Today -well, actually it's yesterday now since I'm writing this at 2 a.m. Friday, the 18th -was as everyone is aware, St. Patrick's Day.
It's a time when everyone or darned near everyone anyway, becomes a bit Irish, isn't it?
I've always "celebrated" St. Patrick's Day -often with several mugs of green beer too.
This year, for our "family" dinner this past Sunday I cooked a nice brisket of corned beef along with the potatoes, carrots and of course, cabbage for Mandy, my son and his girlfriend and myself all to enjoy. Didn't figure the kids would partake of this since they tend not to care for meat and potatoes but to my surprise, Maya and Kurtis both ate a little of the dinner and without a major hassle either -except for the cabbage -which they both pulled that substance off to the side and ignored it.
They each asked what that was and in an effort to avoid a lot of whining and complaining about how neither of them likes cabbage, I first told them to eat it, cause it's a vegetable. Well, the kids both turned into question boxes then and wanted to know the name of the vegetable so, continuing in my ploy to avoid saying "Cabbage" in front of them, I told them this was the "C" vegetable -a new item and very tasty. They bought that line long enough to at least taste the cabbage anyway.
Monday, I made my own corned beef hash by grinding up a little of the left over meat along with the leftover veggies and baked it -with some eggs broken on top of the hash. I figured by grinding the veggies all up, they'd get the cabbage and not even know it was in there and that actually worked! Not perfectly, but they ate a bit of the hash better that way than they would have if I'd simply just reheated the veggies and served it up.
Because I managed to volunteer to provide a dessert out at our church on three separate occasions over the coming month and I wanted to find something new, exciting-maybe -and different to fix, I bought one of those little cookbooks you see in the magazine racks at the store.
This one was all cupcakes! Some different recipes in some cases but a lot of them were neat and cute little ways to dress up cupcakes. I don't know why but I've never been big on making cupcakes for some reason or other but today, I decided to try this one recipe that looked really simple and interesting -St. Patrick's Day cupcakes!
It was an easy recipe -and no fancy decorating either -simply make this cake (from scratch) and add to it a package of instant pistachio pudding mix -which makes the cake a lovely light green shade. The frosting -also extremely simple -a can of cream cheese frosting with a couple drops of green food coloring in it.
Maya was quite excited about the cupcakes she saw when she arrived home from school. Mandy had been in town running some errands and had picked up a few groceries there which also included a box of six cupcakes too. So now, all of a sudden, we had 18, not just a dozen cupcakes here!
As Mandy looked around and saw that, she remarked to the new TSS here to work with Maya that this was the difference between a "modern" mother and a Grandma in that she had purchased cupcakes and Gram had made homemade cupcakes!
Then, she added to that thought by telling the TSS that this was one big way Gram is a lot different now than she was when Mandy was a kid because after all, Gram never made any special desserts for her and her siblings back then for St. Patrick's Day and why was that anyway?
My response?
I didn't have this cookbook back then!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Faulty Lens?
Back in December I finally got around to making an appointment to have my eyes checked and then, got myself not just one, but two new pair of much needed new glasses! (You know -one of those buy one pair, get the second pair for half price or some wacko deal like that -which according to my math, didn't exactly work out to what I thought it would, but anyway. I got the 2nd pair as my own insurance policy you could say. Since I am blind as a bat without my glasses, I figured if something happened to the one pair, like a broken lens or some such, I wouldn't be stuck and unable to see my hands before me then with a back-up pair.)
But anyway, so I got these new glasses, right? And I was kind of expecting miracles I guess that it would enable me to see, to read better but somehow or other now, other things are happening.
I find myself reading things but I am reading them incorrectly it seems. Mixing up words sometimes and kind of misplacing letters which then confuses the heck out of me and I have to go back and read and re-read stuff several times then as a result of that little problem.
I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with the lens on the new glasses but the rate with which these mix-ups are taking place has me wondering if I have developed a severe case of dyslexia in my old age!
Darned good thing I'm not looking for any finance jobs is it -considering how frequently I am mixing up numbers when I read!
About two weeks ago, I misread a viewing time for a friend who had died and mentioned this to my good friend, Shirley. We both had a good laugh over that because it seems she too is experiencing the same problem with her reading!
Misery does love company though, ya know!
But anyway, so I got these new glasses, right? And I was kind of expecting miracles I guess that it would enable me to see, to read better but somehow or other now, other things are happening.
I find myself reading things but I am reading them incorrectly it seems. Mixing up words sometimes and kind of misplacing letters which then confuses the heck out of me and I have to go back and read and re-read stuff several times then as a result of that little problem.
I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with the lens on the new glasses but the rate with which these mix-ups are taking place has me wondering if I have developed a severe case of dyslexia in my old age!
Darned good thing I'm not looking for any finance jobs is it -considering how frequently I am mixing up numbers when I read!
About two weeks ago, I misread a viewing time for a friend who had died and mentioned this to my good friend, Shirley. We both had a good laugh over that because it seems she too is experiencing the same problem with her reading!
Misery does love company though, ya know!
Previous Employment Memory
Way back when, in the time I frequently now refer to as being "When I lived in the dark ages" (cause that's how old my kids have always thought me to be) I worked for that big outfit in D.C. that often strikes fear in to political rhetoric for their defense of the Second Amendment.
I figure most of you can figure out easily enough that I'm referring of course to the National Rifle Association.
I worked there for eight years and to be honest, I loved working there. I really did!
It's kind of funny though when I think back on how my beliefs were when I was hired were a bit skewed to be working for them though because I was a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, fairly strong feminist too back then and I firmly believed that the lack of gun control had been a major issue with respect to the assassination of President Kennedy.
When I left there, I was still a liberal, still on the feminist bandwagon too but my views on gun control had changed a bit by then.
But that isn't what I'm writing about here in this post. I'm writing about the last job I had while working there and that was being in charge of a program called "Coupon Awards."
This program was set up originally to provide awards of considerable value to those people who competed in various NRA sponsored competitions around the country through gun clubs who were registered with the NRA.
The first awards were pieces of sterling silver flatware and other decorative items made of sterling silver but some of the competitors began asking if there couldn't be other items made available to them to turn in their "coupons" they won at these competitions and so, my boss put me in charge of finding companies where we could purchase gift items of various types at wholesale and then, put together a catalog the competitors could request and make their selections from said catalog. Kind of like a "Green Stamp" type operation if you remember receiving those stamps when you purchased things at select stores that gave them out.
I really learned a lot while working to get that catalog put together and to set up plans with the companies we joined forces with for them to drop ship items ordered through the NRA directly to the competitors and had a lot of diverse items from which they could choose their prize -or gift -whichever you would care to call it.
I had items that people who enjoyed all types of guns -whether it be for competitions or for hunting -with companies where they could get things like Bausch and Lomb glasses and binoculars, bushnell rifle scopes, bench loading equipment on one hand as well as Corning dishes, Coleman camping items, to name a few things we lined up for their shopping pleasure.
Once the catalog was set up and in place, I then handled all the requests from the competitors from start to finish -to make sure they received the correct items and took care of any problems that could -and sometimes did -occur in the process too.
It was a very interesting job to see the program as it began and then grew to a point where it was profitable from all angles and gave me a great boost to my ego then to see it flourish as it did.
When I left that area and moved back to my hometown -where I still live today -I really missed not doing that work and not being able to find anything that provided as much of a challenge to me as that job had done.
But that was the choice I had made when I decided to return to living out in the sticks I guess.
I figure most of you can figure out easily enough that I'm referring of course to the National Rifle Association.
I worked there for eight years and to be honest, I loved working there. I really did!
It's kind of funny though when I think back on how my beliefs were when I was hired were a bit skewed to be working for them though because I was a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, fairly strong feminist too back then and I firmly believed that the lack of gun control had been a major issue with respect to the assassination of President Kennedy.
When I left there, I was still a liberal, still on the feminist bandwagon too but my views on gun control had changed a bit by then.
But that isn't what I'm writing about here in this post. I'm writing about the last job I had while working there and that was being in charge of a program called "Coupon Awards."
This program was set up originally to provide awards of considerable value to those people who competed in various NRA sponsored competitions around the country through gun clubs who were registered with the NRA.
The first awards were pieces of sterling silver flatware and other decorative items made of sterling silver but some of the competitors began asking if there couldn't be other items made available to them to turn in their "coupons" they won at these competitions and so, my boss put me in charge of finding companies where we could purchase gift items of various types at wholesale and then, put together a catalog the competitors could request and make their selections from said catalog. Kind of like a "Green Stamp" type operation if you remember receiving those stamps when you purchased things at select stores that gave them out.
I really learned a lot while working to get that catalog put together and to set up plans with the companies we joined forces with for them to drop ship items ordered through the NRA directly to the competitors and had a lot of diverse items from which they could choose their prize -or gift -whichever you would care to call it.
I had items that people who enjoyed all types of guns -whether it be for competitions or for hunting -with companies where they could get things like Bausch and Lomb glasses and binoculars, bushnell rifle scopes, bench loading equipment on one hand as well as Corning dishes, Coleman camping items, to name a few things we lined up for their shopping pleasure.
Once the catalog was set up and in place, I then handled all the requests from the competitors from start to finish -to make sure they received the correct items and took care of any problems that could -and sometimes did -occur in the process too.
It was a very interesting job to see the program as it began and then grew to a point where it was profitable from all angles and gave me a great boost to my ego then to see it flourish as it did.
When I left that area and moved back to my hometown -where I still live today -I really missed not doing that work and not being able to find anything that provided as much of a challenge to me as that job had done.
But that was the choice I had made when I decided to return to living out in the sticks I guess.
Generational Wardrobe Gap?
Watching Maya play here in the house gets me to thinking about games I played too as a child -the pretend syndrome, ya know.
I used to get into one cupboard in my Grandparents room where I knew my Grandma had a big bag of very (and I do mean VERY) old dresses from around the turn of the century and I would try those dresses on to pretend to be going to some fancy dance or some such event.
Maya has a box full of items purchased with the sole intent of a child wearing them for pretending to be a princess or a ballerina.
When I was a year or two older than Maya is now, my heroine was the late Dale Evans and my dream was to be a cowgirl, complete with a holster set and 2 guns!
Okay, so I was a bit of a tomboy is what many would say about those childish visions I suppose.
Lately though, Maya has been really concentrating on dancing around in the living room, trying her level best (without instruction) to stand and then twirl on her tippy toes. She's now thinking along the lines of being either a ballerina or a cheer leader, since that's another outfit she has in her "pretend" bag of clothes.
When I was a kid, we used to play Cowboys (or cowgirls, I suppose) and Indians -no special outfits required for us to play in then.
I hope that Maya doesn't decide she wants to be a cowgirl now though cause then Mandy would have to go shopping for some kind of equestrian apparel I suppose. (I think the thrill of playing Cowboys and Indians has decreased because one rarely sees any western programs on the TV these days for kids to get ideas to copy that genre though.)
In truth, I do enjoy watching her run through the different outfits she has to wear in her pretend play. Imagination as it begins to blossom in young children is a really fascinating thing to observe, ya know.
Last summer, after watching the physician's assistant remove the staples from my abdomen (from my surgery), she wanted to be a doctor then. She's absolutely fascinated by any little cuts or bruises she might see on my arms or legs and goes running for the bandaid box to apply bandages to those tiny marks she finds and then tells me that she's making it all better for me.
Of course, one has to keep an eye on her ideas there because if you aren't careful and she finds those little bitty injuries, she's also just liable to decide to scratch at them till she gets the healing process disturbed and it begins to bleed then.
Makes me wonder if she reverts back to the idea of a career in medicine, just what kind of surgeon she might turn out to be since often she's the one inflicting the injury -or re-injuring it, at the very least anyway.
It's all in the name of play right now though, isn't it?
I used to get into one cupboard in my Grandparents room where I knew my Grandma had a big bag of very (and I do mean VERY) old dresses from around the turn of the century and I would try those dresses on to pretend to be going to some fancy dance or some such event.
Maya has a box full of items purchased with the sole intent of a child wearing them for pretending to be a princess or a ballerina.
When I was a year or two older than Maya is now, my heroine was the late Dale Evans and my dream was to be a cowgirl, complete with a holster set and 2 guns!
Okay, so I was a bit of a tomboy is what many would say about those childish visions I suppose.
Lately though, Maya has been really concentrating on dancing around in the living room, trying her level best (without instruction) to stand and then twirl on her tippy toes. She's now thinking along the lines of being either a ballerina or a cheer leader, since that's another outfit she has in her "pretend" bag of clothes.
When I was a kid, we used to play Cowboys (or cowgirls, I suppose) and Indians -no special outfits required for us to play in then.
I hope that Maya doesn't decide she wants to be a cowgirl now though cause then Mandy would have to go shopping for some kind of equestrian apparel I suppose. (I think the thrill of playing Cowboys and Indians has decreased because one rarely sees any western programs on the TV these days for kids to get ideas to copy that genre though.)
In truth, I do enjoy watching her run through the different outfits she has to wear in her pretend play. Imagination as it begins to blossom in young children is a really fascinating thing to observe, ya know.
Last summer, after watching the physician's assistant remove the staples from my abdomen (from my surgery), she wanted to be a doctor then. She's absolutely fascinated by any little cuts or bruises she might see on my arms or legs and goes running for the bandaid box to apply bandages to those tiny marks she finds and then tells me that she's making it all better for me.
Of course, one has to keep an eye on her ideas there because if you aren't careful and she finds those little bitty injuries, she's also just liable to decide to scratch at them till she gets the healing process disturbed and it begins to bleed then.
Makes me wonder if she reverts back to the idea of a career in medicine, just what kind of surgeon she might turn out to be since often she's the one inflicting the injury -or re-injuring it, at the very least anyway.
It's all in the name of play right now though, isn't it?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Art Linkletter Was Right!!!
How many of you, my readers, remember the old Art Linkletter show, "People Are Funny?"
And if you, like me, watched that program way back when, you'll remember that he always had a segment called "Kids Say the Darnedest Things" and boy, is that ever the truth!
Having raised three kids of my own and now, working with my younger daughter here to help her see to raising her two youngsters, that segment of good old Mr. Linkletter's show comes back to me almost daily now!
The grandchildren here do say some really choice things from time to time, that's for sure!
Last week one day, Mandy was up in her room, putting clothes away and she heard Kurtis coming up the stairs. She knew since the door to his room as well as to Maya's room were each closed and her door was open, that he would be coming into her room as a result. So, she decided to play a little trick on him and she knelt down beside the dresser and when he came into the room, she jumped up at him, and yelled "RARRRGH!"
Well, she about scared the living daylights out of the poor kid, don't 'cha know!
She told me later that he immediately started to pout and got this "poor me, poor me" look he gets on his face so she felt sorry for him and hugging him, told him she was sorry to see she had evidently frightened him so much.
His response to her was a very somber one as he pointed his finger at her and said, "Yes, you did scare me and DON'T you ever do that to me again!"
You have to love not just what they say but also the way they say it too.
This past weekend, while Mandy and Ken had gone down to Maryland for a quick visit with Ken's family there, Kurtis and Maya spent Friday and Saturday night with Mandy's best friend and her family at their place about six miles from here.
On Saturday, Nick had taken Kurtis outside to show him some construction work that is taking place almost in their backyard which involves a guy working there running a backhoe apparently.
Now Kurtis loves virtually anything with an engine -cars, trucks, sure but also trains, planes and big, heavy equipment too. But, he'd never seen something like a backhoe actually in action so he just about went bonkers watching the guy running that machine!
Nick, Mandy's friend's husband, said he just jumped up and down, squealing for joy and kept saying over and over, "I just can't believe that. I just can't believe that!"
Tonight now, after being put to bed, he started calling that he wanted something but I was unable to make out from downstairs exactly what he wanted so up the steps to his room I had to go.
When I went in there, he wasn't fussing at all, but rather, had a question burning in the back of his mind.
"If you get something sticky in your hair, will it make you turn into a ball and stick to things?" is what he asked me.
HUH? What the heck kind of question is that was my initial thought! He had the tv in his room on so I glanced over at that to see if maybe there was something on there about things in your hair or some such but the Disney channel didn't have anything that looked remotely like it referenced something like the question he'd given to me.
So I had to kind of fake it and just reassure him that nothing was going to happen to his hair, assuming that was what he was worried about.
His next statement then showed what really was on his mind though as he told me, "I need chocolate milk!"
Well, alrighty then! Actually that came as no surprise to me because it's pretty much standard operating procedures with him on a nightly basis!
When I came downstairs then to get him more milk, I told Elizabeth, my son's girlfriend, what I thought he'd asked me and she laughed and gave me the correct translation.
Seems he had asked her earlier if you got chewing gum in your hair, would it make you go bald? And when he had tried to ask me a similar question about that subject, where he was actually saying "bald" I mistook that word to be "ball" -either way, he's happy now knowing he has nothing to worry about!
Just as long as he doesn't put chewing gum in his hair cause that might cause his mother to start pulling her own hair out then while trying to remove chewing gum from his.
But also, I think some of this comes from questions in his mind too as he tries to understand what happened to my hair and why I was bald for the past almost four months and am finally beginning to have some regrowth there on my head now!
At least, that's my theory about that and I'm sticking to it!
And if you, like me, watched that program way back when, you'll remember that he always had a segment called "Kids Say the Darnedest Things" and boy, is that ever the truth!
Having raised three kids of my own and now, working with my younger daughter here to help her see to raising her two youngsters, that segment of good old Mr. Linkletter's show comes back to me almost daily now!
The grandchildren here do say some really choice things from time to time, that's for sure!
Last week one day, Mandy was up in her room, putting clothes away and she heard Kurtis coming up the stairs. She knew since the door to his room as well as to Maya's room were each closed and her door was open, that he would be coming into her room as a result. So, she decided to play a little trick on him and she knelt down beside the dresser and when he came into the room, she jumped up at him, and yelled "RARRRGH!"
Well, she about scared the living daylights out of the poor kid, don't 'cha know!
She told me later that he immediately started to pout and got this "poor me, poor me" look he gets on his face so she felt sorry for him and hugging him, told him she was sorry to see she had evidently frightened him so much.
His response to her was a very somber one as he pointed his finger at her and said, "Yes, you did scare me and DON'T you ever do that to me again!"
You have to love not just what they say but also the way they say it too.
This past weekend, while Mandy and Ken had gone down to Maryland for a quick visit with Ken's family there, Kurtis and Maya spent Friday and Saturday night with Mandy's best friend and her family at their place about six miles from here.
On Saturday, Nick had taken Kurtis outside to show him some construction work that is taking place almost in their backyard which involves a guy working there running a backhoe apparently.
Now Kurtis loves virtually anything with an engine -cars, trucks, sure but also trains, planes and big, heavy equipment too. But, he'd never seen something like a backhoe actually in action so he just about went bonkers watching the guy running that machine!
Nick, Mandy's friend's husband, said he just jumped up and down, squealing for joy and kept saying over and over, "I just can't believe that. I just can't believe that!"
Tonight now, after being put to bed, he started calling that he wanted something but I was unable to make out from downstairs exactly what he wanted so up the steps to his room I had to go.
When I went in there, he wasn't fussing at all, but rather, had a question burning in the back of his mind.
"If you get something sticky in your hair, will it make you turn into a ball and stick to things?" is what he asked me.
HUH? What the heck kind of question is that was my initial thought! He had the tv in his room on so I glanced over at that to see if maybe there was something on there about things in your hair or some such but the Disney channel didn't have anything that looked remotely like it referenced something like the question he'd given to me.
So I had to kind of fake it and just reassure him that nothing was going to happen to his hair, assuming that was what he was worried about.
His next statement then showed what really was on his mind though as he told me, "I need chocolate milk!"
Well, alrighty then! Actually that came as no surprise to me because it's pretty much standard operating procedures with him on a nightly basis!
When I came downstairs then to get him more milk, I told Elizabeth, my son's girlfriend, what I thought he'd asked me and she laughed and gave me the correct translation.
Seems he had asked her earlier if you got chewing gum in your hair, would it make you go bald? And when he had tried to ask me a similar question about that subject, where he was actually saying "bald" I mistook that word to be "ball" -either way, he's happy now knowing he has nothing to worry about!
Just as long as he doesn't put chewing gum in his hair cause that might cause his mother to start pulling her own hair out then while trying to remove chewing gum from his.
But also, I think some of this comes from questions in his mind too as he tries to understand what happened to my hair and why I was bald for the past almost four months and am finally beginning to have some regrowth there on my head now!
At least, that's my theory about that and I'm sticking to it!
Are You Covered?
I'm quite sure you, like me, (and if you watch TV at all) have seen all the various ads there about insurance -car insurance, homeowners insurance and yes, life insurance too.
Right?
But did you know there are various steps you should take for example, if you want to purchase different types of insurance -steps that will tell you exactly how to buy life insurance online.
I personally adhere to the idea that purchasing insurance is a good thing to do. Granted, I suppose some people might get a bit carried away with that and could possibly make themselves "insurance poor" as a result, but it's something I think everyone should at least look into and purchase some type of insurance, even if all you can afford is a small policy, that is much better than having no insurance whatsoever.
But then, I developed my ideas about life insurance when I was just a child and the insurance agent who represented the company through which my grandparents as well as my mother had purchased policies then, came around to our house every month to collect on those policies and to also, from time to time, recommend that they review them to make sure their coverage was adequate.
My grandparents and my Mom were strong believers in carrying life insurance and they did a good job, I think, of putting that idea firmly into my mind then too. As a result, I have always had a life insurance policy on myself ever since I got my very first job. It was one of the first commitments I made way back then to take out a policy on ME so that if/when something happens to me, my kids now won't have to worry about how to pay for my funeral, at least!
Think about that aspect if you haven't already and especially if you don't already have life insurance.
Just one more way to protect your kids after you're gone, ya know!
Right?
But did you know there are various steps you should take for example, if you want to purchase different types of insurance -steps that will tell you exactly how to buy life insurance online.
I personally adhere to the idea that purchasing insurance is a good thing to do. Granted, I suppose some people might get a bit carried away with that and could possibly make themselves "insurance poor" as a result, but it's something I think everyone should at least look into and purchase some type of insurance, even if all you can afford is a small policy, that is much better than having no insurance whatsoever.
But then, I developed my ideas about life insurance when I was just a child and the insurance agent who represented the company through which my grandparents as well as my mother had purchased policies then, came around to our house every month to collect on those policies and to also, from time to time, recommend that they review them to make sure their coverage was adequate.
My grandparents and my Mom were strong believers in carrying life insurance and they did a good job, I think, of putting that idea firmly into my mind then too. As a result, I have always had a life insurance policy on myself ever since I got my very first job. It was one of the first commitments I made way back then to take out a policy on ME so that if/when something happens to me, my kids now won't have to worry about how to pay for my funeral, at least!
Think about that aspect if you haven't already and especially if you don't already have life insurance.
Just one more way to protect your kids after you're gone, ya know!
A Real Blessing!
Did you know I have an anniversary -of sorts -coming up this week?
On March 17th, to be exact, it will be eight years since I was initially diagnosed with cancer -colo-rectal cancer to be precise.
I had chemotherapy and radiation, then surgery, then more chemotherapy after the therapy and although initially it was believed I would be able to rejoin the work force after the surgery and chemo, as things worked out, that wasn't to be.
I had a few other issues that came about and made me unable to return to work and as a result of that, I had to apply for social security disability.
When I first applied for disability, my application was turned down but I learned this is often the case and was advised then to re-apply. Thankfully, my second application was approved though and I then received disability until I turned 65, at which time, it was then switched over to regular social security retirement benefits.
Although at times it can be rather difficult to get approved for disability through social security, it is well worth appealing any decision that may have gone against you if you know that there is no way your system can withstand the physical and also, mental, pressures involved in holding down employment in your previous type of employment.
Since 2003, and my initial diagnosis, I have had several surgeries and also, last summer was diagnosed again with cancer. However this time it was a different form of cancer and not coming from the first diagnosis.
There are still many things I can do but I just can't do them in a sustained performance as I could before my illness and the complications that came about after the first surgery.
For openers, I can still type and for the most part, I can still think too. So I can occupy my time by writing my blog or e-mailing friends, things like that, which I don't have to do if my body is not being cooperative with me on any given day -which it does have a tendency now to be a bit contrary with me from time to time, ya know.
But ultimately I have to say this about the social security disability program and that is that it is truly a life saver as without that income, I would have lost my house and who knows what else and who knows where I would be today without that as well as medicare!
Two wonderful programs, both of which need to be maintained for generations to come because none of us knows what might befall us and prevent us from earning a living.
On March 17th, to be exact, it will be eight years since I was initially diagnosed with cancer -colo-rectal cancer to be precise.
I had chemotherapy and radiation, then surgery, then more chemotherapy after the therapy and although initially it was believed I would be able to rejoin the work force after the surgery and chemo, as things worked out, that wasn't to be.
I had a few other issues that came about and made me unable to return to work and as a result of that, I had to apply for social security disability.
When I first applied for disability, my application was turned down but I learned this is often the case and was advised then to re-apply. Thankfully, my second application was approved though and I then received disability until I turned 65, at which time, it was then switched over to regular social security retirement benefits.
Although at times it can be rather difficult to get approved for disability through social security, it is well worth appealing any decision that may have gone against you if you know that there is no way your system can withstand the physical and also, mental, pressures involved in holding down employment in your previous type of employment.
Since 2003, and my initial diagnosis, I have had several surgeries and also, last summer was diagnosed again with cancer. However this time it was a different form of cancer and not coming from the first diagnosis.
There are still many things I can do but I just can't do them in a sustained performance as I could before my illness and the complications that came about after the first surgery.
For openers, I can still type and for the most part, I can still think too. So I can occupy my time by writing my blog or e-mailing friends, things like that, which I don't have to do if my body is not being cooperative with me on any given day -which it does have a tendency now to be a bit contrary with me from time to time, ya know.
But ultimately I have to say this about the social security disability program and that is that it is truly a life saver as without that income, I would have lost my house and who knows what else and who knows where I would be today without that as well as medicare!
Two wonderful programs, both of which need to be maintained for generations to come because none of us knows what might befall us and prevent us from earning a living.
Udderly ...Interesting? Maybe.
Tonight for supper I decided to experiment a bit and make my own homemade corned beef hash. I had a good big of the potatoes and carrots, as well as the cabbage, left over from yesterday's dinner (had some nice slices of the meat too, in case you're wondering about that) and I figured if I just heated up the veggies, I'd get the same-old, same-old argument from the kids about not wanting to eat that because they don't like potatoes, or they don't like carrots and they don't like that other vegetable in that mixture either. (Yesterday, when they each pointed to the cabbage and asked what that was, I started out just telling them it was a vegetable and didn't say the name as I knew just hearing "Cabbage" would set them into an uproar. Eventually Maya asked more questions about the vegetable, being the little question box she is, ya know, so I ended up telling them the name of the vegetable was simply the "C" vegetable. Maya also wanted to know why it was named the "C" vegetable and I finally got out of that story by just saying that I didn't know why, but that's what it is called.)
So I figured if I fed this leftover stuff, all of it, into my little food chopper and chopped it up, then tried to brown it a tad in the frying pan, the cabbage would get kind of ground up and mixed in then with the potatoes, carrots and the couple pieces of meat I chopped up like that too. And it did sort of work in that Maya did eat most of the serving of hash that Mandy gave her. As an added attraction, when I stuck this combo in the oven, I added eggs to the mix by making a little indentation in the hash and cracking an egg into that so then the eggs "baked" -got kind of like poached eggs on the hash ya know. Maya did eat the egg on her serving along with most of the hash but Kurtis was his normal picky little self and took a couple of bites then ate toast. Oh well. Mandy and I both enjoyed the hash a lot anyway.
Towards the end of the meal, Kurtis decided it was high time that someone gave him some milk to drink, so Mandy poured a small glass for each of the kids. (Actually, only Kurt had milk as Maya wanted water.) Anyway, as he picked up his glass to take a drink, he asked us if there is water in milk. We told him no and Maya, being the little instructor now on virtually everything, decided she was going to explain about milke to Kurtis.
"Milk doesn't have water in it because it comes from cows," she very matter-of-factly informed her little brother. Then she started to try to give him a visual by demonstrating a little with her hands about cows and how they have these things that hang down and you grab hold of them and pull on them and that's how you get milk! It was really a cute demonstration on her part and she then asked Mandy what those things are called so sure, we both answered her question by telling her they are called udders.
But anyway, Mandy and I thought it was a really cute, pretty accurate description -"udderly correct" as a matter of fact -of where and how you get milk from cows!
This evening, I decided to check out what was on the PBS channel tonight since all it said for the evening viewing tonight on that channel was "Viewers Favorites" -which translated means pretty much it was a pot luck thing if you clicked that channel on as you wouldn't know in advance if it was going to be a favorite program of yours or perhaps of 50 million other viewers and was one you really didn't like at all.
However, I really lucked out tonight there as the show was a video made in 1980 of a reunion of "The Weavers" - a really great quartet singing group from the 50s primarily who ended up being black-balled back then due to Sen. McCarthy and his anti-communist hearings.
The program -two hours worth -was well worth watching! Great music to listen to them singing and also, the dialogue between the singers too was so interesting -Pete Seeger was one of the best known musicians in that group.
What was really sad though watching this group in clips from way back and also from the Reunion Concert in 1980 at Carnegie Hall, was how many years this group was unable to ply their craft -their music -because they had been black-balled. Such a waste there, ya know, to have no studio willing to record their music and no dj's who would play it, no clubs who would book them to sing. That, to my mind, was pure and simple, a criminal act in and of itself.
Listening to that music though took me back in time to memories of the first apartment I shared with three other young girls who, like I was at that time, were also employees of the FBI in the mid-60s.
Like almost all other young women living with a couple roommates back then in the D.C. suburbs, weekends were party time! And one of the groups my old roomies and I hung around with was a group of kids who were students at Catholic University -well, all except one guy who was attending the University of Maryland -and when they would show up at one of our weekend parties, it was inevitable that everyone would gather back in the larger of the two bedrooms in our apartment for our own version of a "Hootenany." (If you recall that show from the mid-60s, then you'll know what I am talking about there.)
Anyway, remembering how much fun we always had when two guys in particular would show up who were part of the group from Catholic University bringin their guitars and we would sing-along to whatever songs they picked out for us. The guys from Catholic U called their group a Social Fraternity and called themselves "The Senators." I don't remember names of most of the group -just a couple of them -Joe Srour, Jim Gallagher and Jack Campbell. There was a guy named Paul, who was really a riot, very funny, but I can't for the life of me remember his last name now. (And Jack Campbell was the one lone member of that group -honorary member I think he was -who went to the University of Maryland.)
But anyway, this was a great bunch of guys and we always had so much fun when they showed up. Nothing out-of-line at all -just good clean-cut fun with a little drinking thrown in!
Jack and Joe told me once that they knew where almost every party was being held around the D.C./Md/Va area every weekend because they had such an extensive line of communication with folks and they would get calls all week long telling them about a party at this apartment or that one.
Upon hearing that proclamation from those two clowns, I had challenged Jack that he couldn't possibly know where there was a party going on all over the entire radius of the D.C. area until one night, he proved it to me.
I remember it was a Friday night and at that time, I had moved from Maryland (SE, Prince George's County) over to Arlington, VA where I was sharing an apartment with another girl there. There was a good bit of commotion going on out in the hall outside our apartment about 9 p.m. and soon there was a banging too on our door. I remember answering the door to find Jack standing there and giving me the devil for having a party and not inviting him.
Turns out, my roomie and I weren't having a party but the guy who lived behind us was and Jack had been driving by, on his way to one of the parties on his list and saw a bunch of people entering our building and assumed it was my roomie, Mary, and me who were entertaining that night. When he found out it wasn't us but was our neighbor, who neither Mary or I knew at all (nor did Jack), he insisted then that we crash the party next door and he bet me that once in there, he would encounter someone there that he knew.
And, to my surprise, that's exactly what happened too! We crashed the party and within 5-10 minutes, Jack had found someone there who he knew from some where or other!
That always amazed me about him!
And see that show tonight, remembering the good old days of my roomies and my friends and I having our own fun-filled hootenanny, also got me to thinking too about those guys and wondering what ever happened to them.
I lost contact with them in late 1966 after Jack graduated and got a job as an engineer of some kind down in North Carolina some place. Joe, I think if I remember correctly, was majoring in Physics and was a grad student at the time I knew that group but I never heard what became of him. Jim Gallagher I think was a pre-med student but you know how it goes after so many years, one does forget things like that or you get one person confused with someone else too at times.
But it sure would be fun to know if they are still around some where and what they've been doing with their lives all these 40 plus years now!
So I figured if I fed this leftover stuff, all of it, into my little food chopper and chopped it up, then tried to brown it a tad in the frying pan, the cabbage would get kind of ground up and mixed in then with the potatoes, carrots and the couple pieces of meat I chopped up like that too. And it did sort of work in that Maya did eat most of the serving of hash that Mandy gave her. As an added attraction, when I stuck this combo in the oven, I added eggs to the mix by making a little indentation in the hash and cracking an egg into that so then the eggs "baked" -got kind of like poached eggs on the hash ya know. Maya did eat the egg on her serving along with most of the hash but Kurtis was his normal picky little self and took a couple of bites then ate toast. Oh well. Mandy and I both enjoyed the hash a lot anyway.
Towards the end of the meal, Kurtis decided it was high time that someone gave him some milk to drink, so Mandy poured a small glass for each of the kids. (Actually, only Kurt had milk as Maya wanted water.) Anyway, as he picked up his glass to take a drink, he asked us if there is water in milk. We told him no and Maya, being the little instructor now on virtually everything, decided she was going to explain about milke to Kurtis.
"Milk doesn't have water in it because it comes from cows," she very matter-of-factly informed her little brother. Then she started to try to give him a visual by demonstrating a little with her hands about cows and how they have these things that hang down and you grab hold of them and pull on them and that's how you get milk! It was really a cute demonstration on her part and she then asked Mandy what those things are called so sure, we both answered her question by telling her they are called udders.
But anyway, Mandy and I thought it was a really cute, pretty accurate description -"udderly correct" as a matter of fact -of where and how you get milk from cows!
This evening, I decided to check out what was on the PBS channel tonight since all it said for the evening viewing tonight on that channel was "Viewers Favorites" -which translated means pretty much it was a pot luck thing if you clicked that channel on as you wouldn't know in advance if it was going to be a favorite program of yours or perhaps of 50 million other viewers and was one you really didn't like at all.
However, I really lucked out tonight there as the show was a video made in 1980 of a reunion of "The Weavers" - a really great quartet singing group from the 50s primarily who ended up being black-balled back then due to Sen. McCarthy and his anti-communist hearings.
The program -two hours worth -was well worth watching! Great music to listen to them singing and also, the dialogue between the singers too was so interesting -Pete Seeger was one of the best known musicians in that group.
What was really sad though watching this group in clips from way back and also from the Reunion Concert in 1980 at Carnegie Hall, was how many years this group was unable to ply their craft -their music -because they had been black-balled. Such a waste there, ya know, to have no studio willing to record their music and no dj's who would play it, no clubs who would book them to sing. That, to my mind, was pure and simple, a criminal act in and of itself.
Listening to that music though took me back in time to memories of the first apartment I shared with three other young girls who, like I was at that time, were also employees of the FBI in the mid-60s.
Like almost all other young women living with a couple roommates back then in the D.C. suburbs, weekends were party time! And one of the groups my old roomies and I hung around with was a group of kids who were students at Catholic University -well, all except one guy who was attending the University of Maryland -and when they would show up at one of our weekend parties, it was inevitable that everyone would gather back in the larger of the two bedrooms in our apartment for our own version of a "Hootenany." (If you recall that show from the mid-60s, then you'll know what I am talking about there.)
Anyway, remembering how much fun we always had when two guys in particular would show up who were part of the group from Catholic University bringin their guitars and we would sing-along to whatever songs they picked out for us. The guys from Catholic U called their group a Social Fraternity and called themselves "The Senators." I don't remember names of most of the group -just a couple of them -Joe Srour, Jim Gallagher and Jack Campbell. There was a guy named Paul, who was really a riot, very funny, but I can't for the life of me remember his last name now. (And Jack Campbell was the one lone member of that group -honorary member I think he was -who went to the University of Maryland.)
But anyway, this was a great bunch of guys and we always had so much fun when they showed up. Nothing out-of-line at all -just good clean-cut fun with a little drinking thrown in!
Jack and Joe told me once that they knew where almost every party was being held around the D.C./Md/Va area every weekend because they had such an extensive line of communication with folks and they would get calls all week long telling them about a party at this apartment or that one.
Upon hearing that proclamation from those two clowns, I had challenged Jack that he couldn't possibly know where there was a party going on all over the entire radius of the D.C. area until one night, he proved it to me.
I remember it was a Friday night and at that time, I had moved from Maryland (SE, Prince George's County) over to Arlington, VA where I was sharing an apartment with another girl there. There was a good bit of commotion going on out in the hall outside our apartment about 9 p.m. and soon there was a banging too on our door. I remember answering the door to find Jack standing there and giving me the devil for having a party and not inviting him.
Turns out, my roomie and I weren't having a party but the guy who lived behind us was and Jack had been driving by, on his way to one of the parties on his list and saw a bunch of people entering our building and assumed it was my roomie, Mary, and me who were entertaining that night. When he found out it wasn't us but was our neighbor, who neither Mary or I knew at all (nor did Jack), he insisted then that we crash the party next door and he bet me that once in there, he would encounter someone there that he knew.
And, to my surprise, that's exactly what happened too! We crashed the party and within 5-10 minutes, Jack had found someone there who he knew from some where or other!
That always amazed me about him!
And see that show tonight, remembering the good old days of my roomies and my friends and I having our own fun-filled hootenanny, also got me to thinking too about those guys and wondering what ever happened to them.
I lost contact with them in late 1966 after Jack graduated and got a job as an engineer of some kind down in North Carolina some place. Joe, I think if I remember correctly, was majoring in Physics and was a grad student at the time I knew that group but I never heard what became of him. Jim Gallagher I think was a pre-med student but you know how it goes after so many years, one does forget things like that or you get one person confused with someone else too at times.
But it sure would be fun to know if they are still around some where and what they've been doing with their lives all these 40 plus years now!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Next Up -The Easter Bunny!
I love playing on the internet, looking at all kinds of websites and the stuff they have to offer, don't you?
Sometimes, it gives me some wild ideas of things to make and other times, I find things I think would be fairly reasonable, that I could purchase and give -especially little things for my two little grandkids here.
Nosing around tonight, I came across this site where you can get personalized Easter gifts for kids and found, of all things there, the cutest little tee shirt with Elmo (from the Muppets) on it that I know Kurtis would really love! He's always been a very big Elmo fan and that would really make for a cute gift and one that wouldn't give him any cavities either!
Seeing that reminded me how, when my kids were small and I was the local Avon Rep, I would get them only a couple of small candy items and then, stuff little Avon gifts into their baskets. I figured they still got their chocolate fix but also, that way, they got some other little gifties too that would last them a lot longer than the chocolate would.
As a matter of fact, I know Mandy still has a couple of the little necklaces I got for her back then and she has passed them all down to Maya now.
Always makes me feel good too when I see one of those pieces on Maya, ya know!
Sometimes, it gives me some wild ideas of things to make and other times, I find things I think would be fairly reasonable, that I could purchase and give -especially little things for my two little grandkids here.
Nosing around tonight, I came across this site where you can get personalized Easter gifts for kids and found, of all things there, the cutest little tee shirt with Elmo (from the Muppets) on it that I know Kurtis would really love! He's always been a very big Elmo fan and that would really make for a cute gift and one that wouldn't give him any cavities either!
Seeing that reminded me how, when my kids were small and I was the local Avon Rep, I would get them only a couple of small candy items and then, stuff little Avon gifts into their baskets. I figured they still got their chocolate fix but also, that way, they got some other little gifties too that would last them a lot longer than the chocolate would.
As a matter of fact, I know Mandy still has a couple of the little necklaces I got for her back then and she has passed them all down to Maya now.
Always makes me feel good too when I see one of those pieces on Maya, ya know!
Birthday Special?
Playing around here tonight on the computer and I found something really neat!
I'm not usually one who buys flowers and sends them but this really caught my eye.
I found this place where you can get exclusive ProFlowers coupons and with them, you can get some really neat deals!
One that definitely caught my eye was a special where you can get a dozen roses for $29.99 and with this special coupon, you could get another dozen for free!
Now, I ask you, How cool is that?
I'm thinking if my budget can cover it, that would make for a really neat gift for me to send a dozen roses to my older daughter for her birthday in about 3 weeks and at the same time, have another dozen sent here to Mandy for an early Easter present.
Now that would work quite well in my book!
I'm not usually one who buys flowers and sends them but this really caught my eye.
I found this place where you can get exclusive ProFlowers coupons and with them, you can get some really neat deals!
One that definitely caught my eye was a special where you can get a dozen roses for $29.99 and with this special coupon, you could get another dozen for free!
Now, I ask you, How cool is that?
I'm thinking if my budget can cover it, that would make for a really neat gift for me to send a dozen roses to my older daughter for her birthday in about 3 weeks and at the same time, have another dozen sent here to Mandy for an early Easter present.
Now that would work quite well in my book!
Wish I'd Remembered This....
My son and his girlfriend -along with her 5-month-old nephew were down here today for supper and conversation. I had made a big pot of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, onions and carrots today to have for our "St. Patrick's Day" meal because come St. Patty's Day, he'll be on the road, working, and to fix a meal like that for mainly just Mandy and me would involve way too much food for the two of us.
So anyway, we had our little celebration, so to speak, today along with some cupcakes that are actually Peanut Butter-filled Brownie cupcakes -and they were, as you can well imagine, very well received by everyone, especially the two youngest members of the household! I'm gonna be experimenting a bit this week with various dessert items because I am slated to bring a dessert next Sunday to the community Sunday Lenten Service which will be held at our church and I'm trying to find something a bit extra special then to take to that event.
Clate and his girlfriend are currently taking care of her sister's baby since she fell Friday night beside her car and broke both bones in one leg so she's a bit incapacitated now -and probably for a while too. The little guy is a roly-poly, good natured fellow though and Kurtis loves him to pieces. (So does Sammy, the dog, too! Sam's getting his "I'm a guard dog of babies and small children" hat on whenever they come down here now with the baby. Really cute to see how attentive both he and Kurtis are to the baby.)
But tonight she was telling me that she purchased a set of bunk beds -gonna need sleeping space like that for when her boys get here to live -and she's anticipating delivery of 'em this week sometime.
I didn't even think of this when they were here but I should have told her about the bunk beds I had bought years back for my kids and shown her some really neat ones I had seen too in the log furniture line!
Actually, I had bought two sets of bunk beds for my kids when they were small. The first set, white, with two drawers under each bed, were nice because of the extra storage space they provided.
The second set, that I bought about ten years later was the kind that had a double bed on the bottom and a single bed on the top and that set really worked very well in this house because of the extra sleeping space it provided in no more room than the double bed I used to have in the small bedroom had taken up. And that's really the kind of bunk beds she could definitely make use of with her boys!
I could just kick myself now that I didn't even think of the potential of something like that for her kids.
Boy, these senior moments just seem to come visit me more and more frequently all the time now, ya know!
So anyway, we had our little celebration, so to speak, today along with some cupcakes that are actually Peanut Butter-filled Brownie cupcakes -and they were, as you can well imagine, very well received by everyone, especially the two youngest members of the household! I'm gonna be experimenting a bit this week with various dessert items because I am slated to bring a dessert next Sunday to the community Sunday Lenten Service which will be held at our church and I'm trying to find something a bit extra special then to take to that event.
Clate and his girlfriend are currently taking care of her sister's baby since she fell Friday night beside her car and broke both bones in one leg so she's a bit incapacitated now -and probably for a while too. The little guy is a roly-poly, good natured fellow though and Kurtis loves him to pieces. (So does Sammy, the dog, too! Sam's getting his "I'm a guard dog of babies and small children" hat on whenever they come down here now with the baby. Really cute to see how attentive both he and Kurtis are to the baby.)
But tonight she was telling me that she purchased a set of bunk beds -gonna need sleeping space like that for when her boys get here to live -and she's anticipating delivery of 'em this week sometime.
I didn't even think of this when they were here but I should have told her about the bunk beds I had bought years back for my kids and shown her some really neat ones I had seen too in the log furniture line!
Actually, I had bought two sets of bunk beds for my kids when they were small. The first set, white, with two drawers under each bed, were nice because of the extra storage space they provided.
The second set, that I bought about ten years later was the kind that had a double bed on the bottom and a single bed on the top and that set really worked very well in this house because of the extra sleeping space it provided in no more room than the double bed I used to have in the small bedroom had taken up. And that's really the kind of bunk beds she could definitely make use of with her boys!
I could just kick myself now that I didn't even think of the potential of something like that for her kids.
Boy, these senior moments just seem to come visit me more and more frequently all the time now, ya know!
The Good Daughter
You know, I have to say this (and heaven knows, I don't say it nearly enough) but my daughters are both really great people! Yep, they most certainly are.
Okay -I confess there are times one, sometimes both of them, do tick me off a little bit, but I'm talking here about overall, both of them are really great all-around people regardless of what some twits here and there may try to say about them.
They just don't know them the way I do. Translated, of course, that means I love them, both of them -and just as much as I love their brother too!. (I had to throw that in for good measure, ya know!)
Take today, for example. Mandy knew I had wanted to go to church this a.m. but also must have figured out early on in the day too that I was really whipped and not feeling quite up to par -lots of aches and pains today so I slept a lot longer than I usually would. It helped a good bit -not quite enough as the back has still been aching off and on all day -but a little improvement is better than no improvement.
She even made a special run to the store in Kylertown to get me a copy of today's Sunday paper -Pittsburgh Post Gazette -which I like because they have a good TV guide magazine section and also, they usually have three -not just one -but yes, three, crossword puzzles on Sunday too! Of course, one is I think from the NY Times and I'm lucky if I can figure out 2 or 3 answers on that puppy though -which I find a bit depressing but anyway, such is life in the fast lane, right?
Today's magazine insert (Parade, maybe?) had a feature in it on jobs people across the country have and what they get paid along with some corresponding stuff about some of those same jobs as seen in various tv shows too. Like "Parks and Recreation" as well as "The Office."
They focused on a guy from the Scranton area and his job, compared to that of Jim, on "The Office" to portray sales jobs as an example and boy, that had me thinking I must have been looking for decent paying work in all the wrong places back when I was still working, still employable, ya know!
But, I have done sales work in the past and I'll say this for that kind of work, that it's a lot harder than most people think it is! Of course, I'm comparing apples to oranges here because the biggest sales job I ever had was selling Avon and I did that for a little over 18 years! It has its good points, for sure, but it is a sales position that one really has to work darned hard at in order to be successful with it, that's for sure.
However, considering I did that for 18 years, it wasn't all that bad either. Got me out and about and gave me opportunities to make lots of friends of people who lived in and around my area who I might never have met otherwise, and that's definitely worth something.
Agreed?
Okay -I confess there are times one, sometimes both of them, do tick me off a little bit, but I'm talking here about overall, both of them are really great all-around people regardless of what some twits here and there may try to say about them.
They just don't know them the way I do. Translated, of course, that means I love them, both of them -and just as much as I love their brother too!. (I had to throw that in for good measure, ya know!)
Take today, for example. Mandy knew I had wanted to go to church this a.m. but also must have figured out early on in the day too that I was really whipped and not feeling quite up to par -lots of aches and pains today so I slept a lot longer than I usually would. It helped a good bit -not quite enough as the back has still been aching off and on all day -but a little improvement is better than no improvement.
She even made a special run to the store in Kylertown to get me a copy of today's Sunday paper -Pittsburgh Post Gazette -which I like because they have a good TV guide magazine section and also, they usually have three -not just one -but yes, three, crossword puzzles on Sunday too! Of course, one is I think from the NY Times and I'm lucky if I can figure out 2 or 3 answers on that puppy though -which I find a bit depressing but anyway, such is life in the fast lane, right?
Today's magazine insert (Parade, maybe?) had a feature in it on jobs people across the country have and what they get paid along with some corresponding stuff about some of those same jobs as seen in various tv shows too. Like "Parks and Recreation" as well as "The Office."
They focused on a guy from the Scranton area and his job, compared to that of Jim, on "The Office" to portray sales jobs as an example and boy, that had me thinking I must have been looking for decent paying work in all the wrong places back when I was still working, still employable, ya know!
But, I have done sales work in the past and I'll say this for that kind of work, that it's a lot harder than most people think it is! Of course, I'm comparing apples to oranges here because the biggest sales job I ever had was selling Avon and I did that for a little over 18 years! It has its good points, for sure, but it is a sales position that one really has to work darned hard at in order to be successful with it, that's for sure.
However, considering I did that for 18 years, it wasn't all that bad either. Got me out and about and gave me opportunities to make lots of friends of people who lived in and around my area who I might never have met otherwise, and that's definitely worth something.
Agreed?
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Easiest Yummy Dessert Yet - Step by Step!
Occasionally, I have posted a recipe on my blog -one that I like a lot and also, that fills my recipe requirements in that it must be relatively EASY to fix.
I decided last night, while getting the ingredients lined up for the dessert I was going to make and which I took to church this morning for the lunch we served the conference held there today that I would take pictures of each step of the process in making this dessert item and then, post it all here on my blog.
This dessert, in my opinion, is super easy to make and as proof, I will tell you I've made many of these over the almost 30 years now since I acquired the recipe and never once has it failed me -or those who ate it either!
This recipe was given to me oh, probably about 1983, I'd say, and it came to me from "Mrs. Boyle" (of Midland, PA), the mother of the guy I was engaged to but then got really cold feet and walked away from the marriage idea then, apparently for good, cause here I am, still single! LOL
And, the name of this masterpiece of easy and deliciousness is "Banana Split Cake!"
Although there is no baking, no cake actually involved in this, it does resemble very much the scrumpdeliciousness of a Dairy Queen-type banana split though.
Anyone can make this delicacy and have a great item to put on your table for your family or something really terrific to take to a pot luck dinner or special meeting sometime, some place, some where. It's super easy to make and a novice cook can make it with extreme ease and for a gourmet-type cook, it's one of those recipes that is really a breeze to fix.
I'm definitely not in the gourmet cooking category as I am too lazy to do all the work involved in that type of cooking plus, a lot of those type of items also call for items that tend to be a lot too pricey for my modest food budget. But this one won't break the bank for you to fix which is another darned good thing about it too!
So, with all that above information in mind, here goes with my very first pictorial, instructional post to my blog!
First off, here's a picture of my recipe for this item. I copied over the recipe to a little notebook cookbook I had put together for myself back in the early 80s and this one has been used so many times -as you can see by the stains from who knows what splattered all over it -that it came loose from my notebook several years ago and is now just this -a loose piece of raggedy paper that holds the means to make a really great delicious dessert! (Good luck trying to read my chicken scratch penmanship on this. "Writing" was one of my absolute worst and most disliked subjects all through elementary school. Can you tell?)
The first thing you need is a 13x9 inch cake pan. Last night, because I was making this to take to church, I used a disposable pan, just for convenience sake.
And you will use that pan to make a graham cracker crust. Here's the ingredients needed for the crust:
Two cups of graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 stick of margarine -melted.
Mix those ingredients together with a fork and then, pat into the pan and stick it in the freezer to firm the crust up a good bit.
Next, set up a small colander atop a plastic bowl that will hold about 2 cups -at least -of liquid and empty into the colander 1 large can (16 ounce, I believe it is) of crushed pineapple and allow that to drain.
While that's draining, you can then mix the filling -which is sort of like a pudding (but isn't quite) and it's not cooked either.
Here's the ingredients and directions for making the filling:
2 cups of powdered (confectioners) sugar
2 eggs
2 sticks (1 cup) of margarine (or butter if you prefer that.) Allow the margarine to soften before beating it all in with the eggs and powdered sugar.
Beat those three items together on a slow speed at first to blend them and then, turn the speed up to a medium-to-high speed and whip this for a minimum of 15 minutes! Yes, you read that right -15 minutes! That's what Mrs. Boyle specified to me although she never gave me a reason for that amount of time though. (I'm thinking perhaps it is because you are using raw eggs and this food is not going to be cooked so perhaps beating it that long eliminates any dangers then from the raw eggs making people ill. I just don't know the answer to that but I am religious about making sure to beat it for at least those 15 minutes anyway!)
This picture below is what your pudding filling will look like.
Pour the filling over the graham cracker crust and spread it evenly across the crust.
Then, you take that pineapple that you've had draining and wring it to remove as much of the juice remaining in the pineapple. Yep! Get a big old handful of that crushed pineapple and squeeze the living daylights -er juice -out of it! Till it gets to be a ball about the size of between a tennis ball and a baseball.
Lightly drop the pineapple in dribs and drabs atop the pudding filling til you have that just about completely covered. Try to separate the pineapple bits as much as possible to make for a more even distribution of that fruit on top of the filling. So it looks sort of like this then:
Now you take three really nice, firm, large bananas and slice them fairly thinly and layer these banana slices neatly across the entire pan of graham cracker crust/pudding/pineapple.
Like this:
We're almost finished with this luscious dessert now. All that remains is to take a large container (16 ounces) of Cool Whip -or any generic type frozen whipped topping -that you have set out to allow it to soften a bit -and spread that over the top of the whole mixture now.
After doing that, you can set some maraschino cherries (drain them, please) on top in a pattern of your choosing or just randomly, depending on how well you like -or don't like -cherries -as these are optional. And take a bottle of chocolate syrup and drizzle some of that around the top of your cake then too and presto magic, you end up then with this:
I usually place this in the freezer then to let it chill to very firm or at least in the refrigerator to keep until I'm ready to serve it.
But how difficult was that now to make? Do you think I lied to you about how it's an easy-peasy dish? Trust me, it's not! And believe me, you will get raves about it from whoever tries it too -unless you happen to have a really picky eater around who either does not like pineapple or bananas or, heaven forbid, chocolate syrup! My grandkids even will eat this and you all know from my telling you, time and time again, how finicky they can be about various foods!
Try it! I'm betting you will love it just as much as I do!
The most difficult thing about making this entire project is beating the pudding for 15 minutes and wringing the juice out of the pineapple. (Save the drained juice into a container and also, don't forget to have that container handy to catch all the extra juice that you'll be wringing out of the pineapple too -which amounts to a total of about 2 full cups of pineapple juice that you'll have leftover to mix with oh, pina coladas if you like or just drink it as a breakfast juice too. Yummy any way you deal with that, ya know!
Enjoy!
I decided last night, while getting the ingredients lined up for the dessert I was going to make and which I took to church this morning for the lunch we served the conference held there today that I would take pictures of each step of the process in making this dessert item and then, post it all here on my blog.
This dessert, in my opinion, is super easy to make and as proof, I will tell you I've made many of these over the almost 30 years now since I acquired the recipe and never once has it failed me -or those who ate it either!
This recipe was given to me oh, probably about 1983, I'd say, and it came to me from "Mrs. Boyle" (of Midland, PA), the mother of the guy I was engaged to but then got really cold feet and walked away from the marriage idea then, apparently for good, cause here I am, still single! LOL
And, the name of this masterpiece of easy and deliciousness is "Banana Split Cake!"
Although there is no baking, no cake actually involved in this, it does resemble very much the scrumpdeliciousness of a Dairy Queen-type banana split though.
Anyone can make this delicacy and have a great item to put on your table for your family or something really terrific to take to a pot luck dinner or special meeting sometime, some place, some where. It's super easy to make and a novice cook can make it with extreme ease and for a gourmet-type cook, it's one of those recipes that is really a breeze to fix.
I'm definitely not in the gourmet cooking category as I am too lazy to do all the work involved in that type of cooking plus, a lot of those type of items also call for items that tend to be a lot too pricey for my modest food budget. But this one won't break the bank for you to fix which is another darned good thing about it too!
So, with all that above information in mind, here goes with my very first pictorial, instructional post to my blog!
BANANA SPLIT CAKE!
First off, here's a picture of my recipe for this item. I copied over the recipe to a little notebook cookbook I had put together for myself back in the early 80s and this one has been used so many times -as you can see by the stains from who knows what splattered all over it -that it came loose from my notebook several years ago and is now just this -a loose piece of raggedy paper that holds the means to make a really great delicious dessert! (Good luck trying to read my chicken scratch penmanship on this. "Writing" was one of my absolute worst and most disliked subjects all through elementary school. Can you tell?)
The first thing you need is a 13x9 inch cake pan. Last night, because I was making this to take to church, I used a disposable pan, just for convenience sake.And you will use that pan to make a graham cracker crust. Here's the ingredients needed for the crust:
Two cups of graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 stick of margarine -melted.
Mix those ingredients together with a fork and then, pat into the pan and stick it in the freezer to firm the crust up a good bit.
Next, set up a small colander atop a plastic bowl that will hold about 2 cups -at least -of liquid and empty into the colander 1 large can (16 ounce, I believe it is) of crushed pineapple and allow that to drain.While that's draining, you can then mix the filling -which is sort of like a pudding (but isn't quite) and it's not cooked either.
Here's the ingredients and directions for making the filling:
2 cups of powdered (confectioners) sugar
2 eggs
2 sticks (1 cup) of margarine (or butter if you prefer that.) Allow the margarine to soften before beating it all in with the eggs and powdered sugar.
Beat those three items together on a slow speed at first to blend them and then, turn the speed up to a medium-to-high speed and whip this for a minimum of 15 minutes! Yes, you read that right -15 minutes! That's what Mrs. Boyle specified to me although she never gave me a reason for that amount of time though. (I'm thinking perhaps it is because you are using raw eggs and this food is not going to be cooked so perhaps beating it that long eliminates any dangers then from the raw eggs making people ill. I just don't know the answer to that but I am religious about making sure to beat it for at least those 15 minutes anyway!)
This picture below is what your pudding filling will look like.
Pour the filling over the graham cracker crust and spread it evenly across the crust.Then, you take that pineapple that you've had draining and wring it to remove as much of the juice remaining in the pineapple. Yep! Get a big old handful of that crushed pineapple and squeeze the living daylights -er juice -out of it! Till it gets to be a ball about the size of between a tennis ball and a baseball.
Lightly drop the pineapple in dribs and drabs atop the pudding filling til you have that just about completely covered. Try to separate the pineapple bits as much as possible to make for a more even distribution of that fruit on top of the filling. So it looks sort of like this then:
Now you take three really nice, firm, large bananas and slice them fairly thinly and layer these banana slices neatly across the entire pan of graham cracker crust/pudding/pineapple.
Like this:
We're almost finished with this luscious dessert now. All that remains is to take a large container (16 ounces) of Cool Whip -or any generic type frozen whipped topping -that you have set out to allow it to soften a bit -and spread that over the top of the whole mixture now.After doing that, you can set some maraschino cherries (drain them, please) on top in a pattern of your choosing or just randomly, depending on how well you like -or don't like -cherries -as these are optional. And take a bottle of chocolate syrup and drizzle some of that around the top of your cake then too and presto magic, you end up then with this:
I usually place this in the freezer then to let it chill to very firm or at least in the refrigerator to keep until I'm ready to serve it.But how difficult was that now to make? Do you think I lied to you about how it's an easy-peasy dish? Trust me, it's not! And believe me, you will get raves about it from whoever tries it too -unless you happen to have a really picky eater around who either does not like pineapple or bananas or, heaven forbid, chocolate syrup! My grandkids even will eat this and you all know from my telling you, time and time again, how finicky they can be about various foods!
Try it! I'm betting you will love it just as much as I do!
The most difficult thing about making this entire project is beating the pudding for 15 minutes and wringing the juice out of the pineapple. (Save the drained juice into a container and also, don't forget to have that container handy to catch all the extra juice that you'll be wringing out of the pineapple too -which amounts to a total of about 2 full cups of pineapple juice that you'll have leftover to mix with oh, pina coladas if you like or just drink it as a breakfast juice too. Yummy any way you deal with that, ya know!
Enjoy!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Be Careful, Ms. Graceful!
So, here I am tonight making this nifty dessert and I find myself needing to get a disposable baking pan set out to use for the item I'm making and what do I discover?
The darned disposable pans I had purchased are on the open area above my wall cupboards and out of my reach unless I use one of the two step stools we have here!
When I am cooking or baking, I generally try to make sure someone else is here then too so if I need anything up high, I can get them to reach it for me. (Lucky me that all three of my kids are taller than me -especially my son, who is a long tall drink of water at about 6 foot 2 inches and can generally reach most anything I need without standing on a thing to make himself a bit taller!)
I don't mind using the step stools all that much as long as someone else is here though mainly because they both tend to totter a bit when you stand on them and heaven knows, I am not the most graceful individual in the whole world, for sure and I really don't relish the thought of being here alone, standing on one of those rickety things and lose my balance and risk falling.
Next thing you know, I'd be posting here "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" Except I don't know if I'd be able to creep then to the computer to even send out a message like that and who the heck might be available to see the post and rush to my aid in the first place?
Well, one good thing I can wait a bit to get those pans after all and have my son get them for me as I had to put in an emergency phone call to him to stop in town at one of the grocery stores and pick up a container of cool whip for me to use on the stuff I'm making! He just LOVES getting calls like that from me, ya know. (NOT!) I thought I had a full container of the cool whip in the freezer but when I went to get it out and let it start to soften up, I discovered that someone has apparently been in that container and nibbling on the stuff in there!
Don't you just love when people undermine you that way? (My daughter would probably say that maybe I should check my own actions there first though cause perhaps I was the one who had been into the container and used over half of it up and then, forgot I'd done that too. It could have happened that way but I'm not accepting the blame for that right now anyway!)
The darned disposable pans I had purchased are on the open area above my wall cupboards and out of my reach unless I use one of the two step stools we have here!
When I am cooking or baking, I generally try to make sure someone else is here then too so if I need anything up high, I can get them to reach it for me. (Lucky me that all three of my kids are taller than me -especially my son, who is a long tall drink of water at about 6 foot 2 inches and can generally reach most anything I need without standing on a thing to make himself a bit taller!)
I don't mind using the step stools all that much as long as someone else is here though mainly because they both tend to totter a bit when you stand on them and heaven knows, I am not the most graceful individual in the whole world, for sure and I really don't relish the thought of being here alone, standing on one of those rickety things and lose my balance and risk falling.
Next thing you know, I'd be posting here "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" Except I don't know if I'd be able to creep then to the computer to even send out a message like that and who the heck might be available to see the post and rush to my aid in the first place?
Well, one good thing I can wait a bit to get those pans after all and have my son get them for me as I had to put in an emergency phone call to him to stop in town at one of the grocery stores and pick up a container of cool whip for me to use on the stuff I'm making! He just LOVES getting calls like that from me, ya know. (NOT!) I thought I had a full container of the cool whip in the freezer but when I went to get it out and let it start to soften up, I discovered that someone has apparently been in that container and nibbling on the stuff in there!
Don't you just love when people undermine you that way? (My daughter would probably say that maybe I should check my own actions there first though cause perhaps I was the one who had been into the container and used over half of it up and then, forgot I'd done that too. It could have happened that way but I'm not accepting the blame for that right now anyway!)
Reorganization Needed -Badly!
Boy, does my kitchen ever need help -BIG TIME!
The drawers in my cupboards so crammed full that it makes finding things you need to work with, to cook with, really difficult to find and also, it's making the drawers really difficult to close too!
Whose fault is that? Mostly, I suppose it's mine -for having so much stuff stuffed in there but also, it's because other people, when they put things away, don't bother to look to see where some things -like special knives, for example -go in the holder in the drawer which cuts down a little bit on the jumbled-up mess the drawers have become!
But I saw a neat thing online tonight that maybe I could actually employ too and that was putting little hooks under my wall cabinets that would allow me to hang various cooking tools there in a bit of an organized fashion -above the counter area where I usually mix things together when I am baking, I could have the tools I use mainly for that kind of stuff there and in another section under the cupboards, I could have the spatulas and ladles I use more for stuff I'm cooking on the stove hanging there.
It looks like it would be an easy enough thing for me to initiate this in my kitchen and also, one that would be really inexpensive to do too.
The drawback though would be I'd then be wanting to buy all new stuff too because some of those items are definitely looking a bit raggy after years of use now!
Oh well, it does sound to me like a darned good excuse then to buy some new stuff there, don't you agree?
The drawers in my cupboards so crammed full that it makes finding things you need to work with, to cook with, really difficult to find and also, it's making the drawers really difficult to close too!
Whose fault is that? Mostly, I suppose it's mine -for having so much stuff stuffed in there but also, it's because other people, when they put things away, don't bother to look to see where some things -like special knives, for example -go in the holder in the drawer which cuts down a little bit on the jumbled-up mess the drawers have become!
But I saw a neat thing online tonight that maybe I could actually employ too and that was putting little hooks under my wall cabinets that would allow me to hang various cooking tools there in a bit of an organized fashion -above the counter area where I usually mix things together when I am baking, I could have the tools I use mainly for that kind of stuff there and in another section under the cupboards, I could have the spatulas and ladles I use more for stuff I'm cooking on the stove hanging there.
It looks like it would be an easy enough thing for me to initiate this in my kitchen and also, one that would be really inexpensive to do too.
The drawback though would be I'd then be wanting to buy all new stuff too because some of those items are definitely looking a bit raggy after years of use now!
Oh well, it does sound to me like a darned good excuse then to buy some new stuff there, don't you agree?
Mini-Vacation?
Well, here it is, a Friday night, and I'm home, all alone! Makes me feel kind of like that song "It's Saturday night and I ain't got no money..." and that's partially true, cause no, I really don't have any money, none enough to be worth speaking about anyway.
But it's more for me that "I ain't got nobody" -nowhere to go, no one to see, that kind of "nothing" stuff, ya know.
Why is that, you ask?
Because Mandy and Ken left this morning for an overnight visit down in southern Maryland to see his Dad and the kids are both spending the night with Jenn-Jenn and her husband, Nick, and their kids. Their favorite overnighter spot in the whole wide-world, ya know.
And while it's not totally true that I don't have anything I could be doing -I should be working on the current tablecloth or perhaps reading some more of the new Jodi Picoult book that Mandy bought for us last week (I have finished about 250 pages so far in the book, so I haven't been totally lax there), but whenever I'm here alone, left to my own devices these days, as it were, it depresses me, as I miss those two little noisemakers and squabbling kids immensely.
So what do I do then?
Well, I've been alternating between surfing on the net for various things while I have the chance to hog the computer to my heart's content and at the same time, I'm also in the midst of making a special dessert-type dish to take out to church in the morning to be served for the lunch there for those folks attending a special conference there tomorrow.
And to do this dessert, it doesn't all come together at once and get baked or finished but rather, gets done sort of in steps so that gives me time to continue to surf in between steps.
I'm fixing a really yummy no-bake item called Banana Split Cake and the neat thing about this is there is absolutely no baking involved in it. It's strictly a refrigerator-freezer item. All it requires is a graham cracker crust, topped with a homemade pudding type filling, which you spread crushed (and extremely well-drained) pineapple over, then a layer of sliced bananas on the pineapple and finish it off with a container (large size) of cool whip. You can decorate the cool whip "Icing" if you like with some maraschino cherries and/or some drizzle of chocolate syrup and chill till ready to serve! It's super good and for church-type dinners/dessert needs, it's an excellent item to make and take too! Always gets totally wiped out anytime I've made it and taken it to any dinner there so far anyway.
So right now, I'm at an in-between stage -waiting for the graham cracker crust to chill to firm and for the butter I need to blend for the pudding filling to soften and the pineapple to drain so I was surfing some stuff I had in mind -and don't dare do this if Maya and Kurt are anywhere in the vicinity cause I don't want them to see this stuff, ya know.
Now, what could I be looking at online that I don't want them to see?
Well, for sure it's not anything obscene -certainly no porn sites (mainly because I don't do those sites in the first place -lol) but actually, it's some sites I was told about that I can find neat little gift type things for the kids! Ha ha! See, I told you it wasn't anything bad, didn't I?
Anyway, next month is Kurt's fifth birthday and a very good friend of mine had recommended this site -cause she had used it to get some kids personalized gifts for her grandchildren which were really cute.
I figured what do I have to lose by looking around there and maybe I could find something that Kurtis would like, could use and that I could afford too -all rolled up into one!
And I did find something I thought would make for a cute gift too -that Mandy and I could get for Kurtis as well as something affordable that we could buy for the kids' Dad too what with his birthday coming up in May and then Father's Day in June. Always difficult enough to find something for their Dad but now, even more so to do since he and Mandy are separated, ya know.
But anyway, I found these tee-shirts -with an adult fisherman and a small child on them and you can get them then with "Dad" under the adult fisherman and have Kurt's name under the child fisherman then too. Since Bill does like to try to take the kids fishing when he feels up to and can manage that -and both Kurtis and Maya enjoy those outings a lot too -that a tee shirt like that for Bill and/or Kurtis would make for a neat little present then, that wouldn't require taking out a small business loan ya know!
I'll have to run this idea past Mandy, of course, but I think even she might agree with me that this would make for a neat present for either or both of them.
But it's more for me that "I ain't got nobody" -nowhere to go, no one to see, that kind of "nothing" stuff, ya know.
Why is that, you ask?
Because Mandy and Ken left this morning for an overnight visit down in southern Maryland to see his Dad and the kids are both spending the night with Jenn-Jenn and her husband, Nick, and their kids. Their favorite overnighter spot in the whole wide-world, ya know.
And while it's not totally true that I don't have anything I could be doing -I should be working on the current tablecloth or perhaps reading some more of the new Jodi Picoult book that Mandy bought for us last week (I have finished about 250 pages so far in the book, so I haven't been totally lax there), but whenever I'm here alone, left to my own devices these days, as it were, it depresses me, as I miss those two little noisemakers and squabbling kids immensely.
So what do I do then?
Well, I've been alternating between surfing on the net for various things while I have the chance to hog the computer to my heart's content and at the same time, I'm also in the midst of making a special dessert-type dish to take out to church in the morning to be served for the lunch there for those folks attending a special conference there tomorrow.
And to do this dessert, it doesn't all come together at once and get baked or finished but rather, gets done sort of in steps so that gives me time to continue to surf in between steps.
I'm fixing a really yummy no-bake item called Banana Split Cake and the neat thing about this is there is absolutely no baking involved in it. It's strictly a refrigerator-freezer item. All it requires is a graham cracker crust, topped with a homemade pudding type filling, which you spread crushed (and extremely well-drained) pineapple over, then a layer of sliced bananas on the pineapple and finish it off with a container (large size) of cool whip. You can decorate the cool whip "Icing" if you like with some maraschino cherries and/or some drizzle of chocolate syrup and chill till ready to serve! It's super good and for church-type dinners/dessert needs, it's an excellent item to make and take too! Always gets totally wiped out anytime I've made it and taken it to any dinner there so far anyway.
So right now, I'm at an in-between stage -waiting for the graham cracker crust to chill to firm and for the butter I need to blend for the pudding filling to soften and the pineapple to drain so I was surfing some stuff I had in mind -and don't dare do this if Maya and Kurt are anywhere in the vicinity cause I don't want them to see this stuff, ya know.
Now, what could I be looking at online that I don't want them to see?
Well, for sure it's not anything obscene -certainly no porn sites (mainly because I don't do those sites in the first place -lol) but actually, it's some sites I was told about that I can find neat little gift type things for the kids! Ha ha! See, I told you it wasn't anything bad, didn't I?
Anyway, next month is Kurt's fifth birthday and a very good friend of mine had recommended this site -cause she had used it to get some kids personalized gifts for her grandchildren which were really cute.
I figured what do I have to lose by looking around there and maybe I could find something that Kurtis would like, could use and that I could afford too -all rolled up into one!
And I did find something I thought would make for a cute gift too -that Mandy and I could get for Kurtis as well as something affordable that we could buy for the kids' Dad too what with his birthday coming up in May and then Father's Day in June. Always difficult enough to find something for their Dad but now, even more so to do since he and Mandy are separated, ya know.
But anyway, I found these tee-shirts -with an adult fisherman and a small child on them and you can get them then with "Dad" under the adult fisherman and have Kurt's name under the child fisherman then too. Since Bill does like to try to take the kids fishing when he feels up to and can manage that -and both Kurtis and Maya enjoy those outings a lot too -that a tee shirt like that for Bill and/or Kurtis would make for a neat little present then, that wouldn't require taking out a small business loan ya know!
I'll have to run this idea past Mandy, of course, but I think even she might agree with me that this would make for a neat present for either or both of them.
Orders Are Orders!!!
The other day, while talking to Maya's therapists (who come and work with her at the house), she mentioned something about going away this weekend. This really caught me by surprise and I asked her when and where she was going to be going and she insisted she had told me about these plans well over two weeks ago.
Now I know I am often a bit senile. Okay, downright forgetful, Okay? And yes, she had mentioned a while back that she and Ken wanted to go down to southern Maryland so he could visit his dad but she had never told me that they had finalized those plans and that it would be today -Friday, March 11th -that they would be going on that little trip although she insisted she had told me all about that.
Well, if she had mentioned it and had told me the kids were both going to be going up to stay with her friends, Jenn-Jenn and Nick and their children, today and until they return here tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered that part of her planning.
So anyway -the plan was that as soon as she got Maya on the bus and off to school this a.m., they would be leaving.
That leaves Kurtis and me here, just the two of us, until it's time for his van to show up to pick him up and take him off to his school around 11:30 a.m. and after that, it's just gonna be me here, all by my lonesome then for the next day and a half.
Mandy woke me up this a.m. shortly before 8 a.m., so that Maya could give me a hug and kiss goodbye before going to the bus stop. She also informed me that Kurtis was already awake and was in the living room watching his beloved cartoons. (I used to enjoy cartoons -many years back -but the ones these days to me, leave a lot to be desired! ) And she also said that Kurtis had given orders too that before Mommy left, Gram was to get up and come in the living room with him, but more than that, I was to sit in the computer chair by the computer!
Translated, that simply means that Gram's presence was wanted but that her fingers had best not be messing with the remote control to the TV set and had best not be changing the channels away from his cartoon-filled fun-time this morning!
Aye, aye, Captain! Your wish is my command and so it is that after two hours this far of cartoons, I still have at least another hour to endure this crapola before I can branch out and watch Ellen and then, after that, anything else that happens to trip my trigger for viewing purposes today and tomorrow too!
Tomorrow though, I have to make sure my sweet son gets the message that I will be in need of his bringing my jeep down to me bright and early because I have to fix some kind of a dessert type food to take out to church -before 11 a.m. tomorrow -to help provide lunch for a conference that is taking place in our church social hall.
I've been debating a bit what to fix for that -cake, some kind of bar cookies perhaps? I even bought a little cookbook -by either Pillsbury or Taste of Home, not sure now which company put this one out -but anyway, it's all cupcake recipes and decking the cupcakes out to make them a little extra special.
If you'd see the accumulation of cookbooks, of many different varieties, I already have on hand here, you'd know that the last thing I really needed was this particular magazine-type cookbook with only cupcake recipes in it. But, the cover on this one was so appealing that well, I just couldn't resist buying it! And yes, I did find some interesting ways to fix some really yummy, very appealing, cute, or downright pretty, cupcakes I might consider fixing.
However, it seemed each recipe that I found that really turned me on also required either whipping cream or buttermilk -or some kind of other process that indicated making this or that would involve something I abhor in the kitchen called WORK!
I'm a lazy cook you see. I like stuff that when it's being made, is very easy to throw together and when it's done, ready to serve, looks like I have suddenly become the original Marshmallow treats Grandma, who can lean back against the wall or door frame and announce that I had just slaved all day making this item, so enjoy the fruits of my labors!
I think however, in view of my lack of ambition and energy right now, I'm going to go with a dish that is tried and true and yes, is very, very easy to fix, plus it requires absolutely NO baking either.
I think I'll fix a pan of "Banana Split Cake" because it fits all the criteria I mentioned above for a great dessert entre!
Maybe the next event at church, a week from this Sunday, when I volunteered to fix a dessert for serving at the community Lenten service to be held at our church, I'll get more energetic and actually make a baked dessert for that.
Then, I have to keep my self oriented yet again for our next Women's Group meeting for which I promised I will be the one who will bring the goodies to that meeting for us to munch on then.
For me, these days, that's a whole lot of messing in the kitchen fixing some kind of a "treat" type item. That's something back in my working days, I often would take some kind of cookies or cake or whatever else caught my eye, tripped my trigger, into work almost on a daily basis.
Those days are long gone now though and as a general rule, I have to be pretty much in the mood, have the spirit come and touch me, over and over, before I get busy and do any baking of things along those lines.
But just as I am now following Kurt's orders to sit by the computer in the computer chair (he didn't however say specifically that I had to blog though) I will also start trying to gear myself up for roughly 36 hours, at least, then of peace and quiet without the grandkids here.
I'm gonna be really lonely then too -just thought I'd tell you that, cause it's the truth!
Now I know I am often a bit senile. Okay, downright forgetful, Okay? And yes, she had mentioned a while back that she and Ken wanted to go down to southern Maryland so he could visit his dad but she had never told me that they had finalized those plans and that it would be today -Friday, March 11th -that they would be going on that little trip although she insisted she had told me all about that.
Well, if she had mentioned it and had told me the kids were both going to be going up to stay with her friends, Jenn-Jenn and Nick and their children, today and until they return here tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered that part of her planning.
So anyway -the plan was that as soon as she got Maya on the bus and off to school this a.m., they would be leaving.
That leaves Kurtis and me here, just the two of us, until it's time for his van to show up to pick him up and take him off to his school around 11:30 a.m. and after that, it's just gonna be me here, all by my lonesome then for the next day and a half.
Mandy woke me up this a.m. shortly before 8 a.m., so that Maya could give me a hug and kiss goodbye before going to the bus stop. She also informed me that Kurtis was already awake and was in the living room watching his beloved cartoons. (I used to enjoy cartoons -many years back -but the ones these days to me, leave a lot to be desired! ) And she also said that Kurtis had given orders too that before Mommy left, Gram was to get up and come in the living room with him, but more than that, I was to sit in the computer chair by the computer!
Translated, that simply means that Gram's presence was wanted but that her fingers had best not be messing with the remote control to the TV set and had best not be changing the channels away from his cartoon-filled fun-time this morning!
Aye, aye, Captain! Your wish is my command and so it is that after two hours this far of cartoons, I still have at least another hour to endure this crapola before I can branch out and watch Ellen and then, after that, anything else that happens to trip my trigger for viewing purposes today and tomorrow too!
Tomorrow though, I have to make sure my sweet son gets the message that I will be in need of his bringing my jeep down to me bright and early because I have to fix some kind of a dessert type food to take out to church -before 11 a.m. tomorrow -to help provide lunch for a conference that is taking place in our church social hall.
I've been debating a bit what to fix for that -cake, some kind of bar cookies perhaps? I even bought a little cookbook -by either Pillsbury or Taste of Home, not sure now which company put this one out -but anyway, it's all cupcake recipes and decking the cupcakes out to make them a little extra special.
If you'd see the accumulation of cookbooks, of many different varieties, I already have on hand here, you'd know that the last thing I really needed was this particular magazine-type cookbook with only cupcake recipes in it. But, the cover on this one was so appealing that well, I just couldn't resist buying it! And yes, I did find some interesting ways to fix some really yummy, very appealing, cute, or downright pretty, cupcakes I might consider fixing.
However, it seemed each recipe that I found that really turned me on also required either whipping cream or buttermilk -or some kind of other process that indicated making this or that would involve something I abhor in the kitchen called WORK!
I'm a lazy cook you see. I like stuff that when it's being made, is very easy to throw together and when it's done, ready to serve, looks like I have suddenly become the original Marshmallow treats Grandma, who can lean back against the wall or door frame and announce that I had just slaved all day making this item, so enjoy the fruits of my labors!
I think however, in view of my lack of ambition and energy right now, I'm going to go with a dish that is tried and true and yes, is very, very easy to fix, plus it requires absolutely NO baking either.
I think I'll fix a pan of "Banana Split Cake" because it fits all the criteria I mentioned above for a great dessert entre!
Maybe the next event at church, a week from this Sunday, when I volunteered to fix a dessert for serving at the community Lenten service to be held at our church, I'll get more energetic and actually make a baked dessert for that.
Then, I have to keep my self oriented yet again for our next Women's Group meeting for which I promised I will be the one who will bring the goodies to that meeting for us to munch on then.
For me, these days, that's a whole lot of messing in the kitchen fixing some kind of a "treat" type item. That's something back in my working days, I often would take some kind of cookies or cake or whatever else caught my eye, tripped my trigger, into work almost on a daily basis.
Those days are long gone now though and as a general rule, I have to be pretty much in the mood, have the spirit come and touch me, over and over, before I get busy and do any baking of things along those lines.
But just as I am now following Kurt's orders to sit by the computer in the computer chair (he didn't however say specifically that I had to blog though) I will also start trying to gear myself up for roughly 36 hours, at least, then of peace and quiet without the grandkids here.
I'm gonna be really lonely then too -just thought I'd tell you that, cause it's the truth!
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Nightmares on Overload!
Dreams -the ones we do in our sleep (not those day dream things most of us have about winning the lottery or some such neat thing like that) can be quite perplexing at times, can't they?
Definitely will set your awake mind in gear wondering what in blazes must have been rolling around in the sub-conscious areas of our minds to conjure up some of the scenes that roll out while we sleep though, that's for sure.
This past week must have been the week deemed "Nightmares on Cooper Avenue" though because both Mandy and I had some weird, down right crazy -and a bit scary on some levels too -dreams recently.
Hers, she told me, consisted of being someplace -she couldn't figure out where this dream was taking place -where she was being chased by her nephew, Alexander, and our neighbor two doors down the street from us -husband of my bestest life-long friend! Alexander showing up in a dream for her isn't something all that far-fetched, nor would be dreaming about him chasing her around, trying to wrestle with his aunt, or trying to scare the living daylights out of her too because he does do things like that with her, to her, in real life.
But how Jim -the neighbor -got into this weird video of her, who knows!
Last night, at the Shrove Tuesday supper at our church, (pancakes and sausage meal cooked and served up by the men of our church), Jim was there, working the kitchen as he always does and also, serving and cleaning up dirty dishes too. At one point, he was at our table and we got to talking, joking around, as we normally do with him and I told him he should ask Mandy to tell him about this dream she had in which he and Alex were chasing her around and had her about scared senseless too. The look on Jim's face was priceless and he said "Hmmm. Better not let Kate find out Mandy's having dreams about me, huh?"
Knowing Kate, she'd just have one good laugh over the whole deal though, ya know.
Now my recent dream though -one that really puzzles me -involved my ex-husband. And, aside from the actions he took in the dream, what shocked me the most was that I even had a dream that included him at all! It's been almost 31 years now since we divorced and even though we are well beyond all the acrimony of 30 years gone by now, this was the first time I can EVER remember dreaming anything in which he was involved though! Go figure.
But anyway, in my dream, he appeared holding out this little box, all nicely wrapped up (that alone is a big surprise -Frank, having something gift-wrapped?) and as he handed it to me, he said something about trying to make up for things he overlooked in the past.
I took the wrapping paper and ribbon off and there, in this lovely little box was this very pretty diamond ring! And yes, the sight of something so pretty -and expensive too -being handed to me by my ex-husband -well, truly this did create some major shock waves to my dream system!
He even offered a short explanation that this was to make up for the fact that he'd never bought me an engagement ring and also, he got to thinking too that I had never ever had an engagement ring before from anyone else either.
How little he knows! Or, perhaps that would be better described as the things one hides away back in the farthest depths of one's subconscious in an effort to forget too!
I did have an engagement ring given to me back oh, about 27 years or so ago. Really was the "dark ages" there I joke about from time to time too apparently though because as soon as that guy gave me that ring, I began to get the most severe case of cold feet ever a prospective bride could possibly get! I broke things off about 4 months later and offered to give the ring back to him but he told me to keep it and do with it whatever I wanted, even to sell it.
And ya know what? That's exactly what I did with that ring too! So there!
And furthermore, if my ex ever were to offer me a gift like that, I'd probably do the same with it too!
Now, here's hoping my next dream doesn't involve my ex-husband or I'll think I really am going off the deep end in the dreams category.
Definitely will set your awake mind in gear wondering what in blazes must have been rolling around in the sub-conscious areas of our minds to conjure up some of the scenes that roll out while we sleep though, that's for sure.
This past week must have been the week deemed "Nightmares on Cooper Avenue" though because both Mandy and I had some weird, down right crazy -and a bit scary on some levels too -dreams recently.
Hers, she told me, consisted of being someplace -she couldn't figure out where this dream was taking place -where she was being chased by her nephew, Alexander, and our neighbor two doors down the street from us -husband of my bestest life-long friend! Alexander showing up in a dream for her isn't something all that far-fetched, nor would be dreaming about him chasing her around, trying to wrestle with his aunt, or trying to scare the living daylights out of her too because he does do things like that with her, to her, in real life.
But how Jim -the neighbor -got into this weird video of her, who knows!
Last night, at the Shrove Tuesday supper at our church, (pancakes and sausage meal cooked and served up by the men of our church), Jim was there, working the kitchen as he always does and also, serving and cleaning up dirty dishes too. At one point, he was at our table and we got to talking, joking around, as we normally do with him and I told him he should ask Mandy to tell him about this dream she had in which he and Alex were chasing her around and had her about scared senseless too. The look on Jim's face was priceless and he said "Hmmm. Better not let Kate find out Mandy's having dreams about me, huh?"
Knowing Kate, she'd just have one good laugh over the whole deal though, ya know.
Now my recent dream though -one that really puzzles me -involved my ex-husband. And, aside from the actions he took in the dream, what shocked me the most was that I even had a dream that included him at all! It's been almost 31 years now since we divorced and even though we are well beyond all the acrimony of 30 years gone by now, this was the first time I can EVER remember dreaming anything in which he was involved though! Go figure.
But anyway, in my dream, he appeared holding out this little box, all nicely wrapped up (that alone is a big surprise -Frank, having something gift-wrapped?) and as he handed it to me, he said something about trying to make up for things he overlooked in the past.
I took the wrapping paper and ribbon off and there, in this lovely little box was this very pretty diamond ring! And yes, the sight of something so pretty -and expensive too -being handed to me by my ex-husband -well, truly this did create some major shock waves to my dream system!
He even offered a short explanation that this was to make up for the fact that he'd never bought me an engagement ring and also, he got to thinking too that I had never ever had an engagement ring before from anyone else either.
How little he knows! Or, perhaps that would be better described as the things one hides away back in the farthest depths of one's subconscious in an effort to forget too!
I did have an engagement ring given to me back oh, about 27 years or so ago. Really was the "dark ages" there I joke about from time to time too apparently though because as soon as that guy gave me that ring, I began to get the most severe case of cold feet ever a prospective bride could possibly get! I broke things off about 4 months later and offered to give the ring back to him but he told me to keep it and do with it whatever I wanted, even to sell it.
And ya know what? That's exactly what I did with that ring too! So there!
And furthermore, if my ex ever were to offer me a gift like that, I'd probably do the same with it too!
Now, here's hoping my next dream doesn't involve my ex-husband or I'll think I really am going off the deep end in the dreams category.
Cool Ideas or Just Wild Hairs?
Ya know, you gotta hand it to my daughter, Mandy, here for some of the ideas she comes up with for things she'd like to do, or plans to do, or sometimes, has even already purchased the materials without any further insight into things and just starts doing sometimes.
I admire the fact that she's always looking for things she thinks will improve the appearance of our old house -inside and out.
She's been figuring on having enough from her tax refund this year to -hopefully -get the house re-roofed for openers. A big idea, yes. One that is needed? Oh, definitely! They say the average lifespan of a roofing job is roughly 20 years and if that's the case, the shingles on this place are long, long overdue for replacement, that's for sure. The last time the place got new shingles was prior to 1979 -before my Mom died anyway -so probably 1977 or 1978 which makes this roof then at least 33 years old and well past its prime.
But shingles aside, Mandy always likes to watch those home improvement shows on tv too and sometimes gets ideas, or notions, about what she thinks would be really cool -if we had the money -and things that she likes that aren't too far out of bounds financially and thus, something maybe worth studying a bit further.
Her latest idea is to find an interesting way to "brighten" up the kitchen and her first idea now is to look into something to put on the wall that runs behind the sink and above most of my kitchen counter area. Right now, there is white paneling there that was put in back in 1989 -22 years ago -when I had the kitchen re-done.
Yes, that paneling could stand to be replaced to make the kitchen look a little prettier but the stuff Mandy's been looking at lately now, doing her remodeling dreaming about, ya know -are these glass mosaic tiles.
She insisted I take a look at some of the various tile choices available and Ken says "Oh, they are durable and very easy to clean too." Hmmm. Was he trying to tell me something about the appearance of my white paneling all along that wall? That's okay -I know it's got spatters on there that are ingrained into the paneling long ago now and all the scrubbing in the world won't make 'em break loose either. A good selling point though -also one that maybe would look really pretty provided the right colors were chosen.
I'll let her dream on a bit more about this and see -if she has Ken take measurements and such -and if she does the math on cost then, who knows, maybe it could be a revamp idea that wouldn't require a small business loan.
Never know until she looks into it though, will we?
I admire the fact that she's always looking for things she thinks will improve the appearance of our old house -inside and out.
She's been figuring on having enough from her tax refund this year to -hopefully -get the house re-roofed for openers. A big idea, yes. One that is needed? Oh, definitely! They say the average lifespan of a roofing job is roughly 20 years and if that's the case, the shingles on this place are long, long overdue for replacement, that's for sure. The last time the place got new shingles was prior to 1979 -before my Mom died anyway -so probably 1977 or 1978 which makes this roof then at least 33 years old and well past its prime.
But shingles aside, Mandy always likes to watch those home improvement shows on tv too and sometimes gets ideas, or notions, about what she thinks would be really cool -if we had the money -and things that she likes that aren't too far out of bounds financially and thus, something maybe worth studying a bit further.
Her latest idea is to find an interesting way to "brighten" up the kitchen and her first idea now is to look into something to put on the wall that runs behind the sink and above most of my kitchen counter area. Right now, there is white paneling there that was put in back in 1989 -22 years ago -when I had the kitchen re-done.
Yes, that paneling could stand to be replaced to make the kitchen look a little prettier but the stuff Mandy's been looking at lately now, doing her remodeling dreaming about, ya know -are these glass mosaic tiles.
She insisted I take a look at some of the various tile choices available and Ken says "Oh, they are durable and very easy to clean too." Hmmm. Was he trying to tell me something about the appearance of my white paneling all along that wall? That's okay -I know it's got spatters on there that are ingrained into the paneling long ago now and all the scrubbing in the world won't make 'em break loose either. A good selling point though -also one that maybe would look really pretty provided the right colors were chosen.
I'll let her dream on a bit more about this and see -if she has Ken take measurements and such -and if she does the math on cost then, who knows, maybe it could be a revamp idea that wouldn't require a small business loan.
Never know until she looks into it though, will we?
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Clean Up -Someplace!
I know I've mentioned lots of times in the past about the animals we have here in this house. There's Sammy, the cute little mutt and then too, there's FluffNuts, the goofy orange and white, very lazy Tomcat we have too. Both are really very nice pets -very gentle and patient when the kids turn their attention on them and neither has ever snapped, bit, growled or scratched either of the little ones.
What's more, the cat and the dog are actually very good friends as well -amazing as that may seem because we all know, in general, cats and dogs don't usually socialize with each other.
Sammy is housebroken -for the most part. He does, however, occasionally slip down to the basement (often in the middle of the night) to relieve himself from time to time -when there's no one around available to take him outside right then. FluffNuts was litter trained but has in the past year now, decided he doesn't want to use a litter box and will go to the door and meow like crazy until someone lets him outside.
However, this morning when Mandy and I each got up, we both noticed a really strong odor in the downstairs area here. Not so nice scent of whiz, ya know. But where had one of these two sweet little pets managed to improvise and use as his personal bathroom is the question of the day!
Because by the time we got up, the smell may have been still present but no trace left behind other than that of where the animal had relieved himself -no wet spots or stains anywhere.
So, as a result, I ended up doing a scrub job on the entryway in the front porch, the kitchen and dining room floors too, to try to find and clean-up the problem area that way.
It's times like this when I'm really glad that we don't have a bunch of area rugs to try to clean! We just have one that is about 4x5 ft in the entryway of the front porch and a small doormat type rug in front of that. I tried to clean the larger of those rugs after I scrubbed the floor area there and am hoping that it may have been the place where the "accident" had occurred. The house now smells a bit like lemon thanks to the cleaner I used so that's a bit of an improvement over the other odor, ya know.
I'd like to get a larger rug to put in the dining room, under the table, but thus far, because of the kids still rather sloppy eating habits (food droppings on the floor wherever they sit) I have hesitated to invest in something like that.
And, I think until we manage to make sure neither of the animals is going to christen said rugs, I think that addition to our furnishings will continue to take a back seat a while longer!
What's more, the cat and the dog are actually very good friends as well -amazing as that may seem because we all know, in general, cats and dogs don't usually socialize with each other.
Sammy is housebroken -for the most part. He does, however, occasionally slip down to the basement (often in the middle of the night) to relieve himself from time to time -when there's no one around available to take him outside right then. FluffNuts was litter trained but has in the past year now, decided he doesn't want to use a litter box and will go to the door and meow like crazy until someone lets him outside.
However, this morning when Mandy and I each got up, we both noticed a really strong odor in the downstairs area here. Not so nice scent of whiz, ya know. But where had one of these two sweet little pets managed to improvise and use as his personal bathroom is the question of the day!
Because by the time we got up, the smell may have been still present but no trace left behind other than that of where the animal had relieved himself -no wet spots or stains anywhere.
So, as a result, I ended up doing a scrub job on the entryway in the front porch, the kitchen and dining room floors too, to try to find and clean-up the problem area that way.
It's times like this when I'm really glad that we don't have a bunch of area rugs to try to clean! We just have one that is about 4x5 ft in the entryway of the front porch and a small doormat type rug in front of that. I tried to clean the larger of those rugs after I scrubbed the floor area there and am hoping that it may have been the place where the "accident" had occurred. The house now smells a bit like lemon thanks to the cleaner I used so that's a bit of an improvement over the other odor, ya know.
I'd like to get a larger rug to put in the dining room, under the table, but thus far, because of the kids still rather sloppy eating habits (food droppings on the floor wherever they sit) I have hesitated to invest in something like that.
And, I think until we manage to make sure neither of the animals is going to christen said rugs, I think that addition to our furnishings will continue to take a back seat a while longer!
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