Good Morning and Welcome to September!
I walked outside with the dogs and the air was cool and crisp! Just the kind of weather that I like. Soon the leaves will start to turn, and in a few weeks, there will be frost on the pumpkins! Wonderful!
Many people don’t like this time of year, but it is my favorite! Look at this picture from last year. I mean, how can anyone not love the beauty of Autumn?
My beautiful Lake! How I can hardly wait for it to look like this once again!
Well, another week has gone by and on Saturday it will be September first! Imagine that! In a little over two months, I will turn sixty years young, and then it’s Christmas and New Years and 2019 will be upon us! Whew!
I remember thinking, when I was a little girl, that time went so .s.l.o.w.l.y.! But now, the day’s race by me and I realize how brief our time on earth is. Why just the other day I was starting Elementary School myself, and now my granddaughter, Savannah is starting First Grade! How did this happen?
Well, let’s get to the Friday Five before I reminisce any further about the passage of time!
As you can see Savannah is a very happy First Grader!
So the week has been very positive all the way around. My family is happy and healthy and going forward. What a wonderful time for us all.
Have a great weekend everyone!
The other day I was so hungry I could not stop eating. It was a terrible feeling and I almost felt frantic. Then I started to slow myself down and think.
Why are you feeling so hungry? Why are you eating everything that is not nailed down? What is going on here?
Then it dawned on me. I recently have experienced a few losses in my life, and I was eating to feed the pain. Now, how crazy is that?
So on Wednesday morning, I got myself up, showered and dressed in the prettiest skirt and top I have, (it is over 100 degrees as I write!) and off to Weight Watchers Class I went.
Our usual leader was off this week on vacation, and a really kind woman was the substitute. She was talking about finding our peace, and gratitude and balance in this crazy world. This meeting was right up my alley.
I need to be kind to myself and find some peace.
Now knowing this is half the battle but actually implementing it is a little more difficult. Still, I am not going to give up on myself, and my quest to get back into shape.
After class, I came home and took 5 pounds of chicken breasts and tossed them in the crockpot. I wanted to make the recipe I posted yesterday for Shredded Chicken, which I can have on standby in the fridge for quick meals and snacks. Chicken is Zero Points, so it is a good thing to have handy.
Long ago now, I actually reached my goal weight, but after I did a series of unfortunate incidents and surgeries found me putting the weight back on. Ugh!
So, here I am now, approaching my sixtieth birthday and I would love to be able to give myself the gift of a slightly smaller waistline!
I also feel that if I can drop a few pounds, it will be better for my spine, and overall health. I’m not happy at this weight, and so I will be kind to myself, eat healthfully, and drop the pounds.
Most of all, I will find other ways to deal with the hurts in life. I’m afraid chocolate cupcakes with cookies and cream frosting, Lorne Doone cookies, and fried foods must be banished from my daily diet! Bring on the vegetables, fruits, chicken, and fish!
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Can be mixed with barbecue sauce, gravy, or just top a salad with the shredded meat. It also makes a great base for a chicken salad or soup.
Over the weekend I had the chance to spend time with my two grandchildren. I always love and value this time. I learn more and more about my grandkids, each time I am there. Right now at the ages of two and six, the kids are changing every day, sometimes hour by hour!
We swam in the pool and Savannah is a little fish. She loves to swim and never stops. She loves the water! Quinn does very well with his little swimmers, but still has a ways to go with is self-swimming. If our season was a bit longer, I think he would get it, but since our season ends soon, he will more than likely learn next year. He sure loves being in the pool!
Case in point. my little guy, Quinn was fascinated by the selfie stick I brought with me. He watched himself in the picture, with no adult sharing the screen.
Savannah thought it was pretty cool too.
The only problem I have with the selfie stick is that sometimes I don’t hold it as steady as I would like. It’s something I need to work on. If my old hands keep shaking, at least this selfie stick is also a tripod and I can set up for some better pictures.
While I was there, I sat down with six-year-old Savannah and she read to me, 40 pages of her Dick and Jane book. Some of the words she knew, but some were new to her and we worked sounding them out, and because the stories use these same words over and over in the story, by the end of the story she had learned at least three words. Not only was I proud of her, and Mandy was proud, but Savannah was proud of herself, and that was a marvelous thing to see!
I also worked on Savannah’s hair on Monday, to get it into pretty braids for her audition in the Community Theater. Savi was so sweet as I braided her hair. She talked non-stop.
Her chattering with me is something I simply adore! I remember holding Savannah on the day she was born, and telling her I could hardly wait until she could tell me everything she was thinking!
And now, here she is. Six years old and telling me everything that is on her mind. And she is such a smart and interesting little girl. I just love talking with her!
All too soon, our time together came to an end, and I started on my trek home, via the grocery store. The trip seemed long, and it was very hot, and I was so happy to arrive and get settled into a cool home with all the dogs either on me or around me!
Yes, Summer Love!
I drove down to Mandy’s house yesterday for a visit and a swim. The weather was perfect and I was in the pool with Mandy and the kids for about 3 hours! It was the perfect day as our temperature was close to 90 and the water was so soothing!
After we dried off, we watched the good old Disney movie “101 Dalmatians”. It was wonderful to watch my grandchildren enjoying a movie that I also loved as a child.
After that was dinner, and a bit more TV time, and then I sat down with Savannah and got out the “Dick and Jane” beginner reader book and Savi read 40 pages all by herself!
How great is that!
Today I babysit for half the day and then it’s grocery shopping on my way home.
Have a great Monday!
I met my cousin, Janet and her friend, Susan uptown today for the wonderful Craft Festival. It is so much fun, and I go every year.
This year the temperatures were nearly 90 degrees, and after a bit of walking around, we all needed to escape to have a cold drink and some lunch.
Yup, it was back to the Tavern again for lunch. This is now my third visit and three weeks! I had a nice cold draft beer and so did the other two ladies.
Picture courtesy of my cousin, Janet!
We all had burgers and then loaded up on water. Everything was great. As we sat chatting I couldn’t help but wonder why I hadn’t been in here much. Really it is a great place to dine. Very casual, good food, and draft beer.
I started my Christmas Shopping at the Fair and even bought myself a little gift! And tonight I am just beat once again.
Tomorrow finds me going to Mandy’s house for the night and babysitting on Monday for the kids.
Have a wonderful Sunday all!
Last night we’d made a date to meet our neighbor for dinner at a small Tavern in town. Friday and Saturday they have Prime Rib and I felt like this would be a nice meal for us. Prime Rib for under $20.00 is a deal in these parts!
We arrived at 6:30 and the place was so wild I couldn’t believe it! Then I remembered we are still in the summer tourist season, so that would explain the wall to wall people! It was also Friday, date night, and of course the Prime Rib!
I’m usually patient about these things, but for the love of all that is good and kind, I waited about 15 minutes before I went in search of the waiter.
He was the only waiter they had working! There was him, the bartender, and two people in the kitchen. One cook and one bus-boy/dish-washer. They all looked harried.
I asked about him coming to get our order. He smiled (rather a pitiful smile) and said he would be right there. I returned to our table and we waited 15 more minutes before he showed up, wiped our table down and took our drink order.
I got a Tuckerman’s Pale Ale, Jack got a Budweizer Light, and Paul got another beer, which is escaping my brain right now. It took about 10 minutes until he returned with those, and I told him to hold on so we could order our meals.
It was easy, three Queen Cut Prime Rib, fries and green beans. All three were to be medium rare.
Then we set about talking and drinking our first beer. We sat, we talking and before we knew it, an hour had passed, our beers were gone and we all started looking around for our poor, harried, waiter!
He finally returned and said they didn’t have three medium rare Prime cuts. They had two and an end cut. I can say that I felt if the order had been placed quickly and delivered quickly then we would all have gotten the medium rare cuts, but, because we were committed to the meal at this point, I said I would take the end cut, and we all wanted more beer!
Again we waited another 15 minutes and finally, I saw the waiter bringing our three meals. I said, “Oh look, our meals!” and Jack said, “Don’t get your hopes up!”
Luckily, they were our three meals! I mentioned to Jack and Paul that this had better be the best Prime Rib ever or I was never coming back!
We all took our first bites and it was so good!!! After that, there wasn’t a lot of talking as we three ate our meals. We all agreed that it was so crazy due to all the tourists, but in the winter when it is just us town folk, this will be a great place to come for Prime Rib on a cold Friday night!
And my end cut was amazing! I got all of the wonderful spices and delicious flavor! I had almost no fat or gristle on my piece, but Jack and Paul had plenty. Now, this is a good thing. Everyone’s meat was very tender, but the fat helps to keep the meat like that. All scaps were put into a container and brought home to feed Greta and the other pooches!
We did not arrive home until well after 9 PM. I was so tired, but I needed to unwind, and I guess it was closer to 10:30 before I got to bed. Well past my bedtime!
Still, I must say, this was a nice enjoyable night!
Another week has come and gone. This was sort of a crazy week. I didn’t get a lot done around the house, but I was pretty busy. So, here are the top 5 things that kept me busy this week.
Wow! I sure love these two!
I woke on Wednesday at 3:30 AM! I didn’t want to be awake then, but I woke with such a severe back ache that I was unable to get back to sleep. I tried everything, including a heating pad, but it was a no go. I was awake, and that was that.
I lay there and watched the morning news, and suddenly Greta needed to go out. I jumped out of bed, put on my slippers and carried her outside. The other dogs followed and by 5:45 I was drinking my first cup of coffee.
After an hour or so, I was feeling hungry, so I went to the kitchen and made my eggs and tossed two slices of bread in the toaster to enjoy with the eggs. The toaster eventually popped up, and I was there ready to put some butter on them, but when I went to take the “toast” out of the toaster oven only the top of the bread was toasted! The toaster was done, and no longer toasting the bottom of the bread!
Well, crap! We’d just gotten that toaster 22 years ago!
So when Jack finally got up I broke the news to him. He suggested we go to Walmart to buy a new one. He also suggested we get lunch out.
Great idea, unfortunately the Chinese Restaurant we have been going to for 15 years is under new management and it was such a disappointment! In fact it was so bad, we decided that we cannot go back. The previous manager was so good, took pride in the restaurant and I never had a bad meal there. In the last two months I have had three bad meals! And today, Jack’s Mongolian Beef was totally inedible! And my Crispy Orange Chicken, was soggy and had no taste of orange!
Walmart was a bust too. They had perhaps 4 toaster ovens and none met our specifications. So we came home and I found a perfect one online at Amazon. It will be here on Friday!
As I sat here tonight writing this, I felt so darn tired. Why is that, I wondered? Then I remembered. I got up at 3:30 this morning!
Time for bed!