Hi there everyone....how you all doing?? It's still Quarantine time here in Wisconsin. Kind of getting tired of this staying home business....I needs to get out of here and just go shopping with out worries of getting sick. But my mind takes over and says...."oh, just be lazy and do nothing!!" So I listen, and only do what I feel like doing when ever I feel the need to do something. So everything sits for a couple of days till I finally get to it. Same thing with this blog...guess that is why you don't see too many posts from me...just lazy I guess.
So on April 9th we had some visitors to our back yard....Mr. & Mrs. Duckie. Wonder what drew them to our backyard...not really sure. Maybe they thought there was water near by. Maybe it looked like a good place to hide and take a rest. Whatever it was...glad they landed in our backyard.
Isn't this a handsome male duck? I love the way the sun hits his head....so pretty!!
See the female, she almost blends in with the dirt, leaves and moss. I was taking the pictures from the kitchen window....almost seemed like they were watching me, making sure I stayed my distance. They made their way around the tree and into the section behind my bedroom window. Then came around again to the patio.
They were keeping an eye on me....no sudden moves please!!! Then suddenly from above....comes a black squirrel down the tree....what are those big birds doing down there....WHAT!?! HEY!!! This is MY tree and MY yard...scram you's guys!!! Suddenly they were gone. Squirrel and ducks gone as quickly as they came!!!
Certainly am feeling like I live at a Wild Animal Preserve…they must know I am still missing my doggie. So when an animal shows up....it's picture taking time....love when the animals come to my backyard.
This rabbit showed up last September in front of my bedroom window....I zoomed in quite a few times to get this close up. I think he/she was watching me. No sudden moves please!!!
Pretty soon it will be time for me to go outside and start working in the yard....I have quite a lot of work to do. Well, a little bit at a time and I might be done by fall.
We finally got the stimulus check in the mail today....that helps for sure, We will have to use it to pay the property taxes and probably the Federal taxes too, but that won't be due till July 15th, thank God the due date was pushed up. We would not have had the $$$ at the time it was due and probably would have had to call IRS to get an extension.
I ordered 1/2 yard of some Chicago Blackhawk material on Etsy....I want to make some masks. Made two masks yesterday, using red check material, just to see if I could. They turned out okay and will be good to wear while my Blackhawk masks are getting made. I have to see if I can make a "single" layered mask....two layer is hard to breathe through....some of these masks being made on "you tube" have 3 layers. Now that would be very hard to breathe through. I tried making a bandana mask...with all the folds there were 8 layers.....whew, that was really hard to breathe through. I could only leave it on for a few minutes. My gosh....a person needs to breathe!!!!
One of these days I will start working on some cards...that is one of those things I keep putting off for another day. You would have thought I would have been doing cards all this time. Quarantine = card making. Guess not, not in my books.
Still making bread, buns, cookies, pizza dough, waffles etc. with my sourdough starter. Want to make some sourdough donuts one of these days....soon. Well, I think it is time to close here, this post is getting insanely long and probably boring. So you all take care and I hope in the next few weeks we can all escape "house arrest" and get on with our lives!!!! Cheers ~ Louise
Hi there everybody....how are you all doing??? How is this quarantine treating you??? I think I have gained a few pounds....although I have not jumped on the scale for 21 days....not sure I want to for fear of seeing a gain of too many pounds.
As you can see, this is going to be a food blog today. Been cooking up a storm this month. The spaghetti recipe below was really fun to make and delicious. "One-Pot Spaghetti"
2 Tbsp. butter or veggie oil
1 lb. ground beef (I added one small chopped onion and 6 sliced mushrooms)
1 - 1 1/2 oz, envelope Spaghetti sauce mix
1 tsp. salt
1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
6 c. wter
1 - 8 oz. package spaghetti
Melt butter in a dutch oven over moderately low heat. Add meat; cook and stir over moderate heat until brown and crumbly. I cooked the onions and mushrooms with the meat. Add spaghetti sauce mix, salt and tomato paste and blend well. Add water and bring sauce to a rolling boil over moderate heat. Add spaghettis, boil gently, uncovered 10 minutes, or until spaghetti is tender and sauce is thick, Stirring occasionally. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Serves 4
With the spaghetti is some home made bread, toasted, and garlic spread topping it....mmmmmmm!!
Not sure if the bread in this picture is the garlic toast in the top picture.....may not be. Been making so much bread lately, I am losing track. The buns in the back became hamburger buns....gosh those were good hamburgers. This loaf of bread did not last too long....don't want it to get too old. Makes good toast with peanut butter on it.
I made a "sourdough starter" on Saturday....so now I have been making sourdough bread, buns, and waffles today....so good. Will have to do something sourdoughy tomorrow. I found a web-site that has 75 sourdough recipes....so I am all set to use my starter for quite awhile.
Above is a chocolate cake I made on Easter Sunday.....nothing special....just a packaged cake mix with peanut butter frosting topped with crushed walnuts and sprinkles. It's all gone now.
Made this apple pie on the 3rd of April....my favorite way to make....with the crumbly top. Along with that pie was some banana fudge ice cream....yummmmmm!!!
Made this scrumptious pizza pie along with the apple pie.....another pizza winner!!!
In the bottom picture is "Cheesy Rice" This was a good recipe...it did not last long. As JP gobbled it all down. It was soft and easy for him to chew and eat.
I guess out of boredom I have been cooking more, looking up recipes that I have never tried and it can't be spicy or hard to chew, as JP has a set of bad teeth that all need to be pulled. One of these days out ship will come in and we will be able to take care of his teeth.
So according to my calender, I have been making a lot of things...Apple pie, pizza pie, Bean soup and British beans(that was good), cup cakes, focacsa bread, a loaf of bread and buns, cole slaw, fried cabbage and more bread. More beans and green pea soup more bread and sourdough starter. Sourdough bread and waffles. Someone need some sourdough starter???? I just hope I can keep up with this starter. Maybe after about a week I will be able to keep it in the fridge which might slow down the growth some.
Well, now that I have made you very, very hungry, I should close here. It's been a busy month for cooking....but we don't order out for food and I am just used to cooking at home. You all have a great rest of the month and keep looking up....better days are coming and we will no longer be under house arrest!!!! Cheers ~ Louise
Hi there everyone....hope your quarantine time is going well. Life has surely changed, not sure if it is for the good. I guess we all will find out eventually.
Going shopping sure has been a challenge, especially this past Tuesday. Went into the store to get my diabetes strips and a few groceries....still no toilet paper, so I got paper towels (we are limited to ONE paper product). We personally are out of toilet paper so we have been using Kleenex….works well. So many of the shelves were bare....sure is scary to see this. The store does seem to keep the junk food and soda aisle well stocked though.
Anyways, I left the store to go to my car, started it up and noticed the brake peddle went down to the floor.....oh my, how am I going to get home. Well, I figured I would go slow and pump the brakes 3-4 times till the car came to the stop lights. I did pray to God to get me home safe and give me green lights all the way home. Thank God only one light was red and by the time I got to it, it turned green....Thank you Jesus!!!! I got home safe. The car is parked right now, can't go anyplace anyways....hopefully the car will get fixed sometime this month.
JP was laid off his job last week, so he has no place to go either. We will get by with God's help!!! I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to Biz right here. May God Bless you abundantly today and always.
So I made a list early this morning of "to do" things to accomplish TODAY. 14 things to accomplish and 2 things done so far. (doing this blog....was NOT on the list.) Here are some of the projects, make an apple pie, make a seasoning (perhaps I will give you the recipe in this blog at the end), make thank you and thinking of you cards, wipe floor, do dishes, straighten my stamp area, make Hospice cards, clean the garage and basement, change the sheets to name just a few......uuummmmm not sure I will get to all those things. Why do I have so much to do???? No time for me to be board, that is for sure.
One of the other things was "walk the grounds and see what is growing" It seems we are going to have an early spring and there is a lot of work to be done outside. I shall have to take some pictures, but I am sure they will look really dreary.
See the poor little baby on the right....that's me. The hard part about this coronavirus is NO HOCKEY.....actually all sports have been cancelled. The Olympics have been cancelled till next year. I don't know, I can't help but think that there something more to this whole thing that we are not being told....something very, very political and corrupt!! But that probably is just me, but something just doesn't seem right.
The Easter card below is one I am going to try to make today....looks simple enough. I have the die for the cross, I don't know, looks like that circle is felt or something and I am sure I have a dove die, will have to look for one. Should be easy and fun. I really need to get back to card making, sloughing off. Too many other things taking up my time. OOOO can you imagine...I FINALLY took my Christmas village down!!! I really enjoyed turning the lights on every night....but when I looked at the calendar it was going on APRIL....LOUISE it is time to take Christmas down.....I said. My gosh, talk about procrastination!!!!
Well, I guess I will close here and get going on one of these other things "to do". Oh wait, I said I would give you the recipe for the seasoning I made today. Here it is "Best Burger and Fry Seasoning" this seasoning is so good on burgers, fries, chicken, fish, pork and sheet pan vegies. This is a double batch and you can half it down if you like. (I doubled it today cause I use it so much)
1 Tbsp. Basil, 2 Tbsp. Garlic powder, 1 Tbsp. Parsley, 1 tsp. Celery salt, 2 tsp. Chili powder, 2 Tbsp. Garlic salt, 4 Tbsp. Paprika, 1 Tbsp. Cumin, 1 Tbsp. Pepper, 1/2 cup Salt. Mix all together in a mason jar and shake to mix well. To use, sprinkle with your fingers or a spoon. I love this stuff.
Well you all take care of yourselves and keep looking up, better days are coming. It's SPRING, be HAPPY!!!! Cheers ~ Louise
