Category: KITCHEN & COOKING TIPS

Oh my I can’t believe it’s Monday again already! I hope you had a great week/weekend.  We are personally back to normal after Hurricane Harvey, but so many aren’t including our house/dog sitter who unfortunately lost her car, her job and house was flooded during the hurricane.  She’ll be here this week to “regroup” while waiting on materials for new walls and floors at her house. She’s on a waiting list to get a rental car – there just aren’t enough to go around!

My tests and surgery have been pushed out 6 weeks after being canceled during the hurricane.  While I’m not happy about this because of the way it is affecting my life, I do understand what a scheduling nightmare it would be to push everyone out 2 weeks to accommodate everyone that was canceled.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW & THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

We’re enjoying some milder weather finally.  Unfortunately it is because of the Florida situation so I would take the heat and humidity back to save all those people from what they are going through.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE

We made coffee to go, but will grab something on the road after we get out of the morning traffic.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE & WEEKLY TO DO LIST & HOUSE PROJECTS

• LAUNDRY… washer is having an issue so will have lots of loads to do next week
  
• ALL LIVING AREAS… perfect! I did a deep clean before the house sitter got here.
  
• YARD… NOTHING! New seeds have begun to come up and is looking good.
  
• BLOG… still doing some recipe updating and planning for future posts.

CURRENTLY READING & TELEVISION / DVR

• READING – I seem to fall asleep after just a paragraph or 2 – Ava Miles #5 Dare Valley – The TOWN SQUARE

The new season is finally about to start.  I do have some cooking shows to clean up on the DVR, but there are plenty of things still going on:

• ZOO
• THE STRAIN
• SALVATION
• NIGHT SHIFT
• MIDNIGHT TEXAS
• CHESAPEAKE SHORES
• AMERICA’S GOT TALENT
• GUY’S GROCERY GAMES
• Guy’s Family Road Trip
• Great FOOD TRUCK race
• MASTER CHEF – there are some interesting characters left this season and some I can’t wait to see go – hint hint JEFF still HAS TO GO!
  

MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK

SUCCESSFUL RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

• TEXAS CAVIAR
• BANANA CREAM CHEESECAKE
• GARLIC DILL PICKLES
• CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES
• APRICOT CHERRY GALETTE
• BROWN BOX CRACKER MEATLOAF with BROWN BEER GRAVY aka MEATLOAF with a SERIOUS KICK

HEALTH & BEAUTY TIPS

HOMEMAKING/COOKING TIP

ON MY MIND / THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

There are so many things going on EVERYWHERE right now that I am just praying for the world and our country to level out and be still for awhile! This kind of comically sums it up though.

INSPIRATION

Be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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I hope you all had a GREAT week and are taking a much deserved break today for Labor day. We have had a busy week recovering from Hurricane Harvey.  This has been and continues to be chaos even as life tries to go back to normal.  We were blessed to be in an area that received 3 feet of rain and tons of wind, but no serious damage or flooding except for a the few neighbors we were able to help out.  But, that has left us on a “virtual” island not able to go too far in any one direction without running into closed roads and freeways.  They are still releasing waters from the overflowing reservoirs so residential flooding as well as downtown is still a HUGE concern.  Also of concern is a dozen or so flooded toxic waste dumps, mosquito season and raw sewage in the flood waters.

My long awaited testing for my surgery last Friday in the downtown medical center was canceled and has yet to be rescheduled, but I’m hoping to have some answers tomorrow. I know there are other concerns right now, but I am miserable and unable to sleep, eat or function well so am hoping as they reopen they have developed a plan to deal with the week’s worth of patients in limbo in a timely and efficient manner.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW & THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

We are warmer and humid again, but the skies are blue and full of fluffy clouds.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE

Protein drink and coffee

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I’m blessed to have a house to complain about being messy!  I need to clean well though. So much time spent indoors while the hurricane/tropical storm raged and away after to help friends and now the holiday weekend that I have neglected normal day to day items, but I’ll get those back together as the week moves on.

WEEKLY TO DO LIST & HOUSE PROJECTS

• LAUNDRY… just a couple of regular loads – just finished 10 or so loads of towels and blankets used to help neighbor with her flood.
• LIVING AREAS… mostly tidy, but need to do ALL floors
• KITCHEN… laundry room is at the back of the kitchen and I have been doing so many loads of wet towels and such that the whole room needs a serious deep clean.
• STUDIO… I’ve been packing so there is a bit of a mess that will remain for awhile.
• YARD… Hubby just reseeded the yard and put on a layer of manure.  It seems so odd to be watering after just receiving 3 feet of rain, but we really want the new seed to take root and this seemed like the best time while the ground is soft.
• BLOG… still doing some recipe updating and planing for future posts.

CURRENTLY READING & TELEVISION / DVR

• STILL READING – I seem to fall asleep after just a paragraph or 2 – Ava Miles #4 Dare Valley – The Holiday Serenade

Waiting for the new season to start, but there are plenty of things still going on:

• ZOO
• STRAIN
• SALVATION
• NIGHT SHIFT
• MIDNIGHT TEXAS
• CHESAPEAKE SHORES
• AMERICA’S GOT TALENT
• GUY’S GROCERY GAMES
• Guy’s Family Road Trip
• Great FOOD TRUCK race
• MASTER CHEF – there are some interesting characters left this season and some I can’t wait to see go – hint hint JEFF HAS TO GO!
  

MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK

SUCCESSFUL RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

• PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE DROPS
• BOSTON CREAM PIE/CAKE
• COCOA FUDGE CAKE
• RUSTIC STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE PIE
• SOUR CREAM DUTCH APPLE PIE
• PAN SEARED CHICKEN with BROWNED PARSLEY BUTTER
• CINNAMON SWIRL LOAF

HEALTH & BEAUTY TIPS

HOMEMAKING/COOKING TIP

I saw this on facebook and this is soooooooooooo cool and helpful.
https://www.facebook.com/firstmediasoyummy/videos/1862813597366116/

ON MY MIND / THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

I’m probably hypersensitive this week with all the stress, but it just concerns me that people “stir the pot” so easily in social media. It’s so easy these days to “say” something via the written word on social media that you would have thought twice about before saying verbally without really thinking through the implications.

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA

We were so fortunate where we were in Hurricane Harvey’s path.  The rescue helicopters made it super surreal though as we were apparently in a flight pattern.  My oldest friend (we’ve known each other since we were 2 and 3) Leslie called to check on us though and said her ex SIL was flooded and had to be rescued by boat.  She said she was taking a 4 day weekend and driving down to Help Joan now that the waters were beginning to recede.  We decided we would try to get there to help.  I say try, because where we are kind of became an island of sorts. We couldn’t travel in any direction without  coming upon primarily closed flooded out roads. These trucks were full of police in tactical gear coming from a heavily flooded area.

So on Friday we took boots, gloves, a HUGE pot of chili and started out for a location 11 miles away.  It took us 2 hours, but we got there.  It looked like a war zone!  The primary goal was to get all the carpeting, flooring, drywall and ruined furniture and appliance to the curb.  At some point the city will be picking these things up.  With the humidity here, mosquitoes and mold are the worst fears.  I have to say that for the most part my faith in humanity was restored as people just showed up and offered their  services to cut out drywall, move refrigerators and just offer their talents any way they could.  High school guys offering their brute strength, cub scouts passing out water, friends of friends just pitching in…

There were a couple instances of active tries at looting, but neighbors banded together and ran off these offenders.  Joan lives on a cul-de-sac and the guy on the corner has been parking his car sideways at night and standing vigil with an assault rifle to keep people who didn’t belong there out.  The neighbors a few streets over that were not flooded brought dinner for the whole neighborhood the first night they were allowed back in. Then on Saturday sack lunches and the kindness continues!

About half way through removing the debris and these pictures are just 2 yards of the many thousands that look just like this or worse. They are urging everyone to put out EVERYTHING that was in flood waters, even what appears salvageable because of the toxins, parasites and such that is in the flood waters.

And while we have too much water those poor people in Montana need rain desperately.  Praying for ALL those affected by the wildfires.

INSPIRATION

Be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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My week took a bit of a turn last Wednesday when “Harvey” decided to “reform” in the Gulf and suddenly we were under Hurricane Watch with the “promise” of Historical rainfall. Not everyone gets a solar eclipse, hurricane and tropical storm in the SAME week, but we did ~ LUCKY us, NOT!

There were quite a few things I had slated to do over the weekend, but I had to speed up and get them all done ALL at once on Wednesday and Thursday because I was NOT going to be out on the road during the hurricane.  Hubby got the generator ready and made sure we had plenty of gas.  I was going to the grocery store anyway on Wednesday, but once I was there and overheard the local firemen talking about how they were preparing for the weekend I added a few extras and rented some movies so I wouldn’t possibly need to go back out for anything and could stay in and out of the storm. SURE GLAD I DID!

The overlapping tornado warnings have been emotionally exhausting as have the bayou overflows and flood water close calls and I haven’t even left home. We did get an emergency “HELP! “call from our elderly neighbor across the way at midnight Saturday. She has the mirror image of our house. But, my grandfather enclosed the atrium patio off the living room and dining room to enlarge the area back in the 1980’s. Unfortunately, her house didn’t get the same enclosure which allowed for a 13×13 area that basically is just collecting water like a bathtub and with this amount of rain just wasn’t draining despite the fact that she recently had the drain area redone and enlarged.  It drained well before the recent work so I was pretty sure that the contractor messed up and that would be an argument for after this storm until it happened again. So from midnight to 3 AM we moved furniture, wet vacuumed 3 rooms and wrung out towel after towel after towel of gallons of water. Fortunately, the contractor finally showed up late yesterday afternoon and had to take it all apart so it would drain.  He found a 3 inch rock inside the “NEW” pipe that was completely blocking the flow of the water. Evidently when they pushed the new pipe into place, they hadn’t cleared out all the debris.  Costly error on his part!

We secured all the loose items (patio furniture, light weight potted plants, wind chimes, etc…) on Thursday and Friday and went out every lull in the storm after that and collected the loose branches as well as checked all the drainage to clear it of debris.  Unfortunately, the lulls became less an less as time moved on and we had to start doing this during the storms creating lots of wet clothes. The flooding and tornadoes were the biggest issue for where we are. About 6 months ago, crews dredged and really cleaned out the bayou next to us as well as widening it a bit which was sorely needed as we are at the back end of it. I walked down there again this morning (the picture below was taken yesterday morning and hasn’t changed much) and their work certainly is making a difference in it NOT flooding us out, but barely!  I wasn’t sure that was going to be the case Saturday night.  It was a SERIOUSLY LONG weekend and the storm isn’t anywhere near over yet. Our rainfall is just under 50 inches a year.  Just since Friday we have received over 28 inches right here. The last 72 hours feels like it was 3 weeks long! I can’t sleep more than a couple hours at a time hence why I’m writing this at 4AM. Schools and many local services have been canceled for the week and many communities have instituted curfews.

Oh and I stepped in a fire ant hill of pissed off ants with flip flops on and have a couple dozen bites that required medication because of my allergy AND I broke my favorite glasses. 🙁 Fortunately I keep the medication on hand as well as an extra pair of glasses. Unbelievably we have not lost power or internet! YAY!

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW & THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

We’ve been seriously needing rain, but NOT ALL at once! It’s not over yet either.  We are in the expected 2-3 feet zone and have already gotten almost all of the predicted rain for this storm and the storm is supposed to sit over us for another 4 days! So, we’ve  gotten every bit of it and then some!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE

Protein drink and coffee

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE ~ WEEKLY TO DO LIST & HOUSE PROJECTS

• LAUNDRY… several loads yet to do.
  
• LIVING AREAS… let’s face it, it’s a wreck under the circumstances and I really need to do ALL the floors from all the wet feet.
  
• KITCHEN… quite clean, but as always I plan to make a mess soon.
  
• STUDIO… I did a SERIOUS DEEP CLEAN while we were hunkered down and am now working on new ebay pictures.
  
• YARD… waiting for it to be a yard and not a pool and then we’ll do some reseeding and fertilizer.  The flowers are all but dead from the over watering the hurricane brought, but I’ll just leave them until then and see if they regenerate.
  
• BLOG… STILL working on some recipe updating and planing for future posts.  BLOGMAS 2017 is moving right along as I plan forward.

CURRENTLY READING & TELEVISION / DVR

We did get a few movies from RedBox before the storm so have had something besides news coverage to watch. Fortunately there is a RedBox in walking distance to return them to since I can’t drive to where they where originally rented from.

• Guardians of the Galaxy 2
• Blind
• Alien Covenant
• King Arthur

Waiting for the new season to start, but there are plenty of things still going on:

• READING – Ava Miles #4 Dare Valley – The Holiday Serenade

Pre-season Football has gotten a little boring so NASCAR is dominating as it gets close to the “PLAYOFF” time, formerly known as “THE CHASE”. Unfortunately, NASCAR was pre-empted here locally for Hurricane Harvey coverage. PLUS, Defenders has started as well as Guy’s Family Road Trip and the Great FOOD TRUCK race.

We still have a few summer shows going.

• ZOO
• STRAIN
• SALVATION
• NIGHT SHIFT
• MIDNIGHT TEXAS
• CHESAPEAKE SHORES
• AMERICA’S GOT TALENT
• GUY’S GROCERY GAMES
• MASTER CHEF – there are some interesting characters left this season and some I can’t wait to see go – hint hint JEFF HAS TO GO!
  

CRAFTS / PROJECTS

I started a few Christmas gifts this week while we were sequestered for the storm.

MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK

SUCCESSFUL RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

• BAKED WHITE FISH
• CHAMPAGNE DRESSING
• CHICKEN AND ONIONS IN WHITE WINE CREAM SAUCE
• MIMOSA CHICKEN
• CAT HEAD BISCUITS
• KEY LIME PIE WITH BLUEBERRY CARAMEL SAUCE
• CRY BABY BURGERS
• CHEESY RANCH CHICKEN SALAD aka CRACK CHICKEN SANDWICHES

HEALTH & BEAUTY TIPS

HOMEMAKING/COOKING TIP

ON MY MIND & THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

Still grappling with family issues out of my control because the drama is being created by someone who does NOT know how to communicate and seems to refuse to treat others with the Golden Rule. Yet, it weighs on me because I cannot fix it.

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA

Unfortunately, there are no pictures that could begin to depict the horrific reality of this past week that haven’t already been plastered all over the television and social media, but I did get a few.

INSPIRATION

I originally selected this inspiration:

But really think this one is more pertinent today:

Be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Did you have a great weekend? Ours was full of errands, cooking and racing. Because of the crowds here we try really hard to go no where from Friday afternoon through Monday. So, we have begun to really enjoy our homebody weekends.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW & THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

Last week was pretty nice until Friday and Saturday when the heat indexes surged upward again to unbearable around 120, but they are supposed to drop again this week to just around 100 – won’t matter much with the threat of rain every day though with the humidity. I really am ready to leave this 2 season (late spring and horrible summer)  place and go back to ALL 4 seasons!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE

Scrambled eggs and green tea

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

The bug guy is coming Wednesday for our quarterly spray so today is going to be my deep clean day before he does that, but at least the clutter is all picked up and ready for the deep clean.

WEEKLY TO DO LIST & HOUSE PROJECTS

• LAUNDRY… just a couple loads
  
• LIVING AREAS… mostly tidy, but need to do dusting and floors
  
• KITCHEN… ready for it’s DEEP clean
  
• STUDIO…ready for it’s DEEP clean
  
• YARD… A little pruning and deadheading of some blooms
  
• BLOG… still working on some recipe updating from my old blogs and am scheduling the posts I move over to slowly migrate day by day into the new blog.

MONDAY – DEEP CLEAN

TUESDAY – APPOINTMENTS & ERRANDS

WEDNESDAY – BUG GUY, SORTING and PACKING

THURSDAY – PAINT MAILBOX, PRUNE BACKYARD

FRIDAY – MOVIE or BOWLING

SATURDAY – WORK AROUND HOUSE, RACING

SUNDAY – WORK AROUND HOUSE, RACING

CURRENTLY READING & TELEVISION / DVR

Had a MAJOR DVR glitch last week after a power outage from the phone guys working in the area pulling in new fiber optic cable and in the end LOST ALL of the Christmas movies I had been stockpiling on the DVR from the July premiere on Hallmark!  Not to mention we had to go without television while we waited for the new DVR to be shipped to us.

There are a couple new shows starting on the Food Network that I’m looking for to.

• Guy’s Family Road Trip
• Guy’s BIG Project
• Great FOOD TRUCK race

I’m still only half way through with Book #2, French Roast of Ava Miles’ series for Dare Valley. I keep falling asleep LOL. And then there are my summer standards:

• MIDNIGHT TEXAS
• THE NIGHT SHIFT – I’m ready for T.C. to come home.
• SALVATION – We’ll see where they go with it.  I’m still undecided.
• AMERICA’S GOT TALENT – always a fun watch – loving the new softer side of Simon and fun side of Tyra.
  
• ZOO – is back. I wasn’t sure I liked the 10 year jump into the future, but am getting used to it since they are using the same characters, just took some adjusting.
• FOOD NETWORK STAR – I LOVE Jason and Matt and Rusty.  Jason was so funny on the Holiday Baking Championship which he won against professionals.  He is pretty innovative with flavor combos and I just love his country accent and euphemisms.
• AMERICA’S GOT TALENT – always a fun watch – loving the new softer side of Simon
  
• The Returned
• The OA
• Friday Night Lights
• DATE MY DAD – it’s pretty cute and I want to look as good as Raquel Welch does when I’m her age!
  
• GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW – I just love this show – they are always so civilized and nice with recipes that make me WANT to be a better baker. SPOILER ALERT!! NO NO NO I didn’t want Benjaminia to go home!!!!
• MASTER CHEF – there are some interesting characters this season and some I can’t wait to see go home as well as a couple I thought I was NOT going to like that are growing on me.
  
• THE “F” WORD – I love this fun new side of Gordon Ramsay with his funny antics and pranks with disguises.
  

CRAFTS / PROJECTS

I’m starting on a new canvas this week (I hope)

MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK

I’m still working with old recipes that need new pictures to make them look right with an experiment each week.

SUCCESSFUL RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

• APRICOT ALMOND CHICKEN
• BLUEBERRY COBBLER
• RED VELVET CUPCAKES
• CHINESE CHICKEN SALAD
• HULI HULI CHICKEN
• BAKED TAQUITOS
• GUACAMOLE
• CINNAMON ROLL APPLE PIE

HEALTH & BEAUTY TIPS

HOMEMAKING/COOKING TIP

ON MY MIND

Spending a lot of time wondering what makes some people tick. Especially those that are so self-centered and feel they are entitled to everything without having compassion, empathy or even sympathy for others let alone respect for them.

THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

• Two of four tests are completed in helping diagnose the next step in my health process. One was normal, the other was not and the doctor will be able to tell more about that status after tests three and four.  Unfortunately tests three and four are a month off so I’m still miserable and unsure until then. Still praying for a non-surgical end to all of this.
• “Summer” is half over which means psuedo Fall is not too far off. Real fall never really happens here LOL.

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA

These days my old Gunny spends more and more time in his favorite position, NAPPING next to his favorite toys. I’m really glad we got him an orthopedic bed a while back.  He LOVES his bed!

INSPIRATION

Have a wonderful week and be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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OUTSIDE MY WINDOW & THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

Once again it is sunny with fluffy clouds looking really nice – until you open the door. We’ve needed rain and then we got it in a BIG storm Saturday night, but once again we are getting super high temperatures (82 ALREADY this morning (not even 8AM), but then again it doesn’t get very low even in the middle of the night) on its way to mid 90’s, high dew points (82+ degrees), high humidity (81%+)  making the heat indexes extremely high, (feels over 100°+ according to weather underground‘s calculations). IT’S JUST PLAIN miserable and makes you dehydrated so quickly!  Oh, and there is a threat of thunderstorms all week that will just make it even more sticky!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE

Orange flavored Nutrition Drink and Green Tea

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE / WEEKLY TO DO LIST & HOUSE PROJECTS

• LAUNDRY… just one load today of sheets
  
• LIVING AREAS… It’s a bit cluttered as I’ve spent the past few days sorting and packing a few things.
  
• KITCHEN… quite clean – hubby cooked yesterday so I did a DEEP clean after.
  
• STUDIO… I did a DEEP clean yesterday as I was sorting and packing, but the rest of the house suffered for it.
  
• YARD… just mowing and watering
  
• BLOG… still doing some recipe updating, making lists for recipes that need new pictures and planning for future posts as I combine old blogs into this one. I’m doing some recipes and pictures in advance for BLOGMAS 2017

CURRENTLY READING & TELEVISION / DVR

We rented the Lost City of Z this past weekend. It was interesting, but seriously not what I thought it would be.

We’re done binging on The Walking Dead with the finish of Season 6 and are eagerly awaiting season 7 on NetFlix.  I can’t wait for season 7 so we can be totally caught up before the season 8 starts in the fall. We also finished Between and are waiting on its next season.

We’re still catching up on Dare Devil and Jessica Jones. We’ve also added The Fall with Gillian Anderson from the X-Files to our list of newly started series along with Travelers.

I’m half way through with Book #2, French Roast of Ava Miles’ series for Dare Valley.

• SALVATION – We’ll see where they go with it.  I’m still undecided.
• AMERICA’S GOT TALENT – always a fun watch – loving the new softer side of Simon and fun side of Tyra.
  
• ZOO – is back. I wasn’t sure I liked the 10 year jump into the future, but am getting used to it since they are using the same characters, just took some adjusting.
• FOOD NETWORK STAR – I LOVE Jason and Matt and Rusty.  Jason was so funny on the Holiday Baking Championship which he won against professionals.  He is pretty innovative with flavor combos and I just love his country accent and euphemisms.
• AMERICA’S GOT TALENT – always a fun watch – loving the new softer side of Simon
  
• DATE MY DAD – it’s pretty cute and I want to look as good as Raquel Welch does when I’m her age!
  
• GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW – I just love this show – they are always so civilized and nice with recipes that make me WANT to be a better baker.
• MASTER CHEF – there are some interesting characters this season and some I can’t wait to see go home as well as a couple I thought I was NOT going to like that are growing on me.
  
• THE “F” WORD – I love this fun new side of Gordon Ramsey with his funny antics and pranks with disguises.
  
• SUPERHUMAN – some of these people amaze me SOOOOO much!  I wish I was this talented.

CRAFTS / PROJECTS

Here are a few more ideas from my Pinterest board for Christmas cards and cute wrapping idea with photos for tags.

KITCHEN WISHES

I LOVE this kitchen I found on Pinterest and want to do my next kitchen quite similar, but maybe not so blue. I think it is the back splash and shades I don’t like in particular. I have sunflowers as a decoration now and love and want to keep a sunflower theme, so am thinking a distressed white with a hint of blue for the cabinets and a pale yellow for the backsplash and not shades, but short shutters instead, but LOVE the layout overall.

MENU PLANS FOR THE WEEK

Starting next week I’ll be making recipes exclusively that need “NEW” pictures.  I can probably go through the rest of this year with NOT repeating anything LOL.

SUCCESSFUL RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

• VAMPIRE SLAYER GARLIC BREAD
• MOUNDS BALLS
• APPLE RUM RAISIN CINNAMON ROLLS
• BLUEBERRY CRUMB CAKE
• 12-24 HOUR SALAD
• CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER STICKY BUNS/SPIRAL CAKE
• CARAMELIZED LEMON with GREEN CHILE VERDE SAUCE

HEALTH & BEAUTY TIPS

HOMEMAKING/COOKING TIP/TUTORIALS

TUTORIAL LINK FROM LAST WEEK: GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PRESSURE COOKER

ON MY MIND

I finally met with my new surgeon last week.  I have to say I like him and I really like that he “HEARD” the whole story and his first inclination is to “FIX” the problem and maybe without surgery though it will require 4 more tests, one of which requires anesthesia, one of which is a 24 hour study that will be less than comfortable, another that requires nuclear medicine for an all day test and one that is short, but uncomfortable and one that will be just plain miserable.  BUT, if any one of these points to a way to “CURE” me without surgery, I am ALL for it.

He already took me off of 6 prescriptions that other doctors put me on trying to “SOLVE” my problem which I am THRILLED about.  So many times doctors just keep throwing medicine after medicine dealing with the symptoms instead of the root cause.  In this case it’s kind of a CHICKEN OR THE EGG situation, but he is trying hard to figure out which came first.

I did the research and if these tests go the way I’m now hoping, I’ll be able to get off ALL my current prescriptions and just take two different ones to create a better way of life with NO surgery.

THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

• Finding a surgeon whose first instinct is NOT to cut, but cure.
• Cleaning up the old blogs and deleting old data

INSPIRATION

Be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Last week was busy and productive too. I actually stayed on schedule with my second chat time which makes me feel like I may really be getting back on track with my blog.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW & THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

It is sunny with fluffy clouds looking really nice – until you open the door!

We need rain and got a little last night, but once again we are getting super high temperatures (88.9 ALREADY this morning) on its way to 95, super high dew points (88+ degrees), super high humidity (98%+)  making the heat indexes extremely high, (feels like 124°+ according to weather underground‘s calculations) well over 100 degrees, miserable and makes you dehydrated so quickly! Last night’s rain just makes it feel that much worse. This is why they have me staying indoors so much.

Have I mentioned that I really like weather underground as it gives you so much information, but love the videos on The Weather Channel to.  In another life I would love to have been a storm chaser.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE

Orange BOOST and coffee

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

There’s a little to be picked up, but not too bad.

WEEKLY TO DO LIST & HOUSE PROJECTS

• APPOINTMENTS… FINALLY the appointment with the surgeon later this week which should give me a timeline for getting life back on track as well as a few other appointments that will keep it a busy week.
• LAUNDRY… I’m doing a major baking soda & vinegar wash and rinse on ALL the linens to freshen them up from the horrendously hard water we have here.
  
• LIVING AREAS… Did the floors last week, but need to a deep clean on the bathrooms. The horrendously hard water will take a toll on our brand new sinks and toilets if I don’t do this regularly.
  
• KITCHEN… quite clean, but I plan to make a mess soon as I probably only have this week and maybe next to cook before things get crazy and hubby goes into bachelor cooking mode. 
  
• STUDIO… I’m doing some recipe updating and planning for future posts as I consolidate all my old blogs into this one. At least I’ll feel like I‘m cooking while I’m on such a restrictive diet for the next few months.
• YARD… Nothing – I ordered a new “lawnmower” for hubby and it will be here tomorrow though.

CURRENTLY READING & TELEVISION / DVR

We’re still binging on The Walking Dead and afnished Season 6 last night unaware that season 7 is not yet on NetFlix. I’m really glad my brother advised us not to get too attached to any one character! I was mad when they killed off Hershel and now I’m mad that Tyreese is gone too!  I can’t wait for season 7 so we can be totally caught up before te regular season starts in the fall.

We’ve added The Fall with Gillian Anderson from the X-Files to our list of newly started series along with Travelers and Between.

I’m still almost done with Book #1, NORA ROBERTS LAND of Ava Miles’ series for Dare Valley. I do love to read series where you really get to know ALL the characters, but just haven’t been reading much lately – figure I’ll have plenty of time to do that soon.

• NIGHT SHIFT
• SUPERHUMAN – some of these people amaze me SOOOOO much!  I wish I was this talented.
• AMERICA’S GOT TALENT – always a fun watch – loving the new softer side of Simon
  
• DATE MY DAD – it’s pretty cute and I want to look as good as Raquel Welch does when I’m her age!
  
• GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW – I just love this show – they are always so civilized and nice with recipes that make me WANT to be a better baker.
• MASTER CHEF – there are some interesting characters this season
  
• THE “F” WORD – I love this fun new side of Gordon Ramsey

CRAFTS / PROJECTS

Here are a few more ideas for homemade Christmas presents.

MENU PLANS

SUCCESSFUL RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

• DURANGO CHICKEN
• CAST IRON SKILLET CHICKEN
• BUTTERMILK CHIVE CHICKEN
• FRITO BRITTLE
• STICKY GLAZED ANYTHING
• BEEF STROGANOFF

HEALTH & BEAUTY TIPS

HOMEMAKING/COOKING TIP

ON MY MIND

FAVORITE PHOTO FROM THE CAMERA

I gave all the plants serious showers, haircuts and root refreshings this past week.

INSPIRATION

Be sure to link up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Happy homemaker Monday and with Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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