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.

What I Did This Passed Weekend

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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On Saturday, i thought I was going to get a lot done. I brought down all the laundry, changed the sheets, etc, but somehow lost momentum and ended the day feeling lazy and quiet. I made a meatloaf and Hubby’s favorite mashed potatoes and then we sat down and enjoyed two episodes of “From Lark Rise to Candleford”, before I fell asleep.

I woke on Sunday to the gloom and rain of the day. I made coffee, strong and hot, and then settled in to read the newspaper. Eventually Hubby got up and the day began. The sun came out, it warmed up and turned into quite a lovely day.

Now, I’d thought that Sunday would be the lazy day, but today I actually had a lot of energy and I wrote three letters (by hand, which is not easy for my slightly arthritic fingers) and paid bills. I also fulfilled Anneliese’s greatest wish of the day…I took her on a one mile walk. She was very good and we had a really great time, except when she saw that one squirrel, she just wanted it so badly! Thankfully she was on a leash so, all was well.

Hubby and I also worked cleaning out the formal dining room. In a house this big your formal rooms often equal rooms that you sort of dump “store” things in. Today we not only worked to organize, but we dusted and cleaned as well.

Friday I made a great new recipe for a slow cooked pork roast. I’ll share it tomorrow. All I can say is..EASY &…YUM!!!

Have a great Monday everyone!

2515 Posts

I was putting together this post when I realized that I have written 2515 posts as of today! I’ve done this in 6 years with over 101,838 comments! I have posted every day, with the exception of when I had emergency surgery, and shared the good, the bad, and the wonderful with you all. I started on May 11, with all of two readers. My sister and my cousin. I wrote a short post about my darling Shubi. At that time she was the center of my life, and Greta and Fritz were her little ones. It was a short post because I knew nothing about blogging, but it is there.

So why am I bringing it up now? I suppose because it kind of blew my mind that I have been doing this so long and have written so much! I never knew I had so much to say!

My family, however, would tell you that I have never had trouble talking.

When I was very young and married for the first time, living on my own with my new husband, I had been away from home for a long time. One weekend I managed a trip back to see my grandparents and parents, and I arrived at tea time.

As we sat at the dining room table sipping tea and munching cookies, I was telling them about my adventures as a newlywed, and at one point (after about half an hour) I stopped to sip my cold tea and my grandmother laughed!

“What did I say?” I asked.

“Nothing, and everything” she said “The table sure has been quiet since you left! We’ve missed your chattering!”

Grandma is probably laughing up there in Heaven. I finally have my place where I can chatter, about something or nothing at all.

Nice to have a little place in this world I can call mine!

All My Children

I know that many of you may not be Soap Opera fans. I do not watch many, but I do watch one. “All My Children”.

Many moons ago, I admitted I was addicted to “All My Children”. I’ve been watching, almost since the beginning of the wonderful and wild and sinful world of Erica Kane! So many wonderful actors and actresses have come and gone over the years, so many good and evil characters, too. Somehow, Monday through Friday, I had that time with “All My Children”, and it allowed me to escape my own life’s drama, and focus on something totally unbelievable, like women wearing sleeveless dresses in the middle of winter.

But the dresses were always lovely and the actresses always looked beautiful and the men handsome. No one ever woke up with bad breath or, heaven forbid, had spinach on their teeth after having lunch. Mostly because no one really eats on the Soaps either.

The characters fall in and out of love like I have never seen, but then, sometimes you have special loves, those long and enduring loves. Angie and Jessie, Joe and Ruth, Tad and Dixie, Mateo and Hailey! And Erica and just about every man on the show…

And now, 41 years after the show made it’s debut, it has been canceled because they want to put on a cooking and fashion show for a younger audience! I guess baby boomers aren’t a good demographic because ABC announced they want to appeal to women 18-49.

This is the first time I have not been in the correct demographic…meaning young!

Well ABC, take “All My Children” off the air. I can’t stop you, as it is obvious that you care very little about what women and men in my age bracket think.

The last air-date for the show is in September. Until then I shall value the characters just a little bit more than I would have.

Thank you to every cast member and crew member who made that hour each day during the week a nice escape for me.

Friday Fill-Ins

And…here we go!

1. For me, it was love at first sight when my daughters were born. Truth be told I loved them from the moment I knew they were in there!

2. I just bought my Easter Ham at my local supermarket.

3. Behind the sound of the wind in the trees, I heard the first Loon of the season.

4. Paint beautiful pictures is something I always wanted to do.

5. When it was over, my life was never to be the same.

6. Even when I lived in a country where I did not speak the language well, I never felt alone.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a fire in the hearth, as we are trying to use up this seasons wood, tomorrow my plans include a nice walk around the neighborhood and watching From Lark Rise to Candleford and Sunday, I want to work in my office. Now that Hubby is done with our taxes I want to put things away!

Thursday Thirteen

I’m borrowing from San this week for my Thursday Thirteen! Thanks San!

1. Current Book(s):That’s tough. Still “The Time Travelers Wife” as I am just not reading right now.

2. Current Play-list: A bunch of late ’70’s and early ’80’s rock music.

3. Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: A nice rich Brandy. Just a little…

4. Current Color: Wearing a lot of blue, however I wore bright red the other night and felt quite glamorous in it!

5. Current Drink: Besides my guilty pleasure, Diet Rite Cola!

6. Current Food: Tuna Wrap Melts!

7. Current Favorite Show: Mike and Molly. As a person who has fought their weight for a long time I love this show. It pays attention and depicts these two lovely people so tenderly. At times Hollywood treats people with weight problems as being stupid or like clowns. Mike and Molly are real people, (well their characters are) who meet fall in love, yet can really appreciate a good cannoli!

8. Current Wish-list: Just a vacation, sometime, someplace. I feel tired.

9. Current Needs: To continue to do well at Weight Watchers.

10. Current Bane(s) of my Existence: Dogs who are trying to push me out of bed at night!

11. Current Celebrity (Girl) Crush: Melissa McCarthy! She is so great as Molly.

12. Current Outfit: Jeans, sweater, Merrell slip-ons.

13. Current Excitement: I know that spring is on the way, even if it it colder than heck here today! Easter is just around the corner and then summer!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Would you rather talk to everyone at a crowded party for a short time or have a significant conversation with two people?

We were just at a party this past weekend. I had two or three nice conversations, but then there wasn’t time for more, so I guess I am the significant conversation type of person.

2. What objects do you remember from your parent’s living room?

Hubby and I were talking about this the other day. I was telling him about the big old TV we had and the remote control they had. ME! Back in the day, there were no remote controls. You wanted the TV on, you had to turn it on by hand! You want to change the channel? Yep, by hand! So, I use to hover/sit right down in front, so that I could pop up and change the channel.

3. Do you hog the bed? Steal the covers? Snore?

Well, yes. But then, I have three dackels who pin me down in bed and I really do need the space. I’m not sure if I snore, perhaps when I have a cold. I am not a blanket hog. I have oversized blankets so that everyone gets their covers!

4. Speaking of Easter dinner….what is your favorite way to cook/eat lamb? Or does just the thought of that make you squeamish? If you’re not cooking lamb what will be your entree du jour on Easter Sunday?

I love Gyros. But not the ones here in the states. The ones made overseas, on a spit, where they slice off the meat as they need it.

They serve it up with Tzatziki sauce! Yum! Unfortunately here in the USA, the department of health, says it’s unsanitary to cook this way. (Sillyness!) So, I always have Gyros when I am overseas.

Easter will find us cooking a ham and possibly either a chicken or turkey. I will use a brown sugar glaze on the ham, and the turkey/chicken, will be cooked by roasting it ala Julia Child. One of my guests does not like lamb, and another potential guest does not eat ham, so…. I never mind, leftovers are wonderful!

5. Let’s throw some politics into this week’s mix-oooohhh…Do you know the whereabouts of your birth certificate and when was the last time you had to produce it to prove you’re you?

Guess what? Yes! Not only did I need to have it to get married, both times. I also needed it to show the Airlines who I was, in order to be allowed to fly with Hubby when he was still a pilot! Then when we moved back to New Hampshire, I needed it again to get my drivers license! Two years ago the Department of Homeland Security asked for all documents to show who I was again. So I have a file with my birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc in it. Also, if I go to the town I was born in, they also have a way of producing a legal copy for me, as it is filed there!

See, I could run for President!

6. As a child, how did people describe you?

Pretty, bright, talented, gregarious, blond. Here I am, in a community theater production of “The Sound of Music”. I played Gretel.

7. What do you complain about the most?

Hubby not watching my dackels close enough. He will take them out and then a little while later he comes back inside looking for them! It makes me crazy!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Joanne is doing great. Each and every day finds her working very hard in rehab. We all continue to pray for her recovery, and it is amazing what miracles can be worked!

Joanne will go home this weekend for a visit. She is so excited to go to her house, see her kitties, her things and spend time with her husband and kids.

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This weekend I plan to start my seedlings for the garden. We’ve bought some seeds already, but I need to finish buying those, as well as the potting soil.

Floors?

Monday morning found us waking to gray, foggy skies, and rain. The morning slowly went by and we could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance. For us, this is the first thunder storm of the season.

The skies darkened even more, there was an actual flash of lightning, and then the tell tale sound of hail hitting the roof and patio outside!

We actually got up to look at the dime size hail on the ground! Amazing!

After the rain stopped Hubby went out for a walk with Fritz and Greta. Fritz does fine. He just gets his feet a little muddy, but Greta, well, the girl has like two inch legs, so she is that low to the ground, and by the time she came back home, she was covered with dirt!

I bathed her in a bucket of warm water, all the while she growled her displeasure! Then I toweled her off and allowed her into the house.

As Hubby came in I grimaced and told him how unhappy I was. While he’d been out with the dogs, I’d actually washed the floor! Oh well, that is just the way it goes!

So much for clean floors!