Category: PRINCESS SASSY PANTS

Oh my, can you believe we are already at the end of January? I find it mind boggling! Seems like we were just preparing for Christmas and now we’re about to start February.

Be sure to join us for Happy Homemaker Monday and link up with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

We are certainly having a cold and wet winter here in the Pacific North West. This is one of those winters where it doesn’t really matter where you are in the country, there’s something rearing its ugly head! Everyone stay dry and warm wherever you are. As for us, out temperatures are heading back down and the snow predictions are back in the mix for later this week. Right now I’d take the snow over the rain as we have the same roof leak this year on the new (only a couple years old) roof that appears to be coming from a flashing problem and comes down via the exhaust fan in the laundry room. I change the towel on the floor daily so it’s manageable which is the good news. The bad news is that the roofer can’t seem to get to us as everyone else is having worse problems – you can just tell when you talk to him that staying friendly will move you up the list faster than angry – oh the woes of warranty work.

Like the rest of the country we have a bit of a warming trend through today here, but then we drop back down into the 30’s and 40’s with that threat of snow for the weekend. I’m working at the Pond house this week several days, today being one of them and it’s still a bit of a grungy clean out so I have on OLD Levis, my least favorite hoodie and my oldest UGGs.

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS

LAUNDRY & CLEANING I’m still in the midst of a deep sort and clean. These estate sales really drive me to get better organized. I also always find things I want, but my new rule is that for everything I get, I get rid of two things I already have. I also have a pile of mending and ironing to do. GROCERIES & ERRANDS I have to do some grocery shopping for an elderly friend today and then I have a pedicure tomorrow when I’ll do my own grocery shopping. Hubby and I will be taking off Thursday to go check out a new (to us) salvage house and have a late lunch/dinner at the OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY on Thursday which is the anniversary of my cancer surgery and ultimately remission date. PAPERWORK, PHONE CALLS, PROJECTS & TRAVELS I’m still working at cleaning up my desk area, which of course is a never ending battle 😀 RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I FINALLY made it ALL the way through my pile of scraps of paper notes and magazine cut out recipes, tossing many of them, and am in the process of organizing them. TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE: Last night at dinner my girlfriend brought me some cookbooks from her mom – like I said, it’s a never ending battle 😀

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV

I’ve been so busy that TV has been almost non-existent around here except for some late night sit-coms and Kid’s Baking Championship. Some of the network shows are starting back and we need to check out the DVR. We started re-watching GRIMM on Saturday night. And of course football yesterday! Congratulations Jean to the Chiefs win! Personally, I was rooting for the Lions to up against them, but maybe next year. 😀

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀

	1/29 MONDAY	1/30 TUESDAY	1/31 WEDNESDAY	2/1 THURSDAY	2/2 FRIDAY	2/3 SATURDAY	2/4 SUNDAY
DINNER	CIDER BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS & ROOT VEGGIES	HOT CHICKEN SALAD	WHISKEY PINEAPPLE CHICKEN with BUTTERMILK MASHED POTATOES	OUT at OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY	LEMON GLAZED MEATBALLS with CREAMY MAC & CHEESE	SPAGHETTI & MEATBALL SOUP with PARMESAN PAN ROLLS	TOMATILLO CHICKEN with CILANTRO CHILE RICE
DESSERT		PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

This has been a VERY wet winter. This normally docile river can’t even be seen under this bridge and is barely flowing, but right now it’s a raging river and has turned VERY brown from all the mud being washed into it.

We have a fun local chain in the Pacific Northwest of restaurants that we seek out as we travel. They are called McMenamins. Each location has some historic value like having been an old train station or an Elk’s temple or Catholic school or a family farm or roadside inn… Many have lodging, breweries and their own distilleries. They remodel them and their themes are ALWAYS quite unique and eclectic, but specific to each location staying true to its origins. These pictures are of some finials on an inside fence at our local “train station”. The ceiling is also full of unique and mismatched chandeliers.

• CHICKEN CHILE RELLENOS STRATA
• FONDANT aka MELTING POTATOES

 

• RED VELVET CAKE
• CHICKEN & CHEESE PIE aka MEXICAN QUICHE
• VANILLA BEAN CHEESECAKE
  

And after being out on New Year’s Eve last night for the first time in MANY a year, I really have no intention of doing much – other than staying in my PJ’s and relaxing today. Be sure to join us for Happy Homemaker Monday and link up with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Surprise, it’s cold, gray and rainy here in the Pacific North West. We’re still JUST a bit above normal which is not predicted to last, but it’s a wet cold in the low 40’s during the day with night time lows of mid 30’s. The years we don’t have snow for Christmas usually bring snow in the new year and this year won’t disappoint evidently. We have a dip in temperatures predicted at the end of the week with snow predicted for the weekend on.

Hubby got me several new flannels for Christmas so I’ll be trying those out this week with Levis, turtlenecks and my favorite UGGs.

I’m starting off 2024 FRESH with a new look here on the blog, but also my outlook on what I want to accomplish in this new year. The blog look may change a few times as I adjust to the color combinations 😀

I’m even attempting a new way to combine all my different lists, calendars and planners into one place. I found an easy to use calendar/planner from a company called Fringe that is compact, yet full size and to all appearances will allow me to keep ALL my planning in one place instead of multiple planners, whether it’s birthdays, appointments or meals. WISH ME LUCK 😀 I’ve used the same brand and style of calendar/system for so many years now I’m just not sure if I’ll be able to do it, but have high hopes in eliminating all the multiple planners.

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS

LAUNDRY & CLEANING/GROCERIES & ERRANDS This week I’ll be cleaning up from the holidays and doing a deep cleaning all around. I actually have no appointments and did all the shopping last Friday other than the Eagles shopping on Wednesday afternoon. I’m even starting off with NO laundry besides what we wore to the party last night. PAPERWORK, PHONE CALLS, PROJECTS & TRAVELS I’ll be cleaning up the end of year files and boxes of receipts and trying to get rid of all the stray notes on my desk so I can start the new year off less cluttered. RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I’m deciding which cookbook to cook from for the remainder of the month after I finish a few leftover recipes, but leaning towards a new one from Taste of Home, the “all-new MOST REQUESTED recipes” that came in my last quarterly box. I have a list of some “scheduled” to post recipes I want to use this month also.

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV

We just finished the 2nd season of REACHER on Prime and will watch the Kid’s Baking Championship on Food Network that begins tonight and football of course. Besides that not much is worth our time.

I’m about halfway through Marie Force’s current book STATE of BLISS, book #6 of the First Family series.

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀 Jean did suggest some coffee yogurt and I was able to find it, but it just wasn’t the same 🙁

There were so many meals in December that were altered or downright canceled that I’m rolling many of them over into January. I was able to end the year with a cleaned out refrigerator and am looking forward to cleaning out the freezer and pantry this next month.

My plan is to then pick one cookbook each month and cook all the “tagged” recipes from that book before donating the book. I’ll only keep the recipes we REALLY liked and will add them to my actual recipe box.

	MONDAY 1/1	TUESDAY 1/2	WEDNESDAY 1/3	THURSDAY 1/4	FRIDAY 1/5	SATURDAY 1/6	SUNDAY 1/7
DINNER	BLACK EYED PEA CHILI & CORN BREAD	WHITE CHICKEN CHILI LASAGNA	CORN clean out refrigerator night	ROLLED FLANK STEAK and CAULIFLOWER GRATIN	CHICKEN CORDON BLEU and SALAD	PORK CHOPS with APPLE STUFFING	CARNITAS with HOT PINEAPPLE SAUCE & SALAD
DESSERT	probably nothing as there are still plenty of holiday treats around 😀

Usually the sunsets are the gorgeous ones, but this was midday to the east a couple days ago.

• TEX MEX RANCH CHICKEN CASSEROLE
• LASAGNA STUFFED GARLIC BREAD

• RED CABBAGE SALAD
• NO KNEAD SALAMI BREAD
• LEMON BLUEBERRY TURNOVERS

Be sure to join us for Happy Homemaker Monday and link up with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Please don’t shoot the messenger, but it’s 91 days until Christmas.

Now that fall is officially here, the weather has cooled down significantly and now that October is upon us my thoughts have turned to the holidays. I’m beginning to plan my BLOGMAS 2023 posts and a couple friends and I are even planning the menu for our New Years Party 😀

RAIN! GLORIOUS RAIN! We are over 9 inches behind our yearly average and in MUCH need of this strange wet stuff. It FINALLY started raining yesterday and I couldn’t be happier! The temperature also dropped to the low to mid 60’s for a high and lows are in the high 40’s.

The South West Conference is over! I couldn’t be happier about that for sure! The building was beautiful and welcoming. The planned entertainment was a great success and I hear the food was good. Our bartenders were on fire and worked their rock star butts off!

Many of the things that have been so stressful regarding the Eagles I have decided to just put in God’s hands and let them play out amongst the other members. I believe that the woman “in charge” that is such a nightmare is truly showing her true colors and those that were previously unaware are FINALLY becoming aware which is a good thing as it will be shouldered and decided as a group from here on out. Unfortunately, she is being fueled by a couple others within our city and another that are also self appointed dictators aka low level know it alls with loud voices who aren’t afraid to use them even when they are in the wrong. 🙁

I have high hopes that life will be better from here on out, but either way my duties will return to only those things I choose to be involved with and most of those are for the good of the WHOLE lodge so I don’t need to interact with her. 😀

I’m doing a little bit of theraflu and a yogurt this morning. Not because I’m ill, but after being around so many people this weekend I’m considering it precautionary with the change in weather also.

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS

LAUNDRY & CLEANING I was able to get caught up on the laundry yesterday afternoon and will begin a deep clean for the change of seasons. GROCERIES & ERRANDS I’m excited to get caught up with EVERY aspect of a NORMAL routine 😀 I’ll do the majority of this category on Friday. PAPERWORK, PHONE CALLS, PROJECTS & TRAVELS Thursday is the day I will tackle this mess 😀 RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING Menus are planned through October and I don’t anticipate many if any changes to it.

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV

All the strikes and lack of a good fall line-up is keeping us binge watching some other shows and catching up on the Food Network. I’m enjoying the fall baking and Halloween shows. I’m also catching up on BBQ Brawl.

I’m reading Heather Webber’s latest book, At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities

A mysterious letter. An offer taken. And the chance to move forward.

When Ava Harrison receives a letter containing an unusual job listing one month after the sudden death of her ex-boyfriend, she thinks she’s being haunted. The listing—a job as a live-in caretaker for a peculiar old man and his cranky cat in Driftwood, Alabama—is the perfect chance to start a new life. A normal life. Ava has always been too fearful to even travel, so no one’s more surprised than she is when she throws caution to the wind and drives to the distant beachside town.

On the surface, Maggie Mae Brightwell is a bundle of energy as she runs Magpie’s, Driftwood’s coffee and curiosity shop, where there’s magic to be found in pairing the old with the new. But lurking under her cheerful exterior is a painful truth—keeping busy is the best way to distract herself from the lingering loss of her mama and her worries about her aging father. No one knows better than she does that you can’t pour from an empty cup, but holding on to the past is the only thing keeping the hope alive that her mama will return home one day.

Ava and Maggie soon find they’re kindred spirits, as they’re both haunted—not by spirits, but by regret. Both must learn to let go of the past to move on—because sometimes the waves of change bring you to the place where you most belong.

Carrie, I updated the South West Chicken Salad finally 😀

	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
BREAKFAST	HOT WATER & YOGURT	HOT WATER & YOGURT	HOT WATER & YOGURT	HOT WATER & YOGURT	HOT WATER & YOGURT	SCRAMBLED EGGS	BRUNCH @ BACKSIDE
LUNCH	OUT	TACO TUESDAY	NELLIE’S DELI	LEFTOVERS	TUNA SANDWICHES	MAC & CHEESE	WINGS & TOTS
DINNER	CASSOULET & SMASHED POTATOES	ANTIPASTO SQUARES	TEXAS RANCH CHICKEN CASSEROLE & COPPER PENNIES	YOYO or CORN You’re on YOUR own or Clean Out the Refrigerator	MARSALA PORK CHOPS with CRANBERRY RICE	OVEN BRISKET AND POTATO SALAD	BEEF STEW & ANGEL BISCUITS
DESSERT		DRUNKEN EAGLES

I didn’t get many “regular” pictures taken this week with being so busy, but my girlfriends and I did have a bit of fun at the conference photo “booth”.

Our bartenders were on fire. They worked and sang their rock star butts off!

• DRUNKEN EAGLES
• SOUTH WEST CHICKEN SALAD