This and that

The Hall Bathroom

Jeff helped me with the household cleaning Saturday morning.  I did the floors and cleaned out the fridge.

Jeff cleaned the bathrooms, emptied the trash and fixed the drain on my sink that was barely draining.   

 This bathroom looks pretty good after he cleaned it

 He put out 3 hand towels on the bar by the sink. 

 and then he put out 3 more hand towels on this bar - he said the grand children would like them.    

Not sure I would of put out quite so many - but if someone helps me with the house chores, they can do them just about any way they want to.

Sometimes you just gotta get rid of stuff

These  2 little round accent tables were purchased more than 10 years ago - on clearance at Walmart.  They have never been terribly sturdy but were OK if they did not have too much on them. 

I've been doing some furniture rearranging and ended up not needing them anymore. 

I've got a pile of things started to drop off at the thrift store but they were in such bad shape,  I put them in the trash.    Are you wondering why they had aluminum foil on top?  Well, the tops were rough pressed particle wood stuff and snagged the tablecloths. 

So, good bye flimsy end tables!

The Dress Jeff Bought

When Nina was born in 1984,  Jeff made a special trip to Dillards to buy a pretty pink dress for our daughter. 

This first picture is Nina wearing that dress. 

and this is her daughter Elizabeth wearing the same dress. 

They don't look exactly alike, but they are very similar. 

A little baking

I baked 2 loaves of quick bread this evening.  The first one is banana bread - I used  a recipe from my friend Elizabeth.  It is a pretty basic recipe that calls for a teaspoon of cinnamon - the cinnamon with the banana and pecans is a very nice combination. 

The second is a very nice bread that calls for no oil or shortening.  So if you are watching your fat intake, or if you are short on butter and can't go shopping right now, this might be a recipe that works for you too. 


Nut Bread

1 egg

1/3 Cup sugar

1 Cup Milk

2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 Cup chopped walnuts ( pecans are good too)

Preheat the oven the 350 degrees.

Beat the egg and sugar together with a whisk. Whisk in the milk. With a spoon or spatula, mix in the dry ingredients. Add nuts.

Pour into a very well greased 8x4 bread pan.

Bake about 35-45 minutes or until it tests done.

Serve warm with a little butter. Jeff likes it toasted.

Rain! clean slate and more seeds

 We woke up rain this morning and have had showers off and on all morning. It has been a hot dry summer so the water and cooler temperature are very much welcome.

Clean Slate -

  I got tired of the way our dining room was set up.  I took everything off the walls, then patched all the nail holes and touched up the paint.   For now, just the table and chairs are in here but they won't be looking like this forever.  I am not sure what I will do,  I just know I want some color this time.

 any suggestions?

More seeds

 I hope to have more seeds.  These are some pink and red geraniums drying.  I bought them as small plants and they looked beautiful blooming all summer.  I am not sure if their seeds will "work" though.

these are zinnias that I grew from seed - I am pretty sure their seeds will grow next summer.  Each flower has so many seeds in each one, it is really amazing.

Brown bag lunches

Jeff takes a lunch box full of snacks and his lunch everyday to work.  When I worked, I also took snacks or lunch as needed with me.  Debbie  says she packs lunches and she asked me how I do our lunches.   Debbie this might bore you,  Jeff takes almost the same thing everyday.

A travel mug of coffee

a bottle of water to take with him when he is on the road

his entree is either a dish of last nights leftovers or a sandwich.  This lunch was a sandwich and dish of veg soup

2 servings of fruit - he has plums and cantaloupe in this one

1 serving of nuts and 2 string cheese

a bunch of grapes - I bag them into to serving sizes and store them in the fridge like that.

Nuts are one of our favorite things to snack on.  But it is really easy to eat way more one serving without even realizing it.  2 summers ago,  I got a case of 1 ounce portion cups at a yard sale.  The  portion cups are perfect for holding 1 ounce of nuts.  So when I open a new can,  I get out those little cups and divide them.  Then they are ready to put in a lunch box or a snack.

Jeff is a big fan of Del Monte peaches canned in light syrup.  When fresh fruit is not plentiful,  I open a big can of peaches and divide them into little jars for his lunch box. A big can will yield about 14 jars full.

Bananas and cantaloupe waiting to be eaten,

In the fridge,  bagged up grapes, cabbage soup in mugs, watermelon cubes in containers.    Fixing lunches is easy in the morning when things are ready to just pick up.

Jeff's string cheese.  Actually, everyone in our family likes them except me.

His lunch all gets packed into a little Rubbermaid cooler that he has been using for about 10 years or more. 

When I worked,  I liked sandwiches, fruit, nuts or high fiber granola bars. 

My favorite snack was hard boiled eggs with a few celery and carrot sticks and just a dab of ranch dressing for dipping.

for me,  the way to have healthy and easy lunches on the go is to plan and package ahead.

Catfish and a mystery

We are still pretty much dieting at this house but on Saturdays, we eat what we want -with in reason anyway.

Tonight, we are going to have fried catfish with a few hush puppies and a big green salad.

The catfish was caught, cleaned and packaged by my parents, brother and cousins that like to fish. 
They usually go on 2 annual fishing trips in Arkansas, one in the summer and one in the fall. 

 I don't like to fish and don't really like to camp - but I do like to eat fish! 

The mystery is that our sink stopper disappeared.  I am not sure what day I noticed it was missing but I've looked every place I thought it could possibly be and have not found it.  How many places could a stopper be anyway?   I never use mine for anything else except to occasionally run it through the dishwasher. 

Jeff thinks I probably threw it in the trash by mistake.

But whatever,  we will be stopping at Lowes on the next trip to town to get a new one. 

If you are wondering why I did not post much this week - here is why. 

Sweet Elizabeth, 2 months, and Cute Gavin, 18 months, have been spending some of their days with me while their mommas and daddies go to work. 

To Fly Above The Sea

I have known Joanne as a very good internet friend for more than 10 years.  She has a big love of the sea and is an avid stitcher.  So I was very happy  when she posted that she had completed and published her first book of counted cross stitch,.   If you also love the sea or want to make a gift for s sea-lover,  you should look at her designs. 

Joanne is also an Ebay Seller and right now,  she has some great listings on very nice fat quarters and quil books. 

and one more thing about Joanne,  today is her birthday!  So if you stop by her blog or Ebay shop,  you might want to leave her a birthday greeting. 

Cabbage Soup Diet

Have you noticed I did not have any yummy food posts this week? 

 

Well, we have been eating lots of cabbage soup - it also has onions, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, celery and mushrooms. 

 lots of fresh fruit

 lots of green salad

 more fruit

a few baked potatoes with vegetables.

I first heard of this cabbage soup diet after my son Jimmy was born. My mom sent me a xerox copy of it that was going around her office. I remember I ate that soup pretty much for a week and lost most of the baby weight. Well, I came across it again and I think it may of had a few changes over the years.

I made the first batch of soup on Saturday and it is actually really good. It tastes just about like soup-stew I normally make but with no potatoes or meat.


I have been very, very  hungry while on this diet.  But I think that may be a good thing.  It certainly is a vivid feeling and helps to imagine how so many people feel all the time,  and not because they have chosen to go on a weight loss diet. 

I did modify it somewhat.  We ate fruits and vegetables every day. We ate the soup at least once every day, sometimes more.   By Wednesday,  we were "allowed" to add meat.  I did eat a few bites of meat but I've also eaten 2 ounces of nuts Weds. and Thursday. 


and so far I've lost 8 pounds. 

Disclaimer - I don't think doctors would approve of this diet.  I know what I am doing, have NO health problems,  take NO prescription meds,  don't have high blood pressure and have normal blood sugar rates. 
Even the diet says to only do it for 1 week and don't repeat until another month has passed. 

there are many links to the cabbage soup online, so if you are crazy like me,  then you can do  a search and do your own conclusions.

Harvesting seeds

 Here is one more baby step I just took in my hope to be a better gardener. 
I planted some marigold seeds this spring,  I got them as a freebie when I signed up for a sample of a cereal. 
They grew so tall and bloomed but they were really too big for the pots they were planted in. 
Well,  it is very hot here and I think they were about through for the summer.  Many of the old blooms were brown and dry as the desert. 
It occurred to me that there should be a way to save the seeds and replant them next year.  So I did search "how to harvest marigold seeds"  and found out.

 Inside the dry flower are many many seeds,  you just pull off the dry petals and the seeds are under the petals. 

See how many seeds  were in just one flower? 

that is a sandwich bag packed with marigold seeds,  all ready for sharing and for planting next spring.

There are 2 kinds of zinnia in my yard that should harvest just about the same way as marigolds. 
Our portulaca/moss rose has lots of tiny seeds in their dry buds too.  I will harvest them when they get drier.
I looked at the petunias but could not seeds in the dry flowers on them. 

Seed harvesting is very frugal - can you imagine how much that many marigold seeds would cost if you bought them in the little pouches? 

so, do you any of you harvest seeds and have any advice for me? 

and if you want to harvest your own seeds,  you might want to do a search to get more details in case I left out something in this post.

Chocolate Icebox pie

My mom made icebox pies often. She almost always made them in the 13x9 size. Hers were usually chocolate but she also made lemon. She used a crust on the bottom, pudding in the middle and then the top layer was Dream Whip or Cool Whip or whipped cream, whatever she had. Mom says she liked them because they were easy to make a day ahead. I remember we all liked to eat them.

I made icebox pie just about like my mom did. My hubby is not crazy about whipped topping so I leave that layer off the dessert. But I do keep a can of aerosol whipped cream in the fridge and it is easy to add to the top of my serving and anyone else who wants it.

Super Easy Crust
1 Cup Flour
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup chopped nuts like almonds, pecans or walnuts - nuts are optional
Just mix these ingredients and pat into the bottom of a pie pan.
If you are making a big 13x9 dessert, double the crust ingredients.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until just lightly browned. cool

Chocolate pie filling - this makes enough for one round pie, if you want to make a big 13x9 then double everything.

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions
1.In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, flour, and cocoa powder. Mix well. While stirring, slowly pour in milk. Mix until smooth.
2.Cook cocoa mixture over medium heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue until mixture thickens, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
3.In a heat safe bowl, slowly pour about a cup of the hot chocolate mixture into the beaten egg yolks , whisking rapidly until yolks are incorporated.
Whisk chocolate egg mixture back into the saucepan. Bring back to a low simmer and simmer for about a minute, stirring often.
Stir in vanilla extract and butter or margarine. Pour filling into baked pie shell. Chill before serving. Store in icebox-refrigerator.

If you don't want to make the pie filling, you could use a Jello type mix. I think the from scratch pudding just tastes much better.


and if you don't want pie, then how about cake?
This is Nina and her little sister in law, Hannah. Hannah likes manatees and Nina has been baking her a fancy birthday cake every year. So this year's cake a very big manatee and it says "happy birthday Hannatee" Aren't they clever?

Kitchen closed......

my kitchen is sort of closed. I've pretty much stuck to the weekly plan, but see all these dishes in the fridge?
they contain leftovers from Sunday's roast beef, Monday's baked pasta, Tuesday's burgers and hot links and Weds. pizza.
So tonight, we had leftovers for supper and made a pretty big dent in them. I expect we will finish them off tomorrow and then it will be back to regular cooking.



And I have to confess that I did do just a little cooking today. When I organized the fridge space, I came across the 6 egg whites left from the chocolate icebox pie on Sunday. I did not want to let them spoil so I baked 1/2 a recipe of Angel Food Cake.
I will post the pie recipe soon.

What's been going on at my home

We went to a few yard sales on Saturday. Not much purchased though,
I did find these 8 napkins, white with black and red cherries- 50 cents for the set

and 2 packs of vintage rick rack - 10 cents. Can you read on the packages how much they originally sold for?

I cooked a big meal and as I prepared the dishes, I lined them up so I could keep everything straight. First I put the roast beef in the oven. Then I peeled the potatoes, got the carrots ready to bake, cut the fresh corn off the cob and put it in a pan to cook on the stove top, made bread dough and have it rising, made a marinated vegetable salad like I read about on Lyn's blog and made a chocolate icebox pie.
Once all that was done, I put the salad and pie in the fridge, then I took a shower!

close up of Lyn's salad

This book arrived in today's mail. I won in a giveaway at Kusine.com - a really neat blog about sewing, gardening, cooking - if you have time, go visit.

Now I just have to decide which project to sew first........

Misc. from this week

Cantalopes raised by one of Jeff's coworkers - the same man that gave us last weeks corn - I think I owe him a plate of cookies.

corn and tomatoes from my brother's garden.

a Pyrex bowl my parents found an estate sale

fresh baked pound cake

Jeff bought a crazy-big watermelon. We try to get one every year from a farmer from Rush Springs who sells them out of his pick up truck. It probably weighs close to 40lbs.


A bucket full of Gavin, now at 17 months, and less than a year ago in the same bucket. Boy babies turn into little boys very quick!

Baby Elizabeth is 7 weeks old. She is wearing a onesie with little wooden shoes on it. My friend Heidi in Holland sent it to her along with 3 others, the others have tulips and little tags of windmills.


I've been busy this week with fresh produce, cooking, company and sweet grandchildren.
How about you, what were you busy with this week?

Thrift store finds

This week is Krazy Daze in my town. Most of the businesses have good sales and clear out their old or slow moving merchandise.
Even the thrift stores were clearing out stuff. My parents are here and we went to 3 thrift stores.


2 yards of blue and white flannel $1
bias tape, rick rack, a dress pattern and covered button kits were 10 cents each.

at the first one, baskets and magazines were 10 cents each and buy 1 get 3 free. Krazy huh? I picked out an assortment of both.
At another thrift store, the old Taste of Homes were 5 cents each.

A pyrex 8 inch pie pan and Pyrex tea pot - $5 for both


and the bargain of the month
a very cute needlepoint pillow - just 50 cents!