swine flu paranoia...

I thought this was just too cute not to post.

If you think I'm not taking the swine flu seriously may I just remind everyone that the most important preventative for not getting the flu is to Wash Your Hands!!

photo credit - unknown

a gift that keeps on giving

Several months back on my birthday I received a lovely gift card for Starbuck's. Yes, I love my carmel macchiato's (non-fat, sugar-free, stirred, extra hot) and I like to sip it while working at my desk throughout the morning. I can usually make it last for a while. If it gets cold I just go nuk it. I know I've posted about my 'coffee' before.

What's nice about gift cards is it's a gift that keeps on giving. I still have anther 5 drinks to go on this card which should take me into September. Wahoo!! Thanks Mom & Dad.

In an attempt to cut calories/$$ I would only get my Starbuck's once a week. It would be on Wednesday's as I had a 2-hr. staff meeting in the morning that I'd take it to, a sort of justification that I needed it to 'make it' through that meeting. Yeah, like I needed any justification. Well, the meeting was moved to the afternoon so my justification went out the window. And to be honest the cashier at the one I stop at, Fred, moved with his wife up to Seattle to be closer to family. Bummer, he was a nice guy, a lot older than most of the 20 something's that tend to work there.

I'd still swing by every now and then but it's not on a weekly basis and it's not the same, a lot of new faces.

This leads me to a question:

Did I stop at Starbuck's on a weekly basis to have the coffee or the interaction with Fred?

Readers, do you find yourself frequenting establishments because they remember the drink you like a product they keep in stock for you ~ the personal interaction? Or do you go because of location, price, and convenience?

it arrived

If you remember a couple of posts back (here) I mentioned I had won a Travelers Guidebook of Calabria in a contest that Michelle at Bleeding Espresso had on her site.

It arrived, isn't it pretty?

I'm looking forward to reading all about the Calabria region. This is the first time I've seen a Traveler's guidebook and I can't wait to start reading it.

Thank you Michelle for the book!!

chocolate zucchini cake

I had a craving for something sweet and chocolately and had some zucchini in the frig that needed to be used. Barb over at Art and Barb Live in Italy posted this recipe and I decided to give it a try.

It turned out delicious, very most. I tried both her suggestions for toppings but used walnuts instead of hazelnuts. You can't go wrong with this cake. Starting my diet tomorrow.

Here's Barb's recipe:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt1
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated unpeeled zucchini (about 2 1/2 medium)

Topping1
cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Topping 2
40 g light brown sugar mixed with 1/2 Cup (70 g) hazelnuts, toasted and chopped).

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour 13 x 9 x 2” baking pan.Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.Beat sugar, butter and oil in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.Mix in dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions each. Mix in grated zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over.Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan. Serves 12.

it happened

Several weeks’ back Michelle @ Bleeding Espresso had a contest to win a new guidebook that was coming out of the region she lives in Italy, Calabria called Traveler’s Calabria.

I’ve not made it that far South to Calabria in my trips to Italy but someday I will get there and finally meet Michelle and hopefully Cherrye @ My Bella Vita.

It’s always fun entering contests as you just never know, you may win. What entering into contests on blogs has done for me is take me to a variety of blog sites that I may never have found through my normal blog reads. Michelle’s always good at either having contests on her site or putting links in her blog to other bloggers that are having them. You rock Michelle!!

I’m happy to announce that I received an email from Michelle letting me know I was one of the lucky 5 people to win a Travelers Calabria guidebook. Yahoo!! Can’t wait for it to arrive and read about Calabria.

Thanks Michelle!!

************************

On another note, I know I’ve been absent for too long and I promise I will be posting about my Italy trip really soon. Need to capture those memories before I forget. I appreciate you not giving up and coming back to check my blog from time to time.

italia - i made it

-9 months of planning

-endless hours of emails

-some sleeples nights

-on Italian soil - priceless

Yes, I'm finally walking on Italian soil, enjoying the caffe and food. It was a bit crazy the last week prior to my flying out but I'm here. I haven' journaled or blogged as I had thought I would but things haven't come as easily as they have in my past travels to Italy.

Italy cell phone not working - needed to get a new cell number, TM store closed, then my passport wouldn't work so had to use my moms and finally after too much time my phone isn't getting service where I am in Acqui Terme. Aargh.

Brought a netbook with me to email, blog, etc. and have yet to figure out the wirless feature. This is purely a user issue and then finding a WiFi link. Have found some Internet cafes so working through them.

banking - didn't get to take care of this before I left but have done it online in the past trips. Well my back has put more security features into their system and doing banking from Europe has been challenging at best. Thank goodness for my wonder sister Tammie and my son Trevor, they've bailed me out.

Will write more and post pictures hopefull really soon.

Ciao,

Linda

let me introduce myself

Yes, I’m the owner of this blog and take full credit for its lack of postings of late. I know I haven’t posted for a while as my sister reminds me on a regular basis, but I’ve been really busy at home and work life and this has taken a sad back seat but it has not been forgotten. I’ve not even had time to keep up with the blogs I normally read and this has got to stop. Right Now!!

I’m not sure I even have any readers left but on the sheer luck that someone accidentally lands on this blog and reads it other than my sister Tammie then let me be the first to say – Welcome.

So what’s kept me busy you ask? I’ll just make you a list because I’m good at doing that, here it goes:

Women’s ministry – I co-lead the women’s ministry at church which entails meetings, etc. that need to be attended and emails to be answered.

Women’s retreat - I was on the planning team which means regular meetings and a lot of emails not to mention I was in charge of taking care of the craft at the retreat. The craft was decorating with pretty paper a composition book so they could use it as a journal. The journals turned out great and the retreat was awesome.

Bible Study – Every Tuesday night I have the pleasure of having 6 wonderful people over at my house to do a more in-depth study of the bible. These people are like my family and I love being with them. Having it at my house means I know my house will be cleaned or at a minimum the clutter picked up at least once a week.

X GAMES @ work – with less than a 4-week notice I put together a competition with my group of 160+ at work where they split up in 8 teams, each team had a captain, team color, etc. We had 8 games for these teams to compete against each other and also arranged the catering. We had our X GAMES last Friday and it turned out great. Everyone had a wonderful time and can’t wait for the next one…. Next year thank you very much!

Vacation – did I mention I was going on vacation to Europe for 4 weeks along with my parents and am planning the whole trip myself? Oh, yes indeedy I’m planning everything from plane, train, and automobile reservations, B&B & hotel accommodations, tours, where we’re going, etc. It’s a good thing I like doing this. I will go into more detail in a later post but let me just say the first 3 weeks are planned and a done deal but the last week in Italy I still need to figure out where I want to go, sans the parents.

House – there seems to be a lot of things inside and outside that needs to be taken care of. I used to tackle these things on my own by now after many years of do-it-yourself I really have no interest in it. That’s where my lovely son comes in and helps… when I see him which frankly isn’t often enough. I have the front yard landscaping that needs to be redone thanks to the vermin I wrote about in previous posts but I really don’t want to do this until after I return from vacation. I also like to make sure my house is clean before leaving on a trip so it’s clean when I return, that means washing windows, exterior of the wood cabinets, baseboards, etc. I’ve also given myself a goal to have most of the boxes emptied and out of my garage before I leave. Thankfully I do have someone staying at my house while I’ll be away so I don’t have to worry about what to do with my cat Oreo.

So if that isn’t enough to keep me busy what do I do to myself but add one more HUGE commitment to add to the list and stress me out…

Italian Class – I signed up for a Beginning Italian class so in hopes that I may learn some more tidbits before heading off to Italy. The only problem is that this isn’t my first Italian class so I’m well aware how difficult it is learn all those irregular verbs, tenses, masculine, feminine. There’s a lot of studying that needs to be put to this. Well I started off great but couldn’t keep up with the homework with everything else I was doing so I finally let go of the stress and told my instructor Davide that I won’t be able to keep up so ‘don’t’ call on me in class but I will contribute where I can and that I will still attend. This removed a lot of stress I was putting on myself and I am learning though not at the pace of the others in class. Fortunately it’s a small class. I definitely will be able to read a lot better than the last time I was in Italia.

So dear readers that is what I’ve been up to. Nothing exciting or earth shattering, just my life. I hope to keep my posts shorter so maybe I’ll post more often and don’t think Ive forgotten that I haven’t finished posting about my home remodel, I do promise that is coming.

I have purchased technology so that I hope to blog while I’m on vacation or if nothing else journal so I can post at a later date. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Linda

PS ~ Gail of ‘Gail – Fort Rock Glimpses’ received her package of Arizona products she won in my blogiverisary/100th post contest. Stop by her site and see all the yummy goodies I sent her.

Editors Note: Site Counter just hit 1,000 visits, so someone's stopping by my blog whether it's on accident or purpose. Yahoo!!

and the winner is...

Thank you to everyone who entered into the drawing celebrating my 1st blogiversary and 100th post.

As previously mentioned, picking the winner was going to be done the ole fashion way. I printed out the names, cut them into pieces, folded them, and put them into a Tupperware container. I’d show you a picture but my camera died last week so no photo. I then mixed up the names really well and pulled out a piece of paper.

I’d like to congratulate Gail – Fort Rock Glimpses on winning goodies from the sunny Southwest.

This was really fun and will look for other opportunities to have a drawing. Who doesn’t like to win something?

the vermin is gone

If you read in my November 10th post here I had an unwelcome visitor in my front yard, i.e., a gopher. From this point on the said gopher will be called ‘vermin’ as gopher sounds too nice and cute for what this creature is.

WARNING: Before I continue I must warn you that there will be pictures at the end of this post that if you get squeamish over dead things you might not want to proceed past a certain point. I will put up another warning with plenty of notice.

Like I said in November I had an unwelcome visit from a vermin. I did not know what to do as everything I heard there isn’t much that will kill these ba@t#$d’s (excuse my French; I’ve never hated something so fiercely in my life). I didn’t know what I should do.

Besides the tell tale signs of mounds it was quite evident I had something lurking under the lawn as the neighborhood stray cat would come sit and listen to the noise the vermin were making and would pounce and attack. Bless the heart of this cat, so patient and diligent but to no avail.

One day as I was sitting at my kitchen table enjoying a caffe’ mocha I saw dirt fly up out of a mound. Not only that but the little vermin was also taunting me by actually coming out of the hole a bit so I could see it. I swear it looked me straight in the eye and snickered. The audacity!!

Well not to be out done by a 4-6” rodent I put on my shoes grabbed the shovel, gloves, plastic bag, and my camera (couldn’t miss an opportunity to capture this event) and went-a-huntin’. I took the garden hose rammed it down the freshly dug hole and turned the water on full blast and waited….

going huntin' tools: shovel, gloves, & hose

Since I knew these vermin feel vibration I had my shovel in hand standing by the flooding area and stood very still. I can’t even imagine what people thought as they drove by when they saw this middle aged women in her yard with a shovel in the attack mode standing as still as a statue. But I didn’t care. I was on a mission. There I stood staring at the ground waiting for a sign. Low and behold within a minute or two I saw a piece of grass twitch. Hmmm, very interesting, was my sight playing tricks on me?? Motionless I waited. Again more ground movement and then hello, a head poked out. I jumped into action and pushed the shovel behind the said vermin and scooped out a big chunk of dirt onto the lawn. Without going into gory details the vermin took its last breath.

After pictures were taken, dirt put back in place, and hose put away I somewhat remember doing a little happy dance in my front yard. I was so happy the vermin was dead. Life can now get back to normal, or so I thought.

And then there were two….

Little did I know as I was doing the happy dance there was a bigger wiser vermin under my lawn rolling around in all the tunnels it had made laughing its tail off… at me.

As the days passed after I extinguished the vermin I bragged how on my first attempt I had gotten rid of it to everyone I came across. I was so happy to be done with it. Then four days later it appeared, another mound. Words can’t express how I felt (well there are words but they are not nice ones), I couldn’t believe I had another vermin in my lawn.

Because I was so successful with my first attempt to eradicate the vermin I thought I could just go out and ‘flood & kill’. Well, not this time. Every time there was a new mound I’d go flood to no avail, it was becoming quite the ritual. I started leaving my shovel in the back yard and as stealth-like as possible walk from the back to the front trying to be oh so quiet.

the distruction

I put the garden hose into the mounds and turned on the water full blast and it would never come up to the top. That’s how extensive the vermin tunnels were in my lawn. I swear there was a man in China standing in his flooded basement complaining to his wife that he just could not figure out where the water was coming from.

Time after time I did this with no ‘dead’ outcome. I came to realize how lucky I was when I took care of the first vermin because this one was driving me crazy. I purchased mole bait online that a friend told me worked for their vermin problem – no luck. I’d bought some traps at the big box store that it looked like it would take Houdini to put together but I was afraid to try this.

One Saturday morning as again I was enjoying my hot cup of caffe’ mocha I was listening to a home improvement show on the radio and they mentioned this company (Gopher Gitters) that has products and along with onsite service to get rid of ones vermin. I didn’t wait to call.

so much damage for such a little rodent..

Six hours later Gordon was at my house to set traps; 3 days later he returned to remove traps and dead vermin; it has now been 3 days and no mounds in lawn. I’ve learned my lesson on doing the happy dance a little too prematurely but Gordon seems pretty confident that there isn’t any more.

Oh how I wish I would have heard about Gordon 3 months ago before my lawn looked like golfers had been hacking at it for years. But it is finished, finito, done. BUT, if I ever do get more of those nasty yard destroying vermin, I know who to call – Ghost Busters, I mean - Gopher Gitters.

Note: Gopher Gitters has not paid me to promote their company, they got rid of my vermin. THANK YOU GORDON!!

Vermin Facts I Learned From Gordon:
~Vermin don’t hang around together, mom kicks kids out relatively young, no waiting for their 18th birthday
~Vermin have a territory; they don’t like to live close to one another
~One vermin will produce 1-2 mounds every day or so

Now all I need to do is get a gardener to come repair my yard...

********** WARNING!! **********

IF YOU ARE SQUEMISH

DO

NOT

PROCEED.....

********************************

my torn up yard

vermin #1

enter & win ~ two days left!!

Two days left to enter the drawing I’m having celebrating my 1 year blogiversary (Michelle from Bleeding Espresso’s term, love it!) and 100th post. I posted about it here but will list how you can enter again.

Good luck to all entrants!!

******************

Here’s How to Enter the Drawing:

1. Link to me in your blogroll OR if you already link to me, mention it in a comment.
2. Post on your blog about my drawing and link to my blog. http://iceteaforme.blogspot.com/
3. Comment and let me know that you’ve done either or both of the above by 11:59 p.m. PST Saturday, February 28th. You can comment as many times as you like, but only one comment will count for the drawing.
There you go, three ways to enter into my drawing, Link, Post, and Comment. All entries will be entered into the official drawing bowl

******************

Editor's Note: I corrected this post to say 'two days' left and not one. Obviously I haven't looked at a calendar lately. Linda

have/haven't meme

I found this meme at Palmabella's Passions who found it at Just a Beachkat. I marked the ones that I've done. Leave a comment and a link to your site if you play along, I'd love to see your list.

*Started your own blog
*Slept under the stars
Played in a band
*Visited Hawaii
*Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity
*Been to Disneyland/world
*Climbed a mountain
*Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo (you’d pay me not to sing!)
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris (3 months and counting…)
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
*Had food poisoning
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Seen the Mona Lisa in France (again, in 3 months)
Slept on an overnight train
*Had a pillow fightHitchhiked
*Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
Built a snow fort
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping
Been to a Broadway show in NY
Ran a Marathon
Been in three states at once
*Ridden in a gondola in Venice
*Seen a total eclipse
*Hit a home run (a very long time ago)
*Been on a Cruise
Seen Niagra Falls in Person
Visited the birthplace of your Ancestors
Seen an Amish community
Taught yourself a new language
*Had enough money to be truly satisfied
*Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing
*Seen Michelangelo’s David
*Sung karaoke
*Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
*Walked on a beach by moonlight
Been transported in an ambulance
Had your portrait painted
*Gone deep sea fishing
*Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (not sure if I’ll do this in 3 months)
*Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
*Kissed in the rain
*Played in the mud
Been to Grace Kelley’s grave in Monaco
*Gone to a drive-inBeen in a movie
Visited the Great Wall of China
*Started a business
Taken a martial arts class
Swam in the Mediterranean
SeaVisited Russia
*Served at a soup kitchen
*Sold Girl Scout cookies
*Gone whale watching
*Gotten flowers for no reason
*Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
*Bounced a check
Saved a favorite childhood toy
*Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Eaten Caviar (and not anytime soon)
*Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square
*Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
*Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
Broken a bone
Been on a speeding motorcycle
*Seen the Grand Canyon in person (twice)
Published a book
*Visited the Vatican
*Bought a brand new car
Walked in Jerusalem
*Had your picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible
*Visited the White House
Killed and prepared my own meat
*Had chickenpox
Saved someone’s life
*Sat on a jury
*Met someone famous
Joined a book club
*Lost a loved one
*Had a baby
Seen the Alamo in person
Swam in the Great Salt Lake
Been involved in a law suit
*Been stung by a bee

Don't forget to enter in my drawing below. Good Luck!!

celebrate & giveaway

Today is the one year anniversary of the start of my blog, Ice Tea For Me and it is also my 100th post. To celebrate these two occasions I decided I would have a drawing.

The winner of the drawing will receive some wonderful goodies from the South Western USA. I will mail the box of goodies to where ever the winner lives and if by chance you live close to where I will be traveling this May (Italy, France, Switzerland, or Germany) I may be able to deliver it in person.

Here’s How to Enter the Drawing:

1. Link to me in your blogroll OR if you already link to me, mention it in a comment.

2. Post on your blog about my drawing and link to my blog - http://iceteaforme.blogspot.com/.

3. Comment as an entry and also to let me know that you’ve done either or both of the above by 11:59 p.m. CMT Saturday, February 28th. You can comment as many times as you like, but only one comment will count for the drawing.

There you go, three ways to enter into my drawing ~ Link, Post, and Comment. All entries will be entered into the official drawing bowl ‘Tupperware’ and will be randomly selected by me, eyes will be closed when drawing is done. Winner will be notified on March 1st via email and announced on my blog.

As always, thanks so much for reading, and best of luck in the drawing!

happy holidays

It has been a month since my last post, my apologies to any readers I have left out in the blog sphere.

Along with 30-days of blogging in November for NaBloPoMo I was also planning a Christmas Tea at church for 250 ladies. Add in a full time job and trying to get ready for Christmas and traveling to visit family leaves one with very little time left and something had to give. It’s obvious that I put my blog on the back burner but not forgotten.

This is now my 99th blog post and I’ve not forgotten that on the 100th post I will announce a giveaway. Don’t worry I won’t make you wait another month to find out about it.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and that you have a Happy New Year and that 2009 brings you good health, wealth, and happiness.

I’ve been visiting with family and friends in Redding, California having a wonderful time. My nephews have grown so much in the last 2 years I’m sure by my next visit one or two of them will have surpassed me. I’ve also been trying to convince my niece Jen (20 yrs. Old) to come live with her Auntie, so far it’s not working. I’ve been going to water aerobics with my mom, trying to work off all the Christmas goodies. The water has been a bit chilly but we jogged our way through it.

I’ve hit my favorite places to eat, La Comida, Peter Chou’s, and Jack’s Grill. I have one full day left and I’m hoping to fit in Bartels Giant Burger’s before I leave. They have really good burgers. I’ve also seen two movies, Four Christmases and Marley & Me. They were both good.

Santa was very good to me this year and I’m sure it’s because I’ve been a good girl, right? Thank goodness Santa doesn’t count the dust bunnies against me or I’d be in trouble.

The weather has been rainy and cold with a few days of sunshine thrown in. Frankly I don’t mind it as I just don’t get the rain as much as I’d like in the sunny southwest.

No resolutions for me this year but I will not be so scarce in posting blogs in 2009. Cheers to all. Everyone have a safe New Year’s Eve.

God Bless,
Linda

NaBloPoMo - NoMo

NaBloPoMo - NoMo (National Blog Posting Month – No More). Wahoo! I made it. I successfully finished the NaBloPoMo by posting on my blog every day of November. I can’t say they were in-depth, thought provoking or interesting posts but I posted everyday for 30 days.

I didn’t think it would be too difficult when I first started even though I’ve read other bloggers who’ve done this say it was. I thought I could have several days in advance in the queue so that I was never under pressure to post that day. Unfortunately that didn’t work out as well as I had thought.

I actually found myself forgetting that I needed to post and there were several times that I barely made the 12:00 midnight deadline. Yicks!! Would I do the NaBloPoMo again? Yes, probably. Would I recommend you to do it? Absolutely. It’s a challenge that is reachable but not easy. You’ll get a sense of accomplishment without killing yourself like doing a marathon would. You also get the opportunity to meet others through this experience.

With so much excitement in finishing NaBloPoMo I decided that I needed to keep up the festive mood. You see this post is #98 which means two more posts and I hit the big ‘100’. Wow, little did I think I would ever have a blog let alone make it to a hundred posts.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion I decided to have a giveaway. Have a little goodie basket that will go to one of my readers. I don’t mean to keep you in suspense but I will post all about the giveaway on my 100th post.

So readers, thank you for sticking with me the last thirty days. I hope I didn’t bore you to death and that you’ll come back.

Remember to stop back and check out my 100th post giveaway.

how they got here

I’ve seen other bloggers list the Google searches that people did that landed them on the Ice Tea For Me blog. Since my blog isn’t getting slammed with hits there hasn’t been any but it must be a busy internet search time as I’ve had a few. Let me share.

~giveaway – costume – grosgrain - cd – dvd – book – obama – wrath – nimli – ticket – Epson – kai – stroller – build a bear – bootcamp – seventeen – ebooks – tax – apron -- wow, I’m not sure this person knew what they were searching for, don’t they know the less you put in the search the more success you have.

~cambria Nottingham with white cabinets -- they may have found how I like my cambria countertops but not white cabinets; I’m more into the warmer colors.

~amaretto from Burano italy -- I’ve talked about amaretto and Burano, Italy but not in the same post. I wonder why they’d be searching for amaretto in Burano, you can get amaretto anywhere.

~arizona ice tea sweaters -- not sure why anyone would want a sweater that has Arizona ice tea on it but I’ve seen weirder things.

I’m sure all those people who clicked on my blog didn’t find what they were looking for. Oh well, better search next time.

may i introduce to you...

As I mentioned in a previous post I’ve been on a quest to buy a Kitchenaid Tilt Head Stand Mixer in Onyx Black. I have been paying attention to the prices and waiting for the after Thanksgiving sales.

Here it is, black beauty. Isn’t it pretty? I hope to be able to show you pictures of some delicious foods I’ve made.

happy thanksgiving

To all who celebrate this day with food, gatherings, football, and more food, Happy Thanksgiving.

I’d like to give thanks to my wonderful family and friends who love me unconditionally. I’m very blessed to have them in my life.

I’m busy cooking and spending the day with Mr. T and his girlfriend. Hope you’re able to spend it with those you love.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

somewhere over the rainbow

Believe me, I can’t sing and I’m not auditioning for the role of Dorothy in the remake of The Wizard of Oz. No, I’m sorry, it’s a classic and should not be remade.

Today on my way home driving on the freeway in the rain there was the most stunning rainbow that I’ve seen in a very long time. Its colors were so vivid; you could see each layer – blue, green, yellow, red, and purple. Perfetto.

My eyes followed the arch of the rainbow and was surprised to see what seemed like a short distance away was the end of the rainbow. I could have sworn I saw the pot of gold and the funny leprechaun guy. It was perfect.

As I looked at the rainbow I realized I was smiling (remember I was driving on the freeway in traffic) and amazed at the wonders of nature. I thought how just seeing it brightened my mood and I wondered what affects it had on others. There could have been someone who was at the end of their rope and with that one rainbow they decided to make a change. Maybe a parent and child were arguing and with that one rainbow stopped.

Every second of every day around the world small wonders or miracles happen, they usually are never known but to those in that moment. When I see something like a rainbow it makes me stop and appreciate where I am in my life, my family and friends, and how fortunate I am. A moment of reflection.

Do you ever wonder how a rainbow is created? You can find out all about it here.

to smoke or not to smoke

No, I’m not thinking of picking up the dreadful cancer causing smelly habit of smoking cigarettes. A friend mentioned that a group of people were going to smoke their turkeys in a big pit overnight and asked if I wanted to join them. Wow, the thought of not having to cook a turkey and have my oven on for 3-4 hours is very tempting.

I’ve not had a smoked turkey in a long time other than the lunch meat that I purchase at the local deli. I know these are not close in comparison except by name as the taste of a fresh smoked turkey is out of this world.

I’m a little uncertain what to do. You see the one thing my son and his girlfriend requested for Thanksgiving dinner is lots of leftovers. No special dishes that they must have or it wouldn’t be thanksgiving. Just leftovers.

Now that is one thing I can do is cook too much food. The reason for the request for leftovers is a good friend showed me what she does with leftover turkey dinner over 10 years ago. My son absolutely loves it. My friend would layer the leftovers in loaf pans; put in the freezer and weeks or a month down the road you have a wonderful quick meal. And I have to confess I think it tastes better then the actual dinner, it is very moist.

To make this layered turkey dinner in a loaf pan start with a layer of stuffing. Next put a layer of pulled turkey followed with a layer of mashed potatoes. The last layer is the gravy. It can be tricky figuring out the amount each layer should be, it’s more personal preference on what you like the most but the best advice I can give is, Leave Room For The Gravy!

Remember that when food freezes it expands so if you don’t leave room it will pop the container lid off. I drew a diagram for you of the layer amount, as you can see an artist I am not.

layers of the casserole

Now I’m going to let you in on a little secret. There have been times that there weren’t enough leftovers to make a casserole for two. So what I’d do is whip up some Stove Top stuffing or instance mash potatoes and gravy depending on the need. The only thing I couldn’t whip up is turkey. If there weren’t enough leftovers then we didn't have a casserole that year. I know using instant foods is sacrilegious but it worked.

So you ask why the dilemma then, why wouldn’t I want a mouth watering no fuss cooked by someone else turkey? My concern is that the smoked flavor of the turkey will taste funny in the leftover casserole.

I will need to consult my turkey consultant, no not call the Butterball Hotline but call my dad. He’s the one who takes care of the turkey in our family and he’ll hopefully have some sage advice.

I’ll let you know what I decide to do.

Editor Update: Checked with dad and he said to go ahead with smoking the turkey but to remember that there would be no crispy skin. Uh oh. Called Mr. T, he nixed the turkey smoking. And I quote, ‘the skin is the best part’. A chip off the old block; like mother like son. The ole bird will be cooked in the oven.

checking the ads

This week is thanksgiving but another important day is also this week. One that retailers are hoping and praying will not be as bad as they are expecting it to be. Black Friday. The term "Black Friday" originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day. More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit). Read more about it here.

I’ve been known to go out and be part of the shopping madness but only to the extent that I’m looking for a particular item and it’s at a smoking price. I refuse to be part of the all day mad dash knocking over everyone to get to an item that is limited in supply.

I also have to admit that I’ve gone out on Thanksgiving to get a great deal, especially if it means I don’t have to go out on Friday and deal with all the traffic.

I picked up the Sunday paper today so I can check out the ads. Though I know most ads will come out in Thursday’s paper I’m sure retailers will be promoting more early specials. I posted previously that I’m going to purchase a KitchenAid Onyx Black Tilt Head Stand Mixer and I’m going to be ready if I find a great deal.

Are there any other Black Friday shoppers out there?

warmth

A couple of years ago I got rid of my electric blanket as it had seen better days. Now in comparison to other parts of the U.S. or world where I live it doesn’t get really cold, especially for long periods of time. I’m not saying we don’t have cold weather as some nights in January/February can be in the mid to high teens; it’s just not as extreme as others have it.

I tend to be a frugal person when it comes to cooling/heating my house. One, I don’t care to pay high gas/electric bills. Two, my blood has thinned out since moving to Arizona and in the summers my thermostat is usually set around 78/79 degrees. When I’m cleaning or if it’s really hot outside I turn it down a bit but usually not much. I do have ceiling fans in each room in the house and starting in May through October they are on constantly. They cost a very little to run and circulate the air very effectively.

In the winter time I don’t keep it as warm as I’d like but I tend to wear sweaters and socks to keep everything warm. I’ll have the heater come on in the morning to warm up the house and in the evening when needed.

Now let me state that my house is only 1,300 square feet so it doesn’t take much to heat/cool my house. There are vents in every room in the house so it doesn’t take much time.

Last winter without an electric blanket it made my initial entry into bed at night a bit chilly for the first few minutes until my bed warmed up. You see being single there is no body heat on the other side of the bed to help with this problem. I wear warm PJs, socks and have flannel sheets but it still can be a bit nippy.

My mom had mentioned that she had bought a heated mattress pad that goes on top of the mattress under the bottom sheet. That made more sense to keep the heat closer to your body. After searching the internet and several stores I found what I needed at one of my favorite stores, Costco.

This is a lovely addition to my winter bedding setup. I turn it on about 30 minutes before I’m ready for bed and it’s all nice and toasty when it’s bed time.

I hope everyone out there in blog sphere has someone or something to keeps their toes warm.

sold

I’ve been known to drag my feet when jumping into the technology world. I read blogs for a long time before I ever left a comment and it took me years before I decided to start a blog.

As I’ve mentioned before I have a garage full of crap and I’ve been meaning to get onto Craig’s List and put items up for sale. I’ve been told it’s really easy. Heck, even my mom has gone and posted/sold items. Now that’s not a slight to my mom but there are times when she is technically challenged and she’ll be the first to admit it.

Last night I bit the bullet and I posted two tables onto Craig’s List. Not hard, quite easy in fact. Low and behold 16 hours later I sold one of the tables. Wow, this is great. I need to go and take pictures of a bunch more stuff that I need to get rid of, maybe I can make enough to pay for Christmas.

Wish me luck.

Disclaimer: Craig’s List has not paid to have their site promoted.

little sprouts

I had the outside of my house painted a couple of weeks ago and because I knew I was having this done I delayed planting my garden so in wouldn’t be in the way of the painters. With it being dark when I leave for work and also when I get home it limits my time to get out in the garden.

Over the past week I’ve finally have planted flowers, herbs, and lettuce in a couple of areas. I still have two other sections to plant; hopefully I can get to it this weekend.

As I mentioned before, I love arugula. I planted arugula on Sunday and 3 days later you can see below the little sprouts that have appeared. Arugula grows very fast which I love, gives a gardener quick gratification seeing your garden grown. In the area to the right of the argula I planted flat leaf parsley, as you can see it takes longer for parsley to germinate.

Arugula

I will let the arugula sprouts grow another inch or so and then I’ll start thinning out the patch. Those baby sprouts have a nice mild peppery taste to them and they make a great light salad with a little olive oil, kosher salt, and pecorino romano shavings. Hmmm, I can hardly wait. I’ll try and remember to take a photo to share.

When I plant flowers in pots or in beds I like to keep to the same type of flower and the same color so that there is a burst of color and it draws your eye to them. One of my favorite flowers that do great during the winter/spring is petunias. This year there wasn't a good selection of petunias at the stores and what there was they didn’t have them in the same colors. It was more a variety pack.

I broke my rule because I enjoy petunias so much that I bought the variety pack, will have to see once they start growing and flowering just what they look like.

Besides petunias I planted pansy’s (orange & blue), basil, oregano, thyme, sage, and rosemary.

Petunias & Herbs

How does your garden grow?

a sharp giveaway – check it out

If you appreciate beautifully crafted knives or just like to enter contests, zip over to Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen and enter in her knife giveaway:

How to Sharpen Your Knives + Knives Giveaway

This post will tell you everything you need to know about keeping your knives in perfect working order and also offers some great resources for finding out more. Contest ends November 30th.

If you Stumble, blog, post on Twitter or Facebook about the giveaway you get to have your name added to a bonus knife giveaway. Make sure you follow the instuctions on Jaden’s site. Here is the knife I chose when I win the contest (sending positive vibes):

Santoku 7" Fushionwood Knife

w/Peacock Handle

photo from New West KnifeWorks

Good luck to all participants, I hope you learned some knife skills. Go over to Steamy Kitchen and enter befor the November 30th deadline.

what’s cooking wednesday – zucchini pie/muffins

I was craving something comforting the other night other then a tossed salad with grilled chicken so I whipped up some zucchini muffins. It really was an old recipe that you make in a pie dish with Bisquick, I made a few alterations and it came out very tasty and easy to make.

I’ll list the original recipe along with the alterations I made in parenthesis; either way it’s a nice light main dish or a good side dish. I cut the recipe in half for my muffins except adding extra zucchini.

Zucchini Pie (Muffins)

3 cups of shredded zucchini (2 cups)
4 eggs (1/2 cup Egg Beaters)
1 cup Bisquick (1/2 cup)
1 Tbs. dried Parsley (2 Tbs. fresh)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (1/2 cup cheddar & ½ cup feta)
½ cup oil (1/4 cup but I would use less next time)
(added grated onion, couldn’t taste it, wouldn’t add next time)

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 9” pie or quiche pan. Bake at 375º for 40 minutes or until done.

(I wanted to see what this recipe would taste like with feta cheese. I made up the mixture, split it into two separate bowls and added the cheddar to one and the feta to the other. There wasn’t much flavor with the feta cheese muffins surprisingly, I would stick to just cheddar.

Halving this recipe made 6 muffins. I sprayed PAM in the muffin tin and baked on the convection cycle at 350 º for 25 minutes.)

Buon Appetito

fall in the southwest

The leaves have started turning golden colors and falling in scattered patterns on the ground. You imagine father’s raking up the leaves and the kids running and jumping into the piles with squeals of laughter. The air is crisp and the smell of log fires fills the air. The cold air nips at your ears and your nose. Fall is a magical time of year, holidays with family and friends and the promise of winter to come with the hopes that it will snow so a snowman can be made.

As nice as that sounds here in the sunny southwest fall is a little different. We have the leaves turning golden and falling to the ground in scattered patterns but that’s about where it stops here in the valley of the sun.

Just this morning before work I sat in my living room watching the news and enjoying some tea. The front and back doors were open letting in the fresh air. You can smell just a hint of smoke from someone’s fireplace somewhere in the distance, I guess some people find the low 60 degree temperature cold but to me it isn’t.

I’m still in shorts, ceiling fans whirling, and wearing sandals. Now I in no means like to be cold in fact I get pretty cranky when I am but I too enjoy fresh air and will take every opportunity to sit outside. I do know my days are numbered as even in the sunny southwest we do get cold weather. Where the daytime high temperatures reach the 40s/50s and the lows can be in the teens. It still is dry as we don’t get that much moisture so even when it’s cold the days are beautiful.

It’s hard to get in the mood for the holidays and to think it is Fall as today our temperature broke a record. Our high today was 88 degrees. November 18th and it’s 88 degrees. I’m not complaining but with this type of weather it’s hard to get into the holiday spirit.

I had a girlfriend just tell me yesterday that she is done with her Christmas shopping. Christmas? I haven’t even thought about it, haven’t even started. So, I’ll just pour myself another glass of ice tea and go sit out on my deck and enjoy the wonderful weather we are having and watch my garden grow until it’s time to pull out my leather gloved and scarves from Florence.

WE do suffer through the summer with 115+ temperatures but we are rewarded with the wonderful mild temperatures from November through April.

Happy Fall everyone.

and the planning begins

Can you believe that there is only 10 days until 'Turkey Day"? I'm in denial about Christmas and don't want to think about it. I do need to start thinking about Thanksgiving and planning a menu, that's part of the fun.

I truly don't mind cooking a big dinner with all the trimmings but when it's just 2 or 3 of you it sometimes feels like you go through a whole day cooking process for a 20 + minute eating spree.

In the past we’ve gone out to dinner, limited what is cooked, or went over friends for dinner. All these are great but what you miss out on are the leftovers. There are some dishes or meals that just taste better the next day and Thanksgiving is one of them.

How about the turkey sandwich on white bread with cranberry sauce, salt and pepper, and of course mayonnaise. No skimping on the mayo. You don’t get to have a cold turkey sandwich when there aren’t any leftovers.

Last year I joined my son and his girlfriend and they cooked their first Thanksgiving dinner in their new house. We had a great time and everything was perfect. This year it’s at my house.

My son and I have a tradition of going to the movie’s on Thanksgiving, gets us out of the house staring at each other or the television. You’d think we’d be the only people in the whole theatre but it’s surprisingly quite busy on this day. I guess people want to go see the latest flick after a big turkey dinner. Not sure if that’s on our agenda this year or not.

Do you have a family tradition for Thanksgiving?

oreo

No, this isn’t turning into a cat blog, lord knows that my cat will only provide me with so many good photos and this I feel is one of them. If her angelic face makes you think she purrs loudly as Patches in the previous post, lets you pet and show her affection when she comes up to you, well think again.

She will easily bite the hand that feeds her and when petting her you can get in 2 maybe 3 strokes before she attempts and usually succeeds a quick bite.

She’s still loved but she is getting cranky in her old age… 13 years old (people years).

au revoir patches

In October my sister and niece’s cat that they’ve had for many many years went to be in kitty heaven. She was the sweetest cat, always loving and cuddling up to you. I have never heard a cat purr as loud as Patches did. You could say she was the polar opposite of my cat Oreo.

Good-bye Patches you will be missed.

bigger and better

This evening the temperature was very pleasant out and I had the doors open. Halfway through the show Ghost Whisperer there was a knock on my screen door. A group of teenagers were on a type of scavenger hunt called ‘bigger or better’.

I was a little confused as the last time I was on a scavenger hunt was decades ago and I had never heard of ‘bigger or better’. The object of the game is that they go to houses and ask if the person would give them a ‘bigger or better’ item than what they currently had. If you can help them out you give them your item and you keep the other item.

I have a ton of crap in my garage that I’ve been meaning to clean out so I can park my car in the garage again so I knew I had to have something. The item that I needed to replace with a ‘bigger or better’ item was a purple lava lamp. A purple lave lamp that was roughly 15” in height.

As excited as I should be to be receiving a purple lava lamp which was part of my era I saw it going out in the garage with all the other stuff. So, off I went into my garage and quickly looked for something to swap with the kids.

You would think that this would be a quick decision, grab something off the top that qualified as ‘bigger or better’ and be done with it. Oh no, I looked over my piles of crap as if there were fortunes to be made in it and actually put thought into what to give them. Geez Linda, just let it go!!!

So, I ended up giving them a 12” antique looking clock. It wasn’t ‘bigger’ but in my opinion it was ‘better’ and the kids thought it was great and left leaving me with a purple lava lamp.

I went back to watching my program on TV and then there was another knock on my door. It was another group of kids doing the ‘bigger or better’ swap. This time I had no hesitation on to what I would give them. I went and grabbed the purple lava lamp off the kitchen table and traded that for a weathered forest green plastic Adirondack chair.

This was too funny as just 3 weeks ago I took a chair exactly like that to the dump. My chair had a broken slat on it so I checked this new chair to see if it was broken in the same place. It wasn’t so I knew I wasn’t getting back a scavenged broken plastic deck chair from the dump. Not sure if this is a useable item as it’s sitting on my front lawn, I’ll check it out tomorrow during the day to see if this will go to the dump too.

Neighborhood kids with lamp & chair

I asked the kids if I could take their picture and also asked their permission to post on my blog. They thought it was cool and happily agreed. How fun is that. I so enjoy seeing young people having good clean fun.

Check out the purple lava lamp, maybe I should have kept it and put it in my office...

Have you been on a scavenger hunt? What was the strangest item you had to find?

a night of laughs

Tonight some friends and I went to a comedy show. These guys were great. The four comedians are Jeff Allen, Brad Stine, Anthony Griffith, & Ron Pearson and they call themselves The Apostles of Comedy.

Lord knows we could use a little laughter in our lives these days and these guys have clean material and are funny. You don’t have to worry about listening to a lot of bad language or talk on subjects that aren’t quite appropriate. It was very refreshing and funny.

Check out their website and if The Apostles of Comedy are performing in a location close to you I highly recommend going, money well spent.