An Anniversary and Flowers.........

Hi there everyone. Well, it is Labor Day Weekend. Where art thou oh Summer???? The days are going way to fast, I believe we just had Spring???? Is that right??? Now I know what my mother meant when she said not to wish my life away because it will go fast enough. Just like these flowers, they bloom one day and POOF they are shriveled up and gone the next. Except for the "black eyed susan" in the 3rd picture. They last for at least 5-6 weeks which is fine by me. I really love them.

So Wednesday we celebrated 41 years of marriage, it came and went with not too much excitement. I bought myself some white lilies at Festival for $2.98....I love their smell. Which reminds me, I should take a picture of them before they poop out. Bought JP a pair of work jeans and a blue T-shirt. Made a card and we had chocolate cake and ice cream.

We were going to go out to eat last night at "Little Chicago" but JP was having so many arm pains I said "forget it, we'll stay home" and eat. So I went to Festival and got a piece of "prime rib", fish, mashed potatoes and chicken wings at the deli. Then I bought some mushrooms to go with the prime rib. Made a salad and we sat down to a pretty nice meal that didn't take long to make. I still had dishes to do though....oh well, good food always comes with dishes that must be done. PS...JP"s arm pains have subsided today. My diagnosis? He gets worked up about something, it's like anxiety attacks, he says they come from Satan...I say go to a Doctor, he says, "yeah, right, they don't know anything". So we go back and forth with this and it DRIVES me crazy and him too. It's just a short putt for both of us.

I am thinking I will buy another piece of prime rib again. I cooked it for 3 minutes on each side while sautéing mushrooms with the meat, then poured the au jus over the top, oh my that was a wonderful "slice of heaven". Yes, I will do that again.

So here is a shot of my two hibiscus's, I bought these plants maybe 5 years ago. Had planted one of them in the ground and it did not take too well. The other plant I thought had died, but it seemed to resurrect itself. They both had a rough start. So this year is the first year they both bloomed, and I couldn't have been more happy....least I know they both survived a rough upbringing. I keep them in the house through winter. Then bring them out in the spring.

This is a close up of my black eyed susan. They seem to pop up where ever they like and volunteer their time in my flower garden every year. I tried to get some seeds going in the back yard but they just don't seem to get it....the front yard is where they like to grow.

Well time to close and maybe go over to my other blog and write something, maybe about beets. You have a great day and a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. If you would like to visit me at me other blog the address is: cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com
Cheers ~ Louise

B-E-E-T-S

Hi there everyone.........well another Saturday coming to an end, where DO these days go to. Today was kind of cloudy and there was a bit of rain this morning. Glad it is not raining all day....leaky ceilings make me very frustrated and anxious.

So last night, JP stopped by real quick (between jobs) and gave me a bunch of BEETS!! My first reaction was, "I don't do beets" I have never been a beet fan, probably because I remember seeing my mother spend hours peeling and cutting beets to make borscht for my Ukrainian step-father and his mother and uncle. Uge, I hated beets. Her hands were always beet red when she was finished and I sure did not like borscht!!!! So needless to say I have always shied away from beets. No, I don't like beets!!!

So when JP showed up with beets in his hands, I was not too happy. So, I did what most "good" wives would do....looked up some recipes on the computer to use these beets up REAL QUICK!!!! I found a couple of neat sites, a Ukrainian making borscht, a girl from California, (she was hilarious) and a married couple who made borscht using a blender. That is the one I chose. One of those three "borscht makers" said, "you can use most any vegetable you want, even use meat if you like, as long as there are beets in it, it is a pot of Borscht"

So here I am peeling and slicing potatoes and beets for the borscht.....yes...my hands are beet red as is my cutting board and dish water. I also decided to make pickled beets with the smaller beets, just to see how they would taste and just incase some more beets cross my path, I am ready for the next batch.

Here is my take on the three borscht recipes: 2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced, 4 medium beets, peeled and sliced, salt and pepper to taste. Boil for 1 hour and turn down heat. Add 1 onion chopped, 1 carrot and garlic, fry in oil till cooked and add to beets. Add 1 tablespoon of dill weed.  When cooked and tender use an immersible blender to blend all the vegies together. Dish into a bowl add a dollop of sour cream and top with some dried chives.

The bowl on the left is the Borscht, on the right is the pickled beets. Here is my recipe for the pickled beets. 1 small onion sliced, 1/2 cup red-wine vinegar, 1 packet stevia, 1/2 cinnamon stick, 4 whole peppercorns, 2 whole cloves, 1/2-1 cups steamed sliced beets. Combine onion, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon stick, peppercorns and cloves in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until the onion is tender and crisp. Stir in beets, transfer to a large bowl and let marinate, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.

So there you have it.....you can't "beet" a Friday night like I had last night. It was fun and who knows, I just might do it again. Have a great rest of the weekend. Hope you can "beet" the heat and enjoy.
Cheers ~ Louise

PS If you would like to see what I am talking about on wordpress here is my address there. http://cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com

Yummy Beans....

Hi there everyone. Hope your are enjoying the wonderful weather. Although it did rain yesterday...a lot...so much that our roof leaked into a bucket in the kitchen. My nightmare for the last 10 years. Never know where the next leak will be. Hopefully we can get this problem fixed within the next few months.

So the other day I made some really good beans....I think this will be on the agenda to make again...they were so yummy. Here is the recipe. "Spicy Stir-Fried String Beans"

3/4 cup water, 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1-2 Asian hot sauce, such as Sriracha, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 pound green or yellow beans, trimmed, 4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger, 3 large cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds.

In this recipe, I also added half a bag of crushed up raman noodles. If you can see the large white chunks, that would be the raman noodles. Preparation of these beans are: Whisk water, soy sauce, cornstarch and hot sauce to taste in a small bowl. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add beans, ginger and garlic; cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the sauce mixture;  cook, stirring frequently, until the beans are tender-crisp and coated with sauce, 4-6 minutes, Sprinkle with sesame seeds. In the top photo I added the beans to a microwave dish and was able to reheat a couple of times. The beans were good to the last spoonful.

Time to bring this blog to a close....if you try the beans, hope you like them. Have a great day and keep looking up.

If you would like to see my other blog at wordpress, here is the link. cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com
Cheers ~ Louise

Places I Would Like To Put My Body In.....

Hi there everyone. Hope you are enjoying your Saturday. Wasn't it just yesterday I was blogging about Saturday's???? My gosh the time flies. I am going to cut the wings off "time", then it won't go by so fast!!!! Well today I am taking a trip, to these wonderful and beautiful places that I would like to put my body in. Come along with me if you would like, don't forget your bathing suit. MMMMMM.....take a "Calgon" moment.

                                                             Zanzibar, Africa
Not sure where this is in Africa, must try and find out where???

 

                                              Aqua Dome Hotel in Austria

                                      Hotel Villa in Honegg, Switzerland

Op.....yes! Put my body in these beautiful locations with a splendid piece of Chocolate cake!!! I am sorry...I needed to make this a BIG piece of cake!!!!!

In this bathtub??? Yes!! And don't forget the Chocolate cake!!!

This is a Beautiful 55 room Resort in Soneva, Maldives.....this picture is what got me started in this adventure finding beautiful places that I would like to put my body in. I visited this website today and have most definitely fallen in love with the Maldives and this special place: http://soneva.com thanks to Pinterest.

Take me away to the Fiji Islands!!!!! This would have to be a piece of Heaven........but oh....don't forget the Chocolate cake...lol!!!

Have a great day and enjoy your surroundings with family and friends!!! Cheers ~ Louise

PS If you would like to visit my other blog at Wordpress the address is: cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com

A Few New Cards....

Hi everyone...hope your week has started out well. Weather has been beautiful and in the high 70's which has been so very comfortable. I guess if you do not like this weather and want it warmer, you might want to blame me, because I have been asking God to "keep it cool" and He has. I don't do well in hot weather, humidity makes my ankles swell up.

Been finding some time to make cards. Thought I would share a few with you. I have all four of these cards ready to go into my Etsy store. Each card will be $3.50 + postage of $2.00. Each card will come with an envelope and be enclosed in a plastic sleeve for protection. I usually send an extra card as a bonus for shopping at my Etsy store. 

So this is my new set of Happy Birthday Cards. Each card will have a monkey dangling from the number. I can make the cards from 1 years to 100 years. I will probably put a few more into my Etsy store over the next few weeks.

I colored this card last night with copic markers...it turned out really nice and thought I would add it to my store. Not sure where it came from, as I don't personally own this stamp. I am thinking one of my stamping friends must have stamped and embossed this and gave it to me.

This cute squirrel stamp came from Good Will, thought it would make a cute card. I have a blogging friend named Biz she has squirrel friends that visit her and husband Tony. So when I saw this stamp, I thought of her. Actually sent a card like this to them, because Tony has not been feeling well.

This last card was kind of an experiment. Kind of like an Iris Fold with the snowman being the center. I think it still needs something more, like maybe a few snowflakes....maybe the next card will have snow flakes on it...we'll see.

Well time to close this blog. Have to get dinner cooked for JP. Have a great week. For me, tomorrow will be a shopping day, Wednesday, home and Thursday, I am planning to make some cards at Betty's place. Missed last month because I was not feeling too well. Hopefully things will be better this time. I need a little inspiration and I usually get that when I go to Betty's.
Cheers - Louise

PS If you would like to visit my other blog it is:cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com

SATURDAY....YaYYYYYYY!!!!

Hi there everyone. Hope your weekend is starting off good!! Have you ever tried to find some funny pictures....and none of them were very funny?? That's what happened for me tonight. I wanted to do a new post using a funny picture, but this is all I could find. Oh well....now that it is actually Saturday morning. I can look forward to sleeping in, probably won't hit the pillow till 2:30am. Yay!!!

Not much has been going on here. Just trying to enjoy the summer and what is left of it. My flowers are doing great and I do enjoy looking at them everyday. Been making teas with my Hibiscus plant, Lemon Mint in the front yard, Bee Balm and Hyssop tea in the back yard. All 4 are really great and each one has some really good health benefits.

My husband likes the Hyssop tea because it is mentioned in the Bible. Hyssop has a kind of licorice taste. Bee Balm attracts the bees and butterflies for the nectar and the leaves can be dried to prepare bergamot tea. The native Americans shared this tea with the early settlers, who then used it as a substitute when imported tea became scarce after the Boston tea party.

I take the flowers of my Hibiscus plant, rinse them and put them in a hot pot of water. I have talk about the Hibiscus tea in a previous post. The Lemon Mint tea is just as it says...a lemony mint taste. I have some drying on the front porch and plan to get some more dried by the end of this month.

I am getting a few cucumbers from the garden, no tomatoes as yet. It looks like my onions are not doing so good again this year. Oh well.

Don't have a lot of plans for today....maybe work on some cards and get a few new things into my Etsy store. I have been "out to lunch" for the last couple of weeks so to speak....so I better get some things listed, people will think I closed shop...lol!

You all have a great weekend and keep looking up! Cheers - Louise

PS. If you would like to check out my other blog it is cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com

A Trip to GFS Yesterday

Hi there everyone. Whoever you are...hope you are having a wonderful day and a great weekend!!! I always look forward to Saturdays...wish everyday could be Saturday...it's a break from the routine of the week and always welcomed in my home.

Sorry I have not been blogging, for what seems like weeks, but is only 5 days...have not had much to blog about I guess. Been dealing with a few issues. My husband is bi-polar, so, sometimes his meds don't click well together and he gets depressed along with a few other problems which causes me to get bummed. Haven't been making cards lately, and that is not like me. All these issues we have been dealing with is kind of like the domino effect. One problem makes another problem...and so on down the line of domino's. I try to stay positive...but sometimes it can be hard when I deal with diabetes and weight gain...high stress points for me, trying to keep numbers down. I have noticed that being under stress causes my blood sugars to rise. Today my number was 112 compared to 143 yesterday. Not sure what the difference was, but I would be happy if I was 112 everyday.

JP has been doing a little bit better lately, mentally, sometimes I think it is the food I make for him...maybe something is not working with his meds....I don't know, I can only guess. Maybe it is something like the diabetes, it all depends on what I eat and if I exercise the night before. The "numbers game" sure can be a stress point for me.

So yesterday I made a run to GFS and bought all this. GFS has samples on Friday and Saturday. Their samples were Green fried tomatoes and marinara sauce, cheese and crackers, fried hot peppers and macaroni salad. I decided to get the fried green tomatoes....they were really good.

I really love the Pane Turano Italian bread which comes out of Berwyn, Illinois which is near Chicago Turano.com This bread makes great Sammie's on the grill, or just plain toast (um, with peanut butter on top.) Today I had an slice of bread toasted and spread some avocado (mashed and added some Bistro sauce) and a slice of tomato on top with sprinkles of cilantro ....now that was GOOD!!!

Last night I had a salad using the Spring mix along with some cucumbers from my garden and an avocado with some Ceasar salad dressing.

When JP got home from work (1am in the morning), I made him "Sunny's Black Bean Burgers" green fried tomatoes, onion rings and French fries, along with soup, salad and fruit. No, he is not starving, but has lost a lot of weight. I just have to look at all that food I make for him and I gain weight....something is very wrong here, it's just not fair. So I cook all this food and can't even enjoy what I cook.

So anyways I used the corn (from GFS) in the black bean burgers. They really turned out great and I will make them again. I got the recipe from the "Extended Stay America" site which I will give you in my next blog. I don't have the address right now. I am asking  you to vote for "Biz" mybizzykitchen.com as she made a recipe for them and has a chance to win $5,000 and a trip to New York.  Once I get all the addresses together I will let you know more, so you can vote for her recipe. We have until August 22nd to vote so there is still plenty of time. You can also vote for Biz from her blog too.

Well time to close this blog, hopefully August will be a better month for us all. Here is my wordpress site, cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com Have a great one and keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise