Category: Friday Five

Well, here we are. November first! It’s hard to believe that in a couple of weeks I will be 61, and in just over a month Arnie and Anneliese will be 13!

The year has flown by and I am not quite sure I am ready to leap into the year 2020. But leap I will and somehow, I hope and pray that 2020 is a better year.

So, here is this week’s Friday Five.

1. I came back home on Monday after helping my daughter get ready to move. We’ve had nothing but wet weather and I’ve been holing my breath that they could get the move completed under sunny skies.
2. Well, quite happily, the clouds cleared and the skies brightened on Wednesday and Mandy, Matt and the kids made their move under dry skies.
3. I decided to try a new recipe. It’s a WW recipe for banana bread. And an entire mini loaf has just 2 points! It was fabulous. (Recipe Below)
4. I was late getting out the suet feeders today and as I walked outside there was my Downy Woodpecker scolding me vocalizing at me for being late! Despite today’s rain, the birds have been out at the feeders.
5. Today my plans include laundry, a little cooking, and some Christmas Craftwork.

Here is:

WW Banana Bread Recipe

Preheat oven 400 degrees (F)

Mini Loaf pan 5 x 3 x 1

Ingredients:

• 1 large banana.
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup Kodiak Flapjack Mix (buttermilk flavor)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp Splenda

1. In medium bowl mash banana with a fork.
2. Add egg and beat together and until well blended
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing until thoroughly blended
4. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and then pour batter into pan.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

2 Smart points for the entire mini loaf

Now, this week has flown by. I have been so busy as I run around getting things done and doing my stuff. Here are the 5 things that I’ve been thinking about.

1. It’s still a beautiful time around here. Although the bright colors have gone, It is still an amazingly lovely time of year!
2. I’ve been puttering lately. Here or there. Trying to clean, straighten,  and organize.
3. I moved the bird feeder in the front yard to the back yard for the winter. This way I will only have to shovel a path in the snow out the back door to the two feeders.
4. I have finally started a little Christmas shopping. For my cousin, Janet and for my sister. I also have seen a few things for the kids.
5. And just because, I saw an ad for a Vera Bradley Purse and I could not believe that a $100.00 purse was marked down to $21.00!
   

   Needless to say, I was forced to buy it for myself!

Have a great weekend everyone!

This year it seems many of my weeks have flown by and so many of them have been just a little crazy.

This one wasn’t so crazy, but it was unusual and it did fly by. So, here’s what’s up in New Hampshire.

1. It was Columbus Day on Monday, and that really was the day to be out and enjoying nature and the beautiful Autumn leaves.
   
2. The Tourists were all here, Leaf Peepers, and the like. The trains were full and everyone was enjoying their time in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.
   
3. We also had many people up closing their summer camps for the winter. Soon our traffic will disappear and we will return to being the lovely sleepy town we are in the winter. (Meredith is 54.2 square miles. With a population: 6,384)
4. I decided to switch things around in my closet now that the cooler temperatures are here. One thing I cannot seem to find is my winter coat! Where on earth did I store it last Spring?
5. And lastly, both my stomach and my cold are better. It’s nice to be able to eat normal foods again (even though it is low fat) and to not be coughing and sneezing!

Have a great weekend everyone!

The end of another week and as I sit here trying to collect my thoughts, I am reminded to be thankful for everything that went right this week, and not dwell on the things that went wrong. So here is this week’s Friday Five.

1. It’s Autumn in my little corner of the world. And although TV Broadcasters say that we have full color, we really do not!

   But, it sure is pretty.

2. I have been pulling over when I see a pretty scene in town, I pull over and snap a picture.
   
3. The birds have increased their visits to the feeders.
   
   They’re looking for some seed as the abundance of nature’s food begins to dry up.
4. My slight sore throat turned into an upper respiratory infection. AKA: A cold. I feel sleepy and stuffy, but really, it isn’t bad. More of a nuisance, really.
5. Lastly, I think this will be a really slow weekend. I need to unwind, take naps, and perhaps toss in a few loads of laundry. But I have no big plans except to take care of myself.

So that’s it, folks.  Time to relish the Autumn days and catch my breath. Hopefully, I will feel better by Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Welcome to October! Okay, where has the year gone? In just over a month I will be 61, we will have Thanksgiving, and then the rush towards Christmas will be underway!

Here’s what’s happening in my little corner of the world!

1.      The week started quite busily, with my doctor’s appointment and tests. I still have no test results, which I admit is quite frustrating.

2.      I’ve been enjoying the changing colors of the leaves around me. I am guessing it will be another two weeks until we are at full peak color. Then I will be out taking pictures every day.

3.      I am still just heartsick about the plane crash this week. People out for a good time flying in this antique plane and now seven men are gone. I think the fact that I had seen that plane, been inside of it, makes me feel that closer to its demise.

4.      It seems that today I have been having one visit after another from Mr. Cardinal. He also brought his Mrs. I’ve been trying to get a good picture of them, but each time I try to Lili moves, which they see and they fly off. But today I finally got a very nice picture of Mr. Cardinal. Isn’t he handsome?

Although this is not the best shot, you can see Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal!

5. It had to be done. Today, October 3rd I turned on the heat. Everything is working fine and it took the chill off the house. After I turned the heat on, our oil truck delivered a tankful. So, we are now $450.00 poorer! Oh well…At least we will be warm!

It’s been a crazy week this week. Despite the fact that I am still not my best, I decided to keep plugging away. Here’s my list.

1. I went in and had a bunch of tests. Still awaiting the results. I hope they find out what it is so I can start to get on the road to recovery. It’s so annoying to be sick.
2. I’ve cooked for Jack all week. I’ve tried to make meals that I can eat a little bit of too. Baked potatoes are my best friends right now and plain simple Chicken breast.
3. I attempted to make a new recipe for Peach Bread. It came out badly. I think I might make Jack a banana bread tomorrow. I have enough to do a splendid job of it.
4. I decided to release the turkey! By this I mean, I got a turkey for 69¢ a pound and it’s been in my deep freeze. So, I pulled it out and it will be a turkey this weekend for dinner. I expect turkey will also be fairly easy on my stomach.
5. Lastly, I ordered “Yesterday” and it arrived today.
   Over the weekend, I want to watch it with Jack. The music is great and I so enjoyed watching it with Mandy and Matt, so I bought the movie!

For me, this week seemed to go by at a snail’s pace. I haven’t felt well this week, so each day just seemed to go on and on. Luckily, we are at the end of the week and there is the weekend ahead. Here are the five things going on here right now.

1. I have not felt well for a while. I mean I feel okay, but I’m having trouble eating. Odd. I’ve had to go on a very bland diet, which is no fun, but I have no choice. Jack finally suggested I need to go to the doctor. I’m going on Tuesday.
2. I lost 3 pounds at WW this week. Now before anyone says woo-hoo, this is not the way to lose it. I joked with a friend that I need to ride this stomach thing for about 20 pounds! lol!
3. I spent Wednesday afternoon, preparing the peaches and oranges and rind and sugar for my Heavenly jam. Then Thursday I made the first batch and it came out beautifully! However, disaster struck my second batch and the bottom of my beloved heavy soup pot burnt the fruit and sugars! It all went down the disposal and I will need to start all over today! Ugh!
4. My pot was so badly burnt I wasn’t sure I could clean it. But I used Bartender’s Friend (Basically Baking Soda) and Vinegar. Put that in the pot and then brought the vinegar mixture to a boil. I let it cook for about 5 minutes and presto! The pot was clean! Whew!
5. Jack and I went to the opening night of Downton Abbey at our little local theater.
   There wasn’t an empty seat. I’d sent Jack out after lunch to purchase our tickets. Good idea! Our theater has new recliner seats! They were so comfortable. The movie was wonderful and I enjoyed every moment. Jack enjoyed it, even though he has not seen all of the TV Series. The cinematography was amazing, the costumes beautiful and the acting fabulous. A great way to start the weekend!

It was an amazing week, another that seemed to rush by.  I found myself driving here and there, getting a lot done. So here goes!

1. Anneliese had her Eye Exam and right now her eyes are stable. I need to keep up the drops and keep an eye on her, but hopefully, we are through the worst of it. She will never be perfect, but at least she is out of imminent danger.
2. My Repairman, Barry is here fixing my dishwasher! Yahoo! I have managed to do the dishes, but I admit that last night I’d had enough of the cooking and then cleaning it all up.
3. So. last night I got a takeout menu online for the local Chinse Restaurant and we ordered meals for each of us. A night off.
4. I fear I was being punished for being so lazy because we got the worst Chinese food that either of us had ever had. And things only got more annoying. When Jack went to pick it up it was almost $15.00 more than we had figured. It turns out that they had added pork fried rice to the order, and not just changed the option. (You know Pork Fried Rice, Fried Rice or White Rice?) S0 we had fried rice in the take out box and an extra box of pork fried rice. The good thing about being married to a thrifty Scotsman is that he wouldn’t accept the order! The woman eventually admitted her error and Jack came home with the meal. However, it was awful!
5. Tomorrow Savannah will be in another play. My darling girl just loves acting in plays.
   
   I am going down for the midday performance and then will head right back home. I’ve been so worried about Jack and I don’t want to leave him for too long.

Have a great weekend everyone!

This week has flown by. The first part I was really under the weather and not doing much aside from watching tennis, but the end of the week found me incredibly productive. So here we go people, with this weeks Friday Five!

1. Our weather has started to dry out and cool down. Do you know what this means? Tea! Now I do drink hot tea year-round, but my goodness, when the temperatures drop there is nothing quite like a good cuppa tea! My favorite os Twinings English Breakfast Tea. There is a richness and full body flavor to it. In fact, I am drinking some now, as I put my feet up at the end of my very busy day!
2. Thursday morning I put together all the vegetables I’d chopped and made a splendid Spaghetti Sauce and meatloaf for Jack.The sauce really came out well, and in a while, I will put the meatloaf in to cook.
   
3. My other goal for Thursday was laundry. I am currently on my 5th load of laundry with one more to go before I quit for the day! It’s amazing how much I can get done if I use a timer to remind me to change the loads of laundry! So far things are actually washed, dried, folded and put away! Yes, I amaze even myself!
4. I am back to reading a little each day as well as crocheting. I’m trying to diversify how I spend my time. I fear I have been spending too much time on the computer and not enough time in the real world.
5. I finished watching Downton Abbey, but I am tempted to watch again, perhaps this time with Jack.
   I want to catch all the little things I might have missed the first time and I think Jack would enjoy watching the entire series. He only watched the last two seasons.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Here we are on the last Friday of August. The summer certainly sped by. In fact earlier this week it was so cool in the morning I had the distinct feeling that it was closer to the end of September than the end of August! Thursday did warm up slightly, but overnight the temperatures will fall again.

So, here are this weeks Friday Five!

1. The people who supposedly fixed our driveway did a very poor job. The very next day after work was completed, the driveway failed! We have attempted to have the company come back, and see what they did wrong and fix it. So far they have avoided us. I am afraid that a lawsuit may be required for us to get the work done correctly. We held up our end of the bargain with prompt down-payments and then final payment when the work was done, but to literally have it fail overnight was something we could not have foreseen. If we had they would not have gotten their final payment!
2. It’s Eggplant Season. I’ve been getting eggplant cheaply and it is beautiful. I admit to being an Eggplant Addict! I love it. I simply spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and roast the sliced eggplant until they are brown and tender-crisp. I’ve been eating this for lunch for the last couple of weeks. Jack thinks I am crazy. He likes Eggplant Parmesan maybe once every five years. But for me, I don’t need any sauces or anything I just like the plain and simple roasted eggplant!
3. One of the greatest joys for me this week was having my grandchildren with me.
   They wanted me to stay with them while they fell asleep and when they did I snapped this picture of the two of them. It’s pretty dark and Savi is turned away, but Quinn is sleeping and peaceful as they both were and that filled my heart with such happiness!
4. We finished watching Downton Abbey. Jack is now interested in the movie too. Just a few more weeks and we will actually go to the movies and enjoy! I so love Maggie Smith! She is such an amazing actress!
5. I’ve been watching the US Open Tennis. I’ve seen some really tough matches, some great matches and a few where neither player deserved to win. But oh my! I do love to watch these talented athletes!