Oy vey...

  I went to part of a bachelorette party last night for one of the girls I used to sponsor.  I kinda didn't want to go and kinda did...so I made the decision to go and have some fun.  We met at a Mexican restaurant  and had a 2 hour drunken supper. The family and old friends of the bride to be were powering down those big brandy snifter sized margaritas like it was Cinco de Mayo.  They were loud and crazy as hell...lol.  They did all the embarrassing bachelor party things they could possibly do, giant inflated penis, penis lollipops, penis whistles --you name it, they had it.  There were 5 of us out of about 20 that didn't drink.,  so you can only imagine how this got. After supper, we went to a gay bar for a drag show. After standing in line for over an hour, I had to leave. I couldn't finish out the evening (the show wasn't starting until 10:30 or 11:00, and I am just WAY too old for this. Then it turned out that the show was up a big long flight of really steep stairs and there was no other entrance, so that's pretty much gave me the excuse I needed to go home early.  This morning, I can barely walk. Gettin' old ain't pretty,...lol

  I couldn't find her to say goodbye and someone said she was outside smoking, so my friend and I went outside so I could say goodbye and leave and she wasn't out there. Sigh...I sent my love and apologies back in with my friend and I got in my truck and drove home. I hope she isn't mad, but it was time for me to go. There were no chairs to sit down, only those real high bistro stools (and I can't get up on them either) and my back and knee were hurting so bad I could barely stay on my feet. My limits for sitting or standing are about 20 minutes tops...then I start to deteriorate.  So--home I went and let my doggies out and made a cup of tea and tried to recover. lol

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  Well, the girls from up the road just came down with their 2 big dogs who came running up into my yard again.  Have I griped about this before??  lol  I can't stop them from going down the road, but they let those dogs come racing onto my property AT my dogs (who are tied up). If there was a fight, my dogs wouldn't be able to get loose or defend themselves. I have asked these snotty little girls over and over to restrain the dogs when they come by here and they never do. Today, I called their dad. Naturally no one answered so I left a civil message about the whole thing. I have tried over and again to give them the opportunity to act like they care, but they laugh and keep going. They are about 15-17...nasty age for girls anyway. Hopefully this isn't going to cause any bad feelings with the neighbors, but I have been silent about it for too long.

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  So...let's see...the bagels (after the power outage fiasco)  turned out edible but not perfect. They fell a bit sitting in the cold oven for 4 hours after starting to bake. Still, they are very good and so much better than store bought that it's amazing.  I will definitely make them again. The rye bread recipe..not so much. It tasted very good, the first day. Now, at day whatever it is, it is really dry.  Back to the cutting board. lol  I need to  make bread today. I won't make more bagels til later in the week though, as we can eat these. The recipe makes 8 big bagels. I think I would make them a little smaller next time, and make 10 or 12.  I had one for breakfast, with peanut butter on it.  :)

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  The Irishman will be home to eat supper, so I was thinking about making a lentil loaf with mashed potatoes and green beans. Or a quinoa loaf--I have a recipe for that too, though I've never made it before.  His meeting usually ends about 3 and it's a 2.5 hour ride home. I'm going to a meeting at 4:30 to meet someone and will probably get home about the same time he does. If I have the bulk of dinner made, it will be easy enough to eat around 6 o'clock..

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  I'm going to do a couple of loads of laundry...make a quick trip to drop the electric bill off at the office...and clean the house up a little. I've been on the phone with Bridezilla and she wasn't the least bit upset that I left, just sorry she didn't get to say goodbye.  I did a little dusting around the desk as we talked (multi-tasking) and need to run the vacuum.  I'll get the bread machine out to make bread and that will take care of itself, freeing me up for other, more wondrous cleaning tasks. I also need to get that dang bookshelf fixed...I still haven't done that. But I sat with my neighbors husband for over 8 hours yesterday at the last minute --so that cut into my get anything done time.  lol

  It's supposed to rain today, but so far it's about 50 and the sun keeps [peeking through. Who knows....

  Alrighty, I'm off to laundry land.  Have a grand Sunday...  

Namaste.

Spring is in the air...

...and we just placed our order from Baker Creek for garden seeds.  We sat down this morning and went through our leftovers from last year, planned the beds, and decided what we wanted to order differently for this year.  It was a good thing.  lol  I am getting one more new garden bed this year!!!  WooHoo !!

  The Irishman is now outside with the chainsaw and I am in here...making bagels. And sitting a lot. My stomach has been all queasy all morning, and I don't know why. Yesterday too.  Headache today too, but I took some aspirin, which of course, made the stomach worse.  I don't feel right...maybe I am coming down (slowly) with what my last weeks dinner guests have. I don't know.  But I don't like it. I ate some chickweed. Let's see if that helps...

  SO---making bagels. Just because.  lol  I've been wanting to do them for a bit and decided today's the day. The recipe is fairly straightforward and easy. The ingredients are minimal. So far so good.  They're proofing--and I have the big pot of water going with the malted barley syrup in it. (I think that just makes 'em pretty). lol You boil them for 1 minute on each side and then, drain a bit, and then bake.  And it doesn't take long for them to bake either.  So--we'll know soon enough. SO far, so good.

  Beautiful 50 degree day here today. Sunny and mild. Not as windy as it has been either, which is nice. I'm really trying to get motivated to get some housecleaning done..I need to at least vacuum. I had a friend coming this morning, but I called and told her I didn't feel good, and if (God forbid) I AM coming down with something, I don't want to give it to her.  SO that just gave me a bigger margin for error of not getting any cleaning done. lol

  Okay. Approximately 4 hours later...and I am back on the computer because the electric company finally got the power restored. The bagels were just barely in the oven (looking beautiful). Why did the power go out on a lovely, spring-ish, sunny non-windy day, you ask ?  Well, because my wonderful husband (he is, really) decided to cut down a tree in the front yard and in so doing, managed to take out the power lines. He knocked out power to the entire northwest section of the grid, apparently.  lol

 The bagels could not cook, because my gas oven has that stupid electronic igniter, and if there is no power, there is no oven. You cannot light it manually. So, the first time the thermostat shut down the gas, that was it. I have turned the oven back on to see if they are salvageable. We'll see.  If I have to remake them, it's not that big a  deal. But it won't be today.  It's already 5:30....

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  I think we are going to see The Artist tonight. If he gets home in time for us to get some supper first. This is a busy weekend for us...he'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon for Mt Vernon to go to the Area Assembly, which takes place all day Sunday. I'm sitting with my neighbor  tomorrow from 7:30 AM til about 2...then am supposed to go to a bachelorette party for a friend, which sounds like a big ball of crazy, all wrapped up tight. lol  She is sober, and several of us are sober.. but a lot of these women won't be (her family and friends) and the party is starting with dinner and then an evening at a drag show.  Hmmm....I may not make it...lol...

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  Okay--better go have a look at those bagels. They looked a little flat, but not too bad.  We'll see...

  The power is back on, the house is warm, the bagels are baking and life is good.  lol  NO one got hurt in the felling of the tree and I am grateful for this life. And for the 50 dollars worth of heirloom, non-GMO seeds I just ordered.

  Live, Love and Laugh.  That's my motto...

Namaste.

Best laid plans...

  Green Man.  'Nuff said.

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  lol.  It's been a crazy day of making plans and making lists and watching all my good intentions go right down the toilet.  There were only 7 things on that list. 7.  I got 2 of them done. And one of those two things was grocery shopping. I took little Roxie with me because...well, because she wanted to go. AND I had to go to Petco and get doggie biscuits and she can go in there on the leash.  I went to the Green Earth co-op first, and got some packages of dried sea vegetables, as I've found a few recipes which call for them, and I had none. I also got agar-agar, which was outrageously expensive.  I bought organic rolled oats so that I can make some granola and granola bars.  I got barley malt syrup, polenta grits,  and a few other things and spent almost 40 dollars. ouch!  Then I went on to a different store and had to get toilet paper and organic vegetables and stuff and spent another 60.  Oy vey.  Roxie and I had a Pad Thai bowl for lunch from Crazy Wraps and Bowls--she loved the spicy peanut sauce as much as I did! And she ate her fair share of whole wheat noodles too. lol BY the time we got back home it was almost 2 o'clock. I got the groceries all unloaded and put away and went out to check the chickens. Decided that this beautiful 72 degree sunny day was perfect for cleaning the coop. So, there went another 30 minutes...cleaning and filling the food and the water dishes...it was getting a little stinky in there...ammonia build-up. 

  You can see where this is going.  I came back in the house, looked at my list...looked at the clock...and crossed 2 things off the list with a flourish!  That was all she wrote.  I had wanted to make bagels today too...not even close.  I need to pull my furnace filter and vacuum that business.  Nope.  I need to get my cookbook shelf back up.  Nuh-uh.  Vacuum and clean carpet.? No way, Jose.  Sort seeds ?  Hahahahahaha.

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  Tomorrow I have a 9:30 appointment for a massage and reflexology session...A full one and a half hours of  pampering myself. That means I have to get up early and make sure I am on the road by 8:45.

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  For supper tonight I made a gorgeous salad of mixed greens with pear slices and gorgonzola cheese.  It was a thing of beauty.  I also fixed polenta, with marinara and a mixture of sauteed red onion, spinach, baby bellas mushrooms and cannelini beans.  Lordy, it was good.   But that took up some time too...polenta is a bit on the labor intensive side.

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  It's starting to rain. They said it would come in tonight, and bless their hearts--here it is.  Time for me to knock off and get myself to bed.  I can't believe it's after midnight already. (I always say that...and I mean it!)  lol

  Sending you all thoughts of spring --I noticed today in my travels that the willow trees here are leafing out! Things are greening up nicely and it's warm.  It's a good thing...maybe I'll get those seeds sorted tomorrow...

  Namaste.

By the skin of Tuesday's teeth...

 Lemon Meringue Pie !!

Breakfast!!

  Fried Chicken !!

??? Not sure what this is, but I made it.  lol

  Lunch !!

  Watermelon Sorbet !!

  Beautiful homemade hamburger bun!!

  Canned green beans !!

 Lentil soup and fresh baked bread !!

  Polenta with kale and parmesan and marinara !!

Soba noodles with steamed veggies !!

Coconut milk custard !!

Bad picture of good food--Vegetarian Reubens with sweet potato fries !!

 Fresh carrot, celery, parsley, and turnip juice !!




   






  Namaste!!!!

An ordinary day...

  It was a pleasant day today, here on Honeysuckle Hill.  The daffodils are shooting up and the little white flowers of spring are showing up here and there. It was only in the high 40's and a tiny bit breezy most of the day, but tomorrow's supposed to be almost 70.  Not as sunny as today though, I don't think.


  The boyo came over today, after working out at his dad's farm for 6 or 7 hours putting up fences. They ran out of barbed wire. lol His shoulder is hurting him again and he needs to get his butt back to the chiropractor. He said he has an appointment.  I fed him some leftover aglio y olio...and he was impressed. He loves garlic anyway... and said he'd never had it before. I told him it's a lot better fresh. He spent 2 hours detailing my car for me for a little extra cash. It's clean as a whistle now! woohoo!


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  I made the rye bread today, and it turned out pretty good. Didn't raise as much as I'd hoped...but--I didn't make 2 small round loaves either, I used bread pans. The slices make a half slice of regular bread, but I'll tell you, it sure was tasty.


  I made the Vegetarian Reubens for supper tonight, served on that home made bread.  O. M. G.  They were outrageous. I took a picture of the one on my plate, which was a little over cooked, because the Irishman gobbled his down while I was getting the camera.  I made oven baked sweet potato fries to go with it, and those are ALWAYS good. The filling on the sandwiches is thin sliced red onion, sliced baby portabella mushrooms and baby spinach sauteed together in a tiny bit of olive oil (spinach goes in last).  Then you put a scosh
  more olive oil in the skillet and put the slices of bread in, with Swiss cheese on them. You spoon filling onto one half of the bread and sauerkraut on the other half. Before starting this, I made a small batch of Russian dressing. You take the sandwich slices out of the skillet once they are nicely grilled and put the Russian dressing on the filling side. Close 'em up and eat 'em up!


  The sweet potato fries were easy too. I used one big sweet potato and it was more than we could eat. (Of course, it was about half the size of a football!!)  I scrubbed it, dried it, cut the ends off and cut it into fries. I lined a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, put the slices on there. Drizzled them with olive oil and then seasoned them with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Used my mitts to mix 'em up good and make sure there was oil on all the potatoes.  Into the oven at 450 for about 30 minutes total. Stop halfway and turn them, over with a spatula. A little piece of heaven...


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  Had a chat with a 2nd cousin of mine last night that I've never met. Another cousin who's been doing genealogy on my father's fathers side of the family has uncovered a whole passel of folks from down in southern Missouri.  He came online chat and wanted to know how we were related. I told him our grandfathers were brothers. We had a nice chat...and my cousin and I are taking a trip down to meet them in a couple of weeks. How cool is that??   She also told me tonight that she has charted the arrival of the clan from England into New York, and from there to Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Oregon.  I did not ever hear that we were from England. She said she's got a lot of stuff, and will bring it with her.   


  We have a strange family in a lot of respects. I told her that I always thought it was just us on the Morss side...nobody ever talked about any other relatives, and I looked and looked and never found anyone with the same last name, spelled like ours is.  She said she was surprised that our 2nd cousin never knew his grandfather. I said that if his grandfather was anything like his brother-our grandfather- the family probably disowned him and walked away.  She concurred.


  My grandfather was a lazy no count drunk. My father hated him.  My grandmother worked herself to death trying to keep her family fed and a roof over their heads.  He got drunk and he went fishing, and that's all I ever remember him doing. And expected her to wait on him hand and foot. And sometimes she did and sometimes she didn't. lol   She cleaned peoples houses and she took in ironing and she did whatever she could to earn a little money.  She raised a kickass vegetable garden and could make magical meals out of nothing. Her sons helped her all they could...my dad left school in the 8th grade because he got a job and could make money for his mom. The boys all hunted and fished and made sure she had meat in the smokehouse and freezer.  And they all loved her very much and did everything they could to protect her from him when he was drunk and mean.


  My dad's sisters (the two younger ones) are in various stages of denial about what it was like when they were kids. The two older ones , both now deceased, had no such delusion about him.  


  Anyway.  Life goes how it goes, I guess.  We play the hand we get dealt...


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  Well, this ordinary day is coming to an end.  I'm ready to put my head on the pillow and drift off to dream land...




Namaste, y'all....

I used to be Snow White...but I drifted...

  Aren't these gorgeous? A gift from my dinner guests on Friday.  And they look beautiful.

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  It snowed here today.  Not real snow. The kind of snow you see on tv on Christmas movies.  Big beautiful flakes that drift lazily down to earth...but never cause car wrecks or  power outages or slick roads. The kind that just looks so pretty you want to Ooooo and Ahhhhh all over it.  It was about 39 degrees, so it melted as soon as it touched anything.  But it sure looked pretty coming down. And then it all went away. 

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  So, I went to the 10 AM meeting with the Irishman and it was a small group because there was a round-up going on. But it was nice and I got to see one of my old sponslings and she and her boyfriend are engaged and we had a nice chat.  Afterwards the Irishman and I headed for Big Lots to try to find a new doormat for the front porch. Found one that was the material I wanted and had dog tracks all over it. lol   It says   WELCOME: Wipe your paws.  Then he pulled one of the broken shelf pins out of his coat pocket that go to my cookbook bookshelf and said "Let's hit Lowe's" (right across the street).  I was down on the floor one night, getting the dog's ball out from under said bookshelf when I foolishly leaned on the middle shelf  trying to get myself up ( a heroic endeavor with this bad knee) and I leaned too hard and snapped off the plastic pins holding the shelf and all the cookbooks came whooshing out onto the floor.   Sigh....   anyway, my thoughtful husband put one of them into his coat pocket so he would know what he was looking for in the event that he found himself in a hardware store.  Voila!  This time, we got steel pins. That whole bookcase may come crashing down again, but it won't be because the stupid plastic pins snapped off.

  After that, we went to the Chinese buffet for lunch and then headed back to Honeysuckle Hill...which was when it started to snow.  We also stopped at one of the farm stores to see if their chicks were in yet.  They weren't.   boo hiss....  

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  It was a lovely lazy Sunday, spent watching television snuggled up with my honey and  [at any given time]  3 or 4 different animals.  Around 5 o'clock, I decided to make a vegetable soup for dinner and some extra to take to some sick friends.  I chopped onions and garlic, celery and carrots, potatoes, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, . I went out to the garden and picked about 4 cups of kale (chopped).  I threw in a handfull of dried corn and opened a jar of green beans. I opened a pint of tomatoes and okra and a pint of tomato juice and then added  1 can of tomato paste. I added a quart of water to it 3 times, and it still was a thick and hearty soup...but man, was it good.

  It looked much prettier after I put the chopped kale in at the last minute...  I had some leftover french bread that I had made on Friday, and buttered it up and that was supper.

  It was good, full of yummy organic vegetables and really satisfying...as only soup can be.  And I have to tell you...that dried corn ( remember it? The stuff I had frozen on the cob year before last, and then took it out to make room in the freezer and cut it off the cob and dehydrated it ??)  has the sweetest flavor, and anything I put it in is sweetened by it too.  It is so good in this soup!

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  It's been a long day and I guess I should get myself finishing up here.  It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, but only about 46 degrees.  Then mid 60's again for a few days. Wacky weather. The daffodils are up though and the trees are starting to bud. I hope we have a good growing season this coming summer and that this crazy weather doesn't mess stuff up. When I went out to get some kale for the soup, I couldn't believe how much it had grown over the past few days...filled out and sprung up, baby!  I had to go look and see if there was any sign of parsley or anything else, but sadly, there wasn't.  Expecting a miracle, I guess.  lol

  Anyway, my big plan for tomorrow is to make some sourdough rye bread.  The sourdough is ready to use and I am excited to try it. Oh, and I do have to make a trip into town to activate my new ATM card. I almost forgot...

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  Have a sweet night, y'all.

Namaste.

A day of rest...

  Didn't do a thing today.  Nope, no sirree. Nary a thing.  Spent the entire day doing things that sounded like fun for a change. Took the dog kennel back to the friends that loaned it to me. Then went to my sisters house to see her new little tea cup Yorkie...a tiny adorable thing that I could easily have taken out of there in my pocket.  Then she and I headed out into the world...first to lunch, where I had a breakfast skillet of potatoes, eggs and cheese and onions.  We had a nice time and chatted about lots of family stuff.  Then we made a decision to go to the casino...the big boat that sits on the Mississippi at Alton.  I used the valet parking to make things easier and we went in.  We played slot machines for about an hour, I'd guess, and I came out a little richer than I went in. That's always a good thing, and it made it fun.  Not too much, but enough to make it okay.

  Then we came out, shopped a little and I took her home and I came home by way of the Homestead Flea market. There I found a little salt and pepper shaker set that was just like the one the cat knocked off the counter and broke the lid. I also got a small trivet that says: MY HOUSE IS CLEAN ENOUGH TO BE HEALTHY AND DIRTY ENOUGH TO BE HAPPY.

  I spent the evening at home with the dogs, watching Tom Selleck in a Jesse Stone marathon.  I love that guy. I think I watched 4 of them in a row...

  lol

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  Found out today that one of our local old timers passed away. Jack will be missed. He was a sweetheart of a guy whose wife just died last year...when I met him 7 years ago he was her sole care giver...she had Altzheimers and MS...and I remember being very impressed with his commitment. RIP, Jack.

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  Going to to go to the Sunday morning meeting with the Irishman tomorrow at 10.  I think. Which of course means that I need to get in bed and get some sleep. It's been a lovely day and I think I am, ready to lay my head down. I was up at about 7 this morning...

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  I was out putting up the chickens tonight and looking up at the sky...it's so clear and unpolluted here. The stars were like diamonds and it's about a half moon...hanging there in all its splendor. I was thinking how lucky I am to get to live out here in the country, and especially here on Honeysuckle Hill.  The night was crisp and clean and I could hear the coyotes in the distance, their pups yipping that symphony of theirs. Do you know they're called song dogs? Legend has it when the world was born, the coyotes were howling at the Universe and so they were called song dogs...  

  Anyways...there's a pasture way back behind us somewhere and you can hear the cattle softly mooing...the owls are hooting in the distance and all the night sounds are amplified in the dark.  Looking around at the gardens all in their hibernating states, the new branches that came down in the storm the other night, the destruction wreaked on the greenhouse plastic...the light coming from the chicken coop door--keeping them all cozy and warm in there on these cold nights. I will be glad when it warms up enough that I can get out there and get some work done....I've been picking chickweed to feed the chickens and they are loving it, but I'll be glad when the other greens start coming up. I did see that the daffodils are about 6 inches high and lots of the lilies are up as well.

  It's a good life that we are carving out for ourselves here, on this little piece of dirt. I really need to be more grateful for it...more focused on what we have than on what we don't.  More focused on love and less on fear. That's really it, isn't it? 

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  Alrighty then. I'm ready to hit the pillow.  Dreaming of song dogs and honeysuckle...daffodils and  starlight.

Namaste.