This, that, and the other

It being apple season and all, we've been peeling, coring, and slicing a bunch. We're eating and drinking (got some fresh pressed cider too) more than an apple a day and so far, have four bags of sliced apples and six pints of applesauce in the freezer. Since we have an abundance (like the song goes -- a bushel and a peck!) this weekend will find us fixing more of the same, along with several loaves of another favorite, pumpkin-apple bread.

Dogwood Update:

Our ailing tree has received its three treatments but being that it's losing leaves naturally because of the season, it not obvious to me that there's been any improvement. The tree doc seems to think it will recover, but it's pretty much a wait-and-see thing until it starts budding and leafing in the spring. That's also when the dead wood (hopefully not the whole tree!) will be removed. *sigh*

Baby B is 4 months old already! How can that be? I hate that I'm in MD and he's in SC and I'm missing soooo much of his growing. He's in good hands though - his SC grandparents dote on and spoil him rotten -- just as it should be! ;-)

sweet, sweet baby boy!

Got my mammogram done (it was normal,) had our six month check-ups, and got stuck for our flu shots. I have one more doctor's appointment next month and then we're good to go for another six months. Yay! Well, not counting one unpleasant appointment we haven't made yet... we're both due for colonoscopies this year. Ughh!!

Okay, I lied. I just remembered... I also have to make an appointment to get my eyes checked. I'm a bit overdue and my glasses are starting to deteriorate. ♫A chipped lens here, a scratched lens there, here a lens, there a lens, everywhere a lens, lens!♫ lol Anyway, that's another one I'm not looking forward too -- I hate picking out new frames.

Oh yum! Lew came home with a half dozen beets this afternoon, so I'll be roasting and freezing them this weekend too. Loooove roasted beets! We have a devil of a time finding them with any regularity at the grocer's around here, though and the orchards we frequent carry mostly fruits, not veggies. Definitely have to find a better source cuz I know we can't be the only beet-lovers in the area! We may just have to start growing our own (wink, wink, Claudia!)

So, that's what I've been up to. If I don't answer the phone, come looking for me under the apple/beet peels!

Random babbling...

Oh joy, oh joy... we have snow... AGAIN!

Please God... let April come tomorrow.

Thank You.

Amen.

*sigh*

On Wednesday this week, Christy will learn the gender of my great-grandbaby. I can't wait! It will make shopping for lil bits a whole lot easier. :)

With the exception of the tragic luger incident, I'm enjoying the Olympics. Coverage seems a little less frantic with NBC this time, though they could use some work on the sound system. The announcers/color people get drowned out by the crowd/activity noise at some of the outdoor events.

That's it, that's what's going on in my little world... snow, babies, and sports. Exciting stuff!

Another year, another test...

Phew, glad that's over! Had to go for a routine breathing test yesterday and had not been looking forward to it at all.

I so dislike this thing! Not that it hurts or anything, it's just majorly uncomfortable. All that huffing and puffing and blowing out air makes me feel like I'm going to pass out, not a good feeling in itself. Not to mention that pinching contraption on my nose. Just unpleasant.

Anyway, it's done til the next time, I'm still breathing, and none the worse for wear except for a slight headache after the fact (which I remedied with a sugary cinnamon crueller when I got home!)

Ah, the perils of shopping at a different grocery store! ;)

Joining the 21st centrury...

Oh lordy, I am in such trouble! As if I didn't have enough problems keeping up with mine and other blogs, I've gone and done something else equally as time-consuming and addicting. Under much pressure (aka NAGGING!) from family and friends, I caved and crossed over to the dark side... I joined Facebook!

I can already see that my days, nights and life will no longer be mine. In less than 15 hrs or so, I've already been contacted or initiated contact with umpteen people! Family, real-life friends, blogger friends, international friends - they're everyewhere!! Well, actually they're not... they're all on Facebook!!

Now if I can just figure out what I'm doing! Stay tuned... this is going to get interesting.

What the heck is going on?

Okay, I'm really starting to get a complex now. I'm convinced the powers that be in the skin care industry are out to get me! I don't use a whole lot of creams and lotions and stuff, I'm just not disciplined enough to slather up every day and night, but I do use something when or if I remember and when I get out of the shower.

So anyway, my body lotion of choice for the last couple-three years has been Aveeno, specifically this one:

Aveeno Positively Smooth moisturizing lotion. Great stuff, non-greasy, gently fragranced, and keeps my bone-dry skin relatively moisturized for awhile. I really like it and keep a bottle on my desk for my hands and one in my bathroom for the rest of me.

Used to be I could just pick it up at the drug or grocery store. Not anymore! The damn stuff seems to have gone underground and is becoming impossible to find. Their regular daily moisturizing lotion is all over the place, as well as the positively smooth shaving cream (uh, no thanks) but not the stuff above.

So, I checked out Amazon and yea! they had it! I quick put a 3-pack in my cart Friday night and don't you know before I could buy the stuff yesterday, the seller no longer had it!! Grrrrrr. Okay, so I found another seller who said they had it in stock so I quick grabbed three and ordered them. We shall see what happens.

But wait, there's more.

I'm also picky about the lip balm I use. Years ago Vaseline had a stick-type product that was wonderful. Creamier, smoother, and not as dry as Chapstick was at the time. Anyway, guess what? Yes, of course... they discontinued it. Okay, so then I used Chapstick for awhile but I never really liked it. Then I discovered Neosporin LT about three years ago:


Lovely stuff. Comes in a tube, like regular Neosporin, but it's specifically for the lips and works great for healing chapped, dry lips, especially in the winter.

Think I can find it in my neck of the woods anymore? Oh, nooooo. It too seems to have disappeared (though still listed as a current product on their site) and all that seems to be available is their Lip Health hydration SPF product, which is fine if you're gonna be frying in the sun. i want my Lip Treatment for chapped lips!

So, while I'm doing the lotion thing at Amazon, I also found the lip treatment and put a 3-pack of it in my cart. Would you believe the same thing happened?? Another notice from Amazon that that listed seller doesn't have it anymore!! Okay, so now I'm getting crazy! Why does this keep happening? Fortunately, I found another seller and quick ordered the stuff when I ordered the lotion. I really don't expect to get either one, but maybe I'll get lucky, we'll see.

Talk about your conspiracy theories. How come everything I like abruptly disappears? Why can't the manufacturers just leave a perfectly good product alone? They're out to get me, I'm telling ya...

Oh, so cool...

Have you checked out the Google home page today?? It's Sir Isaac Newton's birthday... soooo clever! They really have the most talented artists on their staff!


It's the little things...

40 days and 40 nights...

Okay, okay, so I exaggerate a bit, but it sure seems like it's been raining that long. This is definitely taking the April showers thing just a little too far. If it gets any wetter around here, I'll be sprouting gills! I wanna get on with the May flowers thing. I want warmth and sunshine and digging in the dirt, not icy puddles and mudpies. My trusty little desk-side heater has been working overtime this month!

On the other hand, as I gaze out my patio door and watch the squirrels scurry around in its verdant lushness, it's hard not to be reminded of my go-to response to cold and rainy weather complaints...it's good for the grass. Lew can attest to that. The sun came out long enough over the weekend so he could cut it, but with more rain today, you can almost see it grow another inch before your very eyes. And we won't even talk about all the healthy weeds that are making an appearance.

Aren't those six weeks predicted by that PA rodent waaaay over?

Tap, tap... is anyone there??

Well, I certainly didn't intend to take a blogger spring break, but that's the way it's turned out. Heck, spring's almost been here and gone since my last post!

Sorry to have been MIA for so long, just haven't had a whole lot to write about and couldn't quite bring myself to bore y'all to tears with my rather uneventful daily goings on of annual doctor visits and experimenting in the kitchen. Nothing super noteworthy about all that, but we have been eating some interesting stuff.

One of which was fresh roasted beets. I'd never even tried cooking them but read a blurb on how good they were so figured, what the hey, I'll give 'em a try. Well! Who knew? Who knew that roasted beets were absolutely delicious!! 'Course you'd have to like beets to begin with, I guess, but we do, so these were quite the treat. Greens and all (sauteed in a little olive oil and minced garlic.) How have I lived this long without ever tasting these things? We'll be having them again, because naturally, there's some in the freezer too. :)


Tried several different chicken dishes as well, some of which bear repeating, some of which were, eh, nothing to write home about. I did discover a nice marinade that was highly recommended by my message board buddies; right tasty for grilled chicken. It's an All Recipes offering:


Bessy's Zesty Grilled Garlic-Herb Chicken

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon saffron
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1 pinch dried sage

I omitted the saffron... it's just not one of the items I keep on my lowly spice shelf, ya know? You might want to reduce the amount of oil a bit -- 1 cup is a lot, even for 4 pieces of chicken. I also reduced the amount of sugar and just plopped a couple of birdy bosoms in a Ziploc for about an hour in the fridge, then grilled. Recipe with complete directions is at the above link.

Oooo, ooo, here's another good one. Last night we had a ridiculously simple but scrumptious dessert of roasted pineapple slices with a scoop of ice cream! Decadent! Just cut a couple of slices from a fresh pineapple (I'm sure canned would work just as well,) place in a foil-lined pan, sprinkle with brown sugar, drizzle melted butter over that, and roast at 400° for about ten minutes. Then, turn the slices over, sprinkle and drizzle again and bake for another 5-10 minutes until light golden. Serve with a scoop of ice cream on top of the slice. You can drizzle the leftover sauce on top, if you like. Sooooo good!

So, that's it. Jes' sitting here cooking, eating, and trying not to get overly plump in the process, gooey pineapple slices notwithstanding.

The pipes, the pipes are calling...

Maybe it's bred in the bone,
but the sound of pipes is
a little bit of heaven to some of us.
Nancy O'Keeefe

I love bagpipe music. There's something about the haunting, melancholy sound that emanates from this strange-looking instrument that grabs my heart and won't let go. Where the emotion comes from or why it moves me so deeply, I don't know, but it does.

Maybe it's just my Irish blood...

Making progress...

I'm so impressed with myself! It's not even Thanksgiving yet, and we've already made a pretty good dent in holiday shopping. On-line shopping has become a great side benny to this wonderful cyberspace age we live in - especially for people like me who aren't too crazy about, nor have the energy, to fight the crowds like I used to.

Thankfully, Lew makes my life a whole lot easier by acting as my energy booster shot and extra set of feet when he picks up things locally.

Now if I could just convince myself that Amazon isn't going to screw up an order with a shipping delay, I might be able to rest easier...

Not much going on up there...

Uh, my brain has turned to mush. I think it's all the political vomitus we've been subjected to. The ol' gray matter has finally shut down in self-defense. Nothing getting in, nothing coming out.

Even coming up with something as mundane as "what'll we have for dinner?" is not penetrating, let alone anything of any intellectual import. Will this never end? Will Nov. 4 never come?

Not soon enough!! I am soooo over this miserable election!

Just do it!

For years I struggled with ill-fitting bras. In the beginning, I didn't have a whole lot to put in one, so finding something to hold my itty-bitty pretties was an achievement in itself. As time went on and I developed a bit more, fitting in one wasn't as much of a problem as keeping the damn thing in place. What is it with bras that it becomes an incessant battle of tugging, pulling, and rearranging every time you move? As I was to learn later, it's usually the result of trying to stuff ourselves into bras that are too small. Go figure, huh?

Anyway, as I matured aged and put on a few extra pounds, my boobage took on a life of its own and woo hoo!... I finally had me some cleavage! Said cleavage, however, came complete with the added aggravation of boob spillage, sore shoulders, and that nasty, unsightly fleshy stuff hanging out all over the place.

About three years ago, after being influenced by Oprah and a group of lady friends, I went and had myself fitted for a bra by someone who knew what they were doing (in my case, the lingerie lady at Nordstrom's.) I also bought myself three really good bras, which I have since added to. Whoa!! What a difference! Size- and comfort-wise!

The girls now sit nice and perky... well, you know, not really perky perky, but not hanging down to my belly button either... up where they belong, my clothes fit better, and I can't tell you the last time my shoulders hurt or I had to readjust anything. I can't believe I waited so long to do something so ridiculously simple!

I passed my good experience on to my sister and today found out she finally treated herself to a fitting and some new feminine pretties. After her own good experience, she then took her daughter shopping for a fitting and new stuff too.

So, now I'm passing it on to my myriad fan base (yuk, yuk) -- do yourself a favor, ladies, and go get yourself fitted by a professional. And buy yourself a few good bras too. You'll feel better, look better, and besides that ... you deserve it!

So, what'd you do today??...

... ehh, not much -- just washed my pits.


Peach pits, that is. Never in my wildest imagination did I ever picture myself washing ... no, no, make that scrubbing ... peach pits!! With a vegetable brush, no less! And soap and water. I mean, really, who does that? Who goes to all that trouble?

*timidly raising hand*... me.

Ever since I got the photography bug with Project 365 last year, I find myself looking at and seeing things I never paid a bit of attention to before. I crawl around on the floor, on the ground, over and under things, noticing so much more than I ever did and seeing things with a new eye. Like textures and shadows and reflections.

So, while freezing peaches the other day, I was struck not only by the shape of a peach pit, but by the unique texture as well. Hmmmm, thought I ... these might make an interesting picture someday ... and set some aside to deal with later.

Today they got dealt with and are nicely lined up and drying on a paper towel on my kitchen counter.

I know, I know - I need to get out more...

Meandering thoughts...

So here we are, almost into the middle of January... J-A-N-U-A-R-Y... and our temperature today was a record-breaking 73 degrees! Woof! Makes it real hard to get into the spirit of this week's winter (ha!) theme on my photo blog.

Nooooo! Redskins coach Joe Gibbs retired today. What a loss. He's been a such a treasure. Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher's name is being bandied about as a replacement, along with 'Skins defensive coach, Greg Williams. It'll be interesting.

Post-retirement Medicare/insurance coverage is turning out to be a real pain in the ass! Besides being obnoxiously and unnecessarily confusing, I had to requalify for oxygen use today. Grrrrr!

We had lunch at a new place today... the Green Turtle. Kind of a cutesy name for a sports bar & grill, but the food was good, and the service excellent. Lew had fish and chips and I had this:
... a yummy fish taco wrap with fried rockfish, lettuce, cheddar jack, pico de gallo, and a tasty lime sauce. We'll go there again.

With the writer's strike and reruns, there's not much interesting on TV nowadays. Think I'll curl up with a Blockbuster movie tonight - Man on Fire with Denzel.

Is it time for tennis yet??

Random babbling...

I wish I could say that the family room makeover was moving right along... but that would be a lie. Started off with a bang but it seems there's been one delay after another this past month - computer crashes (excuse of the week nowadays,) emergencies, vacations... yada, yada, yada.

We have plans, we have sketches, we have samples... what we don't have is a whole lot of change. Except for the chairs... which look lovely but a bit out of place without the rest of the room evolving like it should. *sigh* Patience, Marianne... patience.

One bright spot... got the contractor coming tomorrow (theoretically - we all know how that can go, don't we?) to finish the front porch that never got finished last year with the siding installation. He'll be covering, replacing, and adding posts and also a railing. Then there's not much else to do with the outside of the house except for maintenance. With my luck though, the stupid roof will cave in or something equally catastrophic!

Speaking of furniture, I think my beastly cats have lost their flipping little feline minds! Recently, they've decided that they'd rather scratch their claws on the sofa instead of their scratching equipment! Had to put plastic back on the family room sofa ends to discourage them, but I'm 'bout ready to declaw me a couple of cats if they don't cut it out! Sheesh!

Woof! We be grillin' fools this week. Lew cleaned and fired up the grill for the season on Monday, and we promptly grilled teriyaki salmon for dinner. Last night we had juicy grilled chicken (marinated in Zesty Italian dressing first) and tonight we're going to "throw another shrimp on the barbie," which is marinating in the fridge as I type. Maybe with some grilled asparagus and portabella shrooms. Mmmmmm, mmm, nothing like chillin' and grillin' on pleasant spring/summer evenings.

And on that note, I probably oughta have a bite of lunch...later folks -

Random babbling...

Woof! I didn't realize it had been so long since I've written anything. I've been shamefully neglecting my blog and have been summarily reminded of said neglect by my pal, Claudia. Sorry, girl - didn't mean to cause you concern.

I'm still having fun with my camera and photo blog, and what little I have had to say is ending up there. I'm pretty pleased with many of the photos I've taken so far and my sister 365'ers and visitors have been very supportive and sweet with their comments.

We've also been busily preparing for the family room makeover... and suffering a bit of sticker shock along the way. Stuff sure is pricey! Needs doing, however, so we'll get there eventually. The chairs have been sent out for reupholstering, the window/patio door treatments are on order, we're waiting on an estimate for fireplace work, and we have to make a trip to the floor store to choose what we want. In the meantime, we've picked up the mantle sculptures and some of the lights we'll be using. So, things are moving along.

The weather gods have been smiling on us the past several days and things are greening up and blooming. Even things I thought had died have proven me wrong and given me bursts of happy. Along with good weather comes spring gardening - chores and planting. Gah! - it's unbelievable how many weeds we get from the neighboring farm- the deadnettle just takes over everywhere so Lew has been kept busy getting rid of it all. We'll probably be going to the nursery soon to get ready for my annual Mother's Day plant-a-thon. Can't think of a better way to spend my day than by digging in the dirt... unless, of course, my kids were all here! :)

Okay, I'm done - gotta get some dinner on...