I guess they had to be taken from elderly owners.

We also went to another shopping center. Mom was having problems with what she thinks is a floater, but I think it’s the tail of a stitch. It’s driving her batty. I went in a Home Goods store and bought a little 3 drawer cabinet for CDs for my family room. Guess what, it barely fits any in the drawers! I asked Bri if he could make a shelf unit for the top and he half- heartedly said ok. He’ll have a spot for his collectibles then. I’ll show you the little cabinet in my ‘Show & Tell’ post.

Sep17

Awesome nature!

Posted on by
Standard

I went outside to look around yesterday. I’m pretty much through with gardening until I have to put all the decorations away, which is a back breaking job in itself. My back wasn’t good yesterday and I made it a little worse watering potted plants after dinner. My heating pad isn’t working that great and I even tried the infrared thing-a-ma-jig. Bri found some Therma-care heat wraps and so far the one I have on is awesome. It’s like having little warm peebles on your back. It seems to be getting hotter, so I better watch that. I need the winter to get myself ‘fixed’ and ‘rested’ again.

So enough rambling! My mom went back to the eye doctor and he took a stitch out of her repaired right eye. Imagine laying there while he did that! He still wants to see her again on Friday and her next surgery may be postponed until she can see better. I was hoping she would be lots better by now, but it was a hard cataract.

Heard brother #2 went to see Joe Biden last night at Linvilla Orchards, a neat place we use to go to all the time as kids. They had hay bales there for the people to sit on. I believe Gov. Rendell was there too.

Here’s what I found out in the herb bed, munching on fennel and dill:

I think there were about 20 Monarch butterfly caterpillars on these herbs! I guess since I’m not using them, they decided to move in!

Also did a little art last night. A few more Skinny cards. My flickr pal had sent me one, so I made her one too:

Found the neat weathervane in an old American history book, the crow from an old bird guide, and the stone wall is from a desk calendar.

And I thought this turned out cute:

I call it ‘Dear Child’

Later the Dishnet guy is suppose to come upgrade the tv. He cancelled out on Monday due to van issues. Bri had to call to reschedule since I wasn’t the name on the account, they wouldn’t let me do so! I was the one who scheduled it in the first place. Needless to say, I was a bit steamed. It better be so worth the hassle.

I’ll show an update of ‘Sleeping Kitty’ later. I’ve been working on him diligently as I want a finish to frame soon. I also want to do a few Halloween designs from the JCS Halloween issue. I have a little Halloween tree for such things with little round orange lights. Someday I’ll take photos of some more of my autumn decor.

Sep15

Productive and Non-productive

Posted on by
Standard

Sunday afternoon was good for me. I finally wrapped up all the pastel things, including teapots and butterflies and packed them away. I got most of the living room cleaned and decorated and started to have an allergy issue. I thought it may be from dust (and there was a lot of it-where does it come from?) But I also feel this was the issue:

We had had Chinese food the night before-I knew it was in it the first bite-way too much. I swore I’d never eat it again (unless the restaurant states they don’t use it, but Bri read most fast food uses it too) and I set myself up for problems. I did make Bri a nice steak dinner, but within an hour after eating,  I felt a bit dizzy (probably my sinuses reacting) and had to lay down. I’m sure I had to pass that toxic dinner out of my system-I’m warning you all! ; )  I did notice the rub for the steak had some in it too. I did start to feel better, but I was a bit scared. I’m about to head for bed. My eyes were bothering me as it was. I sat down to do some ATCs and had to get up.I did go on to watch tv- a new show called ‘Fringe’-interesting and some medical mystery shows-maybe I should have skipped them.

But we also had soy sandwiches for lunch made to resemble chicken. They were on wheat buns and we didn’t care for them-a bit tasteless. I’m not sure if that’s what upset me, but it could have added to it as I don’t eat many soy products. Oy! Hopefully the weather will cool down and we’ll get in the fall frame of mind again. : )

Update-noonish

I didn’t sleep well either. Went to sleep about 4 and had hit the hay at 12:30. I definitely am having allergy issues. Did I say it was 80 degrees last evening?

I’m expecting the dishnet guy here between 1-2, so will try and get my act together.

I got an email from an old friend who is having a rough time. Goes to show, there’s always someone who is going through more stuff than you. I feel so bad for her as she has an Erma Bombeck sense of humor, but her health issues, eyes and post traumatic distress (she lost a daughter several years ago) that she is having trouble coping. I do understand people need to take meds, but if there was some alternative, I’d try that first. I’m one of those people who can’t tolerate meds well. That may be a good thing now, but I hope down the road it won’t effect me too much. Anyway, N, love ya lots!