Hi there everyone....hope you are having a great day. Sorry I have been MIA again. For some reason August has been a tough month for JP and I. On the 27th we celebrated 45 years of marriage. I know that is a mile stone for lots of people and it should be. For us, just another day. I did buy a $5 blueberry cake and made roast beef sandwiches and potatoes in the pressure cooker. Nothing too special. No, we did not go out any place as JP is paranoid about thinking people can smell him....which no one can, he just thinks it.
So today I made this soup. Creamed Zucchini Soup. JP said it was a keeper and I should make this again. The recipe calls for just 5 ingredients...not counting the salt and pepper. Yep, that's it.
Here is the recipe:
1/2 small onion, quartered 2 cloves garlic
3 medium zucchini, skin on and cut in large chunks
32 oz reduced sodium Swanson chicken broth or vegie
2 Tbsp reduced fat sour cream
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
fresh grated Parmesan cheese if desired for topping (opt.)
Directions:
1-Combine chicken broth, onion, garlic and zucchini in a large pot over medium heat and bring to a boil.
2-Lower heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
3-Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender, add the sour cream and puree again until smooth.
4- Taste for salt and pepper and adjust to taste. Serve hot, topping with Parmesan cheese.
1 1/2 cups of soup has 60 calories, 10 carbs, 500 sodium...that's a lot of sodium, but you can cut that down. I think this would be good for the Keto diet.
I have been struggling along with no stove/oven. Guess it is okay. I am not in a rush to get a new one. Was thinking of an apartment size oven. That would give me more room for a small used cabinet for storage. I bought a used hot plate and a small George Foreman grill at Goodwill. Told JP we were going to live on hot dogs and hamburgers for now. He said, no problem. I will still be on the hunt for a electric fry pan. I have my eye on one....but it's at Shopko. Guess I will wait till it is marked down and I have a coupon also.
I have been dealing with a bad back for the last couple of days, oh my gosh it really hurt. Hard to walk and get around. It dawned on me today, how I did it. Moving 35 water bottles from it's skid to the bottom of the cart....my back did not start hurting till Monday. I have rubbed DoTerra's "Deep Blue", also "Deep Blue oil" "Lavender oil". In about an hour I will be taking another "Naproxen" for inflammation. One, every 12 hours....guess that is helping. At least I can get up off the bed, chair and lazy-boy with a little less pain. I may take one more day off to recup….depends on how I am feeling. I have some errands to run before Friday.
JP has decided to work part-time, so we are entering a new phase of life. Should be interesting, to say the least, and quite the challenge financially. Hopefully we will be able to continue doing the things we do. I shall have to rearrange my shopping schedule and not shop so much....that's why I said in the paragraph about hamburgers and hot dogs....our menu is going to change quite a bit.
Well, time to close here....this blog is getting toooooo long. And if you made it this far, keep looking up and here's hoping better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise
Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good month so far. Thought for this post I would put some funny signs up that tickled my funny bone when I saw them. Probably got them from Penterest and Facebook.
I suspect you are wondering why I chose the title above...right?!?! So far this month, JP has been steadily losing hours at work, which means the pay checks are getting smaller. I could not pay our house taxes in full this July 31st....now we will get penalized. I have to go to the Court house to pay the rest....I am scared. I am hoping we have enough to pay the mortgage also....won't know that till Friday, when JP gets paid.
Our little schnauzer/poodle was having a problem, so I got her in for an emergency appointment Tuesday. Her annul glands were giving her trouble, so the vet expressed them, took some blood for Heartworm. Gave her meds for that and flee/tick meds and off we went. Kylie is feeling much better, thank you.
Sunday, I was cooking some chicken breasts on the stove and suddenly the stove started buzzing at me....what the??? The clock was not working and I was getting messages to "lock" then I found that the oven was not working. I was very perplexed. We pulled the plug to see if it would reboot its self.....no after about 5 minutes it started buzzing again. Oh what to do, what to do.
Yesterday I went to the store where I bought the stove....I have only had the stove for 2 years and 4 months...so the warranty is over. I am not sure they can do anything, except sell me another stove. The guy said it sounded like the computer board was shot. Oh yay for me!!! If we could get it to the store ourselves, they could fix it for more $$$$. I am just not sure what I should do at this point.
Guess I will let it sit and cook with my crock pot, oven-net, microwave, Nu-wave, grill more and maybe pick up a fry pan at the second hand store. I am even thinking of putting the stove on the street for the garbage men to take. Buy a second hand counter for more storage....maybe a pantry. Do I really need a stove??? Gosh, no more pies and casseroles (sad face). Will have to weigh all the pros and cons on this one.
Good news though, was talking to a friend on the phone tonight, she wants to gift me with her old vacuum. Yes, I said, the one I have is not very strong. She said the one she has is so strong it would probably suck up the dog....lol! It even has a hose to clean the cobwebs off the ceiling...yay for that I have a few. She has another vacuum that she likes better.
Another exciting thing that happened. I signed up to be a consultant for DoTerra Essential Oils. Yep, I will have my own website, where people can order from me there. So as I get more acclimated to the oils and website, I will try and link it up with my blog.
I have been getting hot flashes lately...whew...hot, hot, hot and I have to wave a fan in front of me. The lady gave me some spearmint oil to apply to the back of my neck....BOOM the hot flash went away.
DoTerra has an oil and ointment for pain, it is called "Deep Blue". For the last couple of months I have been dealing with a "Sciatic nerve" problem. I have tried 5-6 different products for pain...nothing has touched it. Then "Deep Blue" came along and POW the pain has subsided. Well, this morning I woke up with the pain, could hardly get out of bed....I rubbed some "deep blue" on my butt. Made my way to the bathroom. By the time I was making breakfast....the sciatic pain was gone. Gosh that stuff works GOOD!
YES...I can hardly wait for the Hockey season to start...maybe this year the Chicago Blackhawks will win the Stanley Cup!! Oh and another thing, we are one day closer to the return of Jesus for his Church....oh what a day that will be boys and girls!!!
So anyways...a few other things going on so far this month. I had my teeth cleaned today....they took x-rays, I have to wait till next week to find out if there were any cavities besides the ones I already have. But otherwise my next appointment won't be till February 11th...hope there is not a snow storm that day!!!
JP has some lab work to have done next Monday. Then Kylie has another appointment on Tuesday for an exam and shots. Wednesday I go to make cards at Betty's. Thursday, JP has an appointment with the foot Doctor...he has a few corns on his feet that cause him much pain. We tried some oils on his feet...has not worked yet as far as I can see. Looks like a busy week already...just hope the $$$ covers all the bills and extra appointments.
Well time to close, it is getting late, I want to go downstairs for awhile and maybe watch some TV. With JP home, it seems my schedule has changed a little bit. You all keep looking up....I am pretty sure better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise
