Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What is something that bothers you if it is not done perfectly?

Having my bed made. I like my bed sheets and blanket laid smooth and tucked in properly.

When I had my retinal detachment, Hubby made the bed and he “tried”, but the sheets were not smooth and it drove me nuts! I did appreciate the attempt though.

2. What is one of your best childhood memories.

Being on the beaches in my hometown of Falmouth, Massachusetts. I loved Surf Drive Beach. Swimming, playing in the sand, and also riding my bike all around the town. My sister, my cousin, Aunts, Uncles and family. Summers on Cape Cod were the best!

3. Do you plan to watch the Royal Wedding and when was the last time you wore a hat?

I do plan to watch the Royal Wedding, but I doubt I will wear a hat. Although I did wear a rather British type of hat when I married Hubby.

I wear hats every winter to stay warm and dry!

4. Where do you fall in the birth order in your family? Do you think this has influenced your personality?

I am the baby in the family.

The one who talks like crazy, wants to be older than they are and got left when my brother and sister grew up, got married and left home! After that I think I felt determined to get out into the world quickly. I still am a chatterbox and I still sort of feel older than I am.

5. Where do you think you spend most of your money?

Fuel oil and groceries. Since we heat our home with oil, and also put gal in our cars we spend a lot of money on oil.

Groceries have been going up as well, so our bills there increase each month. Of course taxes too. Sad but I think the government better get themselves under control. The average person won’t be able to afford to live soon.

6. When you need to confront someone would you rather communicate in person, on the phone, by email or by letter? Why?

I’d rather do it in person, unless I plan never to see this person and then a long thought out letter is written, saved and then reread a day or two later.

If I am still feeling like that then I send it.

7. Dodge ball, freeze tag, kickball or jump rope? You have to pick one.

I think I liked freeze tag best. We played that a lot in our back yard when I was a kid. Remember, Mel and Janet?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Joanne took another trip home with her therapists to see what moderation’s need to be made in the house to accommodate her. Joanne’s Dad has been working hard and so there is actually very little to be done. They are hoping that by the end of the month she will be released and then will have out patient therapy. When I think of how Joanne began her year, I am so thankful that she will soon be home with her girls and her husband once again!

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Happy Second Birthday to my B-Litter!

Today is the second birthday for Anneliese’s babies, Baron, Bogart, Baerbel and Birgit (aka Ali)! I’m going to show the montage I made last year with their baby pictures, so we can all remember those sweet little babies!

Happy First Birthday Puppies from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Random Thoughts

In just a week it will be Hubby’s birthday! Okay, what I want to know is how the last year has flown by us so fast? It seems just a year ago I was making Hubby his favorite dinner and toasting to his continued health, and here we are a year later and I have to think of what on earth to make to out do myself? Perhaps I will just go to the old stand-bye, Lobsters. It’s easy, and it’s not only a meal, but a gift that says I love you!
Hubby and I watched “Jesus Christ Superstar” last night. Somehow he had missed seeing that, all those years ago. Of course I was a teenager and really in to it, so as I typed on the computer I sang all the songs!
I will be making Pea Soup today. I saved our Ham Bone and we had a fair amount of meat left, so Pea Soup it is. I love it with carrots, celery and a little potato in it.
How many of you will be watching the “Royal Wedding” on Friday? I plan to get up and watch the coverage, and I have planned an English tea for Hubby and I later in the morning (when he gets up) to celebrate.
I remember watching Princess Diana, and thinking how very nervous I would be. We were close in age and I know she must have been a nervous wreck, with so many people watching her. I still feel sad when I think of how she died.
One of my Green-House windows got all cracked. Hubby calls it crazing. I call it broken. In any case, the workers came today to take the measurements to repair it.
The rest of the week is supposed to be warm. I sure hope so. I want Spring to finally arrive!

What I Did Last Weekend…Easter

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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Easter was a good Day. Why is that? Well, all the food came out as planned, and I didn’t burn my house down! Let me back up to Saturday.

I started working peeling vegetables, making gelatin molds, and a new grape salad, which really made me happy. I started in the morning and by the time I cleaned up on Saturday it was well after dinner and we were just sitting down to watch From Lark Rise to Candleford.

Needless to say, I slept well on Saturday night, and woke on Sunday to the brightest sunshine and warmest weather than we have had in a long time! Ah how wonderful to have such a beautiful Easter morning! I exited the bedroom singing “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”.

Once again I found myself racing to get everything done for our Easter celebration with my cousin, Janet. She and her Dave and his daughter and two grandsons were due up at 1 to start the celebrations, and they arrived right on time!

I brought out the stuffed eggs and the New England Clam Dip, and we all munched on that until the rest of the meal was cooked, and ready to put on the table.

Now here is where things got a little exciting! Janet had put her delicious rosemary yeast dinner rolls on top of the stove to rise and covered them with a sheet of wax paper. Stupid me, went to turn on the burner in the back and when it clicked on, the flame caught the paper and the next thing I knew the wax paper was burning. I tried to blow it out, but that did not work, so I grabbed the paper and tossed it into the sink!

After that the rest of the meal’s preparation was anti-climactic! All went well and finally about 2:45, we sat down and ate our meal!

After dinner we walked around my yard enjoying the fact that the snow has melted and once again spring is trying to arrive!

Before sitting down and having coffee and cake.

Now I fear I will not be able to eat for a few days! Perhaps that would be a good thing! I know today, my WW diet was ignored through out the entire meal! But oh, those rolls and the cake were just fantastic!

What did you all do to celebrate?

Easter Snow!

Okay folks, it is nearly the end of April and it is Easter. So what happened here yesterday? This:

Yes, that’s right, it snowed! About two and a half sloppy inches of the wet, white, stuff! I simply could not believe it! Hubby worried about clearing the drive, but I simply took the pictures and then went back to preparing the food for Easter. I wanted to get the vegetables peeled, the dips made, the eggs stuffed, and an aspic made. And still it snowed on…

My shrub is okay. The buds are still tight.

The snow even fell and killed my pretty yellow flower!

I am so thankful for this Easter Day! What does it mean? Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia! His triumphant Heavenly Day, Alleluia!

I send to you all our best wishes for a happy and healthy Easter. My God Bless you today and every day in the year ahead!

Planting & Ice Out

Yesterday, I was truly amazed at the lake in front of our house. It appeared to have small rivers running between the ice, but when I walked down to the beach to look and take some pictures, this is what I found.

Can you see the ice? There were these really odd icicles in between each chunk of ice. Here is a close up.

It was cold and windy and I didn’t stay out too long. I walked back up the hill to our house, and thought, perhaps I would snap a picture.

Friday the sun was out and it was a much nicer day! I decided to put on my crummy jeans and sweat-shirt and do some spring stuff.

Since there was no snow left in the yard, that meant one thing for me…time to plant my seeds for the garden! So, out to the green house I went, to clean it out, working planting seeds, and then clean it all up again!

Our weather was beautiful and it was actually the perfect day for working in the green house. Our temperatures reached 60 degrees. I so enjoyed the sunshine and watching the effect that it had on our lake. By nightfall we had finally had ice out on our own little lake here in Dackel Princess Land!

Friday Fill-Ins

And…here we go!

1. Pardon me, while I powder my nose.

2. The beautiful leg of ham we have for Easter is a good deal.

3. I was surprised to find that I really like gourmet cooking.

4. Having a barbecue (or cooking outside) is one of my favorite forms of entertainment.

5. Hi, my name is Maribeth and I’m an over-eater. That is what I said three years ago when I went to my first WW meeting.

6. Warm, breezy and peaceful summer afternoons.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finishing up the laundry and vacuuming, tomorrow my plans include making the tomato aspic, peeling the potatoes and the carrots and also making the stuffed eggs and clam dip and Sunday, I want to cook the ham, get all the parts of the Easter dinner put together, so that I can enjoy everyone who will be coming up and sharing our table!

Thursday Thirteen

The Menu

Appetizers, Stuffed Eggs and New England Clam dip with chips.

1. Ham. Not my first choice, but Hubby and Janet love it and I love them, so ham it is! I have a nice piece of porky pig in the fridge for our dinner. I bet it will be delish!

2. I’m making it with a spiced cherry glaze. I know most people do it with pineapple, but I am sadly allergic to it, so we will have this glaze on the roast ham, and have a dish of pineapple for those that can have it.

3. Mashed potato. It is one thing I really love and gosh darn-it, we are going to have them! I wondered about it and finally put it on the menu. I’ll weigh my portion, but I really want them.

4. A Tomato Aspic! This is a recipe I have gotten from a friend and it is not only low in points, but it is so good!

5. Either asparagus or peas, depending on the prices in the supermarket this week. I’m hoping asparagus!

6. Carrots. I love carrots, so I plan to wash, peel, slice and cook until they are tender crisp and sweet!

7. Pickles. I make my own Moon-glow pickles and I will have a tray of those on the table.

8. Rolls. served with butter and margarine.

9. An assortment of mustards. Does everyone like the same mustard with their ham?

10. Coconut cake. My cousin is making this and I can hardly wait!

11. A Grape salad. A pound of green and a pound of seedless red, a block of fat free cream cheese, and a container of fat free vanilla yogurt. 1/4 cup of either sugar or Splenda. Make the dressing first, then add to the grapes. Meanwhile, mix 1/4 cup brown sugar with a good fist-full of pecan, crunch together and toast. Cool and then toss on top of grapes. Chill overnight, and serve.

12. Drinks galore. Coffee, tea, water, soda’s etc.

13. Alka Seltzer! lol!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What are your plans for Easter Day/weekend?

My cousin, her boy friend and some of his family are coming and I am cooking a Ham. I expect to look like an Oompa Loompa the day after.

2. Besides Jesus, what one person from The Bible would you most like to meet and why?

Job. I have had so many challenges in my life, and reading the book of Job often helped me to realize that I have not been challenged nearly as much.

3. What is one modern day convenience you didn’t have as a child that was easy to live without?

A garbage disposal. We have one now, and although I love having it, it certainly isn’t a must have in this world.

4. Are you more right brained or left brained? (I took the quiz at Joyce’s site and this is what it said.)

Left Brain	Right Brain
47%	53%

Now this is weird. I’m really both. Well, thank goodness. After a closed head injury 25 years ago, it’s nice to see the two sides working so well together.

5. What is something you intended to do today but didn’t? Why?

Well, as I write it is only 9:30 AM on Tuesday, so I haven’t had a chance to mess up yet. I hope I will have a good day of getting it all done. It may be that I don’t get my seeds planted.

6. Cadbury Creme Eggs or Reeses peanut butter?

Neither. I am really a dark chocolate person, so my real addiction is sold only at Christmas. Peppermint Bark.

7. Who was your favorite cartoon character when you were a child?

I loved the Flintstones, The Jetsons and Chip and Dale.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Joanne took her first field trip home. She also wanted to have some PF Chang and when the local restaurant heard they arranged quite a party for her and even picked up the bill! She got to hold her cat, Joey and see her home! It did help her morale, but she also realized how much work she needs to do to get in shape for her discharge in a few weeks.

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Ice-Out Declared On Lake Winnipesaukee

Happy Wednesday!

Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast

It’s a snap to make with a jar of mango or peach chutney, onions, and seasonings.
Ingredients:

* 1 boneless pork loin roast, about 3 to 4 pounds
* 1-2 large sweet onion, sliced
* Salt and pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 small clove garlic, finely minced
* 1 jar (12 ounces) mango or peach chutney
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon grainy mustard (I just used regular Guldens Mustard)
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Preparation:
Wash roast and pat dry; trim excess fat.

Put sliced onion in the bottom of a 5 to 7-quart slow cooker. Lightly salt and pepper the roast then rub with the garlic powder or fresh minced garlic. Place the roast in the slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and spoon over the roast. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour, then reduce to LOW and cook for 6 to 8 hours longer, or continue cooking on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours longer. The roast should register at least 160° on an instant read thermometer or meat thermometer inserted in the center of the roast. Best if you cook it slowly.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker and keep warm; pour juices into a medium saucepan. Simmer the juices for about 5 to 8 minutes to reduce by about one-third. Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon cold water, stirring until smooth. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the juices and continue cooking for about 1 minute, until thickened. (I did not do this and it was fine just the way it was.
Serves 6 to 8.