Fridays

I used to clean house every Friday without fail.  When I was much younger.  Ran the vacuum, dusted, scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom floors, picked up and put away.  The whole (almost) nine yards.  Now, I clean house whenever I have the energy...and don't tell anyone, but I may not even clean every week.  Today is Friday and I'm just bone tired and don't want to do anything.


Do you have those days?  These days are becoming more frequent as I get older.  What's worse is that I don't really care if there is a little dust or clutter and the floor need scrubbing really bad, but who cares when the outside world is so yukky and muddy right now and it would be a complete waste of time to scrub when it would just get dirty again and who wants to do that?  Waste precious time that is.  Time that I could use to be on the computer blogging or taking a nap or watching the birds out the window or....anything but work!  


Yesterday was not my normal work day, but I've worked every Thursday this month.  They asked me if I would want to work today, too, but I declined.  I've just got to get started on some things that need my attention here at home, if I could only find the energy.  Meanwhile, while I'm trying to find that much needed energy, I think I'll go fix a sandwich...it's lunch time...and bring it back here to the computer and check out some blogs.  Doesn't that sound like more fun? 


Until next time...

Choosing a recipe

I love reading recipe books and have collected quite a few...plus I have lots of recipes I've torn out of magazines through the years or bookmarked on my computer.  Recipes jotted down on scrap paper that I've heard on the radio or television or given to me by a friend at work...or over the phone.  Here are a few of my favorite go-to books when I want a new recipe to try out:

When I want to use the crockpot.

A sentimental favorite given to me

by my late brother who lived in Texas.

Who could go wrong with BH&G?  My son

gave me this book a few Christmases ago.

Wonderful, simple down-home cooking 

and stories.  A nostalgic trip down

 memory lane for someone like myself

who grew up on a midwest farm.  

A favorite Gooseberry Patch cookbook,

Autumn flavored.

 Gooseberry Patch - Country Christmas

This is one of my newest books.  It was
sent to my husband for helping out during a huge
storm last year.  It is over 500 pages and full
of delicious looking recipes contributed by 
many good cooks in the area.  

It's about time to be thinking of what to fix for supper.  Around here, the evening meal is generally referred to as "supper".  What are you fixing?  Will you be trying out a new recipe this weekend?  I'm going to be making a new bread called Praline-Apple Bread I found in a Southern Living magazine.  Will share the recipe and hopefully a picture when it's done.  As for supper, it will be something easy to fix with the hamburger I bought yesterday.  Those are usually my favorite dishes, quick and easy!  

Until next time...

What's that?

 

We saw the sun Saturday morning!  

Took this pic of our frozen pond from the back door.

There was some fog lingering.

 We took a little drive this cloudy afternoon. You would think 

that this picture was taken in black and white.

 A different angle of the creek. 

Memories:  this creek runs through a part of the land that used to be my mother and dad's farm.  It can really be full when we've had a lot of rain.  There used to be a large tree next to the creek with branches over-hanging the water and it had large vines hanging from it. When we were children, we would take a vine and swing across the creek to the other side.  Of course, our parents didn't know.  It was a magical place to play and we had lots of fun there, but we didn't dare go very often for fear of getting found out.  We were at least smart enough not to go when the creek was filled to the rim with heavy rains.  

Until next time...

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Man, that plate of food sure smells good.

 

So does her plate!

Let me get a closer look.

And that one over there looks just as good...hummm...I 

wonder why I didn't get a plate?

 

What? "Get down?!" Mean old woman. 

  

A chicken soup kind of day

Gosh, it's been a while since I've posted.  I love to read other's blogs and get so caught up in the interesting goings on and the wonderful pictures you share, the recipes, etc., that I run out of time to post on my own!  Do you do that?

I had to work an extra day this week and maybe will have to a few more weeks if we're busy enough.  The work has slowed down a bit, but another worker quit so we are short staffed.  I really like my job but I keep saying this will be my last year,  we'll see.  Since I only work 3 days (usually) a week, it's not too hard and I really like the people at the company...I will miss many of them when I do decide to leave.  Some have been there a long time.  One amazing woman retired at the age of  74!

This was a really lazy day for a Saturday.  Even our grown daughter, who has lived with us since her divorce, said that she felt like a lazy slug...LOL.  I told her that we were entitled to be lazy once in a while.  Tho, truth be told, I'm lazy quite a bit of the time anymore.  It's that age thing, right?  Anyway, the weather was gloomy today, no sun for us, and that doesn't help.  I did do a bit of cooking, made a pot of chicken soup and we had a huge breakfast/lunch of bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy.  All that artery clogging, but yummy, stuff!!

My chicken soup is very easy to make.  I took a package of chicken thighs that I had thawed and brought them to a boil and simmered about 30 minutes or so.  Then, I took them out of the broth and shredded the meat, returning the bones to the broth and simmered that for another 40-45 minutes.  Meanwhile, I chopped up a small onion, diced 3 carrots, and 3 stalks of celery.  After taking the bones out of the broth, I added the veggies and salt and pepper to taste, 2 tsp parsley flakes, a shake or two of garlic powder and 2 tsp of chicken base.  I let that cook about 10-15 minutes then added the shredded chicken and a 12 oz. pkg of Amish noodles (sorry, I forget the exact brand name) and simmered that for another 10 minutes or so until the noodles were done and it was ready to serve.  Easy and Yummy.  Very good on a chilly, gloomy wintery day. 

Are you into the Super Bowl and fix up tasty treats for family and/or friends?  I plan on fixing some 'lil smokies and the 7-layer dip for sure.  Don't know what else yet.  Will probably bake some brownies, too.  Gotta have something to satisfy that sweet tooth.  But to tell you the truth, I'd rather watch a good movie than the Super Bowl since Brett Favre isn't playing.  What good movies have you seen lately?

Okay, off now to look at a recipe or two.  Maybe while I'm baking those brownies tomorrow and the oven is on, I'll try out one of the new quick bread recipes that I've saved.

Until next time....