Kylie Wants Some Too

Hi there everyone....how you all doing??? I have been kind of quiet this past week. Working on taxes and getting all "those papers" organized. Who said, "with computers, we will go paperless??" I think someone was dreaming probably....hahahaha!

So, I am taking a night off from papers.....do you know, I have papers from all the way back to 2004 and older (those may be down stairs). I guess it is time to have all those papers shredded. Our bank does shredding, so as soon as I go through all those papers  pulling staples and paper clips off, should have a couple of bags.

Seven years is all I have to keep some stuff. I have "a list of things to save and how long." It looks like Bank reconciliations, Bank statements, duplicate deposit slips, ins. policies (expired) are less then 5 years. 7 years for accident reports, contracts, mortgages, notes and leases, expired. 7 years for stock and bond certificates (cancelled) and withholding tax statements.

Papers to keep permanently - checks (cancelled for important payments i.e. taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc. and those checks should be filed with the important papers pertaining to those payments. Contracts, mortgages, notes and leases (expired and still in effect). Insurance records, current accident reports and claims. Property appraisals and property records and tax returns and worksheets. Hope that helps someone...it does me.

So today I made this for JP's lunch. Three layers of French toast with bacon and fruit on each layer,  then topped with yogurt. Looks pretty good....huh?

See Kylie in the corner.....she is barking for a taste or a pieces of Daddy's lunch. She'll bark and bark till she gets a bite. I finally have to say, "that's enough Kylie" and she stops barking.

Here's another shot of that delicious three layered French toast, fruit and strawberry shortcake.

Barking, barking, barking. Kylie is 14 years old now. She has her days where she feels good, and days when she does not. I have changed her diet and give her less people food and "Beneful" and more "Freshpet". She also gets "Milk bones" and "Special Cuts" as treats. It all seems to be working. 

Just another shot of JP's lunch and Kylie barking.

So today, I started my Dr. Atkins diet again. Cutting out carbs (or just not eating as much) for about a month. The last time I did this diet was last July and lost 10 lbs. and have managed to keep those 10lbs off. My A1c was at a good number too. So I thought I would do it again. As my Blood test is in April....would be nice to have lost another 10-15 lbs. 

It is a high protein and low carb diet. Eggs and bacon or sausage in the morning. Salads for lunch and meats and vegies for dinner and not too much snacking in between meals. It's pretty doable for me and when I see the scale start moving down, I 'll get very motivated to keep going. I have 3 Dr. Atkin books for lot's of recipes and Walmart has Dr. Atkins bars and meals in the freezer dept. So I usually pick up a couple for breakfast or dinner.

I will let you know how things go the rest of this month and the beginning of March. Have to go now, it's getting late and I have to get JP's dinner ready. Pork chops, mashed potatoes and bean casserole and his left over lunch, French toast and fruit.

Have a good evening and keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

French Toast and Image Card Exchanges

Hi there everyone. Well.......I am still in a French Toast mode....sorry I have not changed my previous post.....but it still looks so good to me. Today I made French Toast with French bread, slivers of strawberries, and some Philadelphia "ready to eat" Cheesecake filling and syrup. Sorry.....no pictures. All I can say is, it sure was delicious and it was very hard to share with JP, but I did.

Have you ever tried Philadelphia "ready to eat" Cheesecake Filling? All you have to do is pour it into a graham cracker crust and chill. So far, the cheesecake filling has not made it into a pie crust and is just making it into my mouth via strawberries and French toast and such. SShhhhhhhh......I've not shared this with JP as yet, he would eat it all in one sitting....yes he would!!!!

Last November I joined a Stamping Group. We send 12 stamped images or die cuts to the person whose name we have and someone sends us 12 stamped images or die cuts. We then make a card for our selves and one for the person whose name we have. So altogether we have stamped 14 images or die cuts. Then, at the revealing party, we find out who had our name and visa versa. We bring the cards we made for the person who had our name.  Following are the cards I made, using the images I sent to my secret stamper and the images she sent to me.

In the picture above, I sent my secret stamper the gold snowflake on black card stock....this is what I came up with.

My secret stamper sent me the Santa tag, I colored it in and let the tags sit for awhile, because I could not think of how to incorporate the tag into a card. Suddenly one day I got this idea to just make a present, add the ribbon and stick the tag on it...oh and I learned how to make a double bow with my two fingers. WALA...a present!

I sent my secret stamper 12 images of this vintage Santa Claus....This is what I came up with. This would not be a card that could be sent through the mail too easily.

My secret stamper lady sent me these silver hearts. The only thing I could think of is to add them to a vintage valentine.....good enough.

I sent my secret stamper lady 12 of these die cut trees....this was an easy peasy card.

I sent my secret stamper 12 of these love mice....I distressed these  two mice then brushed them with pearlex. I sent her 12 love mice stamped in black and white. I finally made these love mice into cards last night....in a later post I will show you how they ended up.

I sent my secret stamper these snow men....I still have to make a card out of them yet. I still have two weeks to think about and finish this card.

My secret stamper sent me these bunnies. All I did was color in the back ground, they have hung around for a couple of months..finally turned them into cards last night....they turned out cute. I probably will make a couple of these cards for Hospice too. She also sent me 12 images of a golf ball on a Tee. I surely did not know what to do with the golf ball, till I remembered I have a vintage golfer taking a swing. I am working on that card tonight and when finished will show it in the next post.

My secret stamper is behind in her sending, she did not send March's image and April is yet to come. I contacted the lady that runs this group to let her know the lady that has my name is late in sending images. This isn't the first time this has happened, November and December did not come till January. Sure is frustrating..why join a group if you cannot follow through...makes no sense to me and takes the fun out of even doing this.

The reveling party is on the 23rd of this month....so I shall meet whoever had my name....if she even shows up. I may or may not sign up for a second time. It's fun doing this IF the other person holds up their end. Oh well, enough of my complaining.

I will take pictures of the images sent my secret stamper lady and what they looked like after I turned them into cards. Oh and pictures of the cards of the Easter Bunny, Snow Man and love mice.

I need to close this post now and go have a piece of coconut cream pie. That was my project for tonight. Also made dinner for JP. When he comes home at 1:30am he will have chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and vegies and some pie and fruit. Good enough. Now I shall go downstairs and ride my bike for 2 miles and finish up my Hospice cards for Friday.

Have a great night and keep looking up~~better days are coming!!

Cheers ~ Louise

JP's Lunch Today

Hi there everyone....just a short post for today. I think I made the best lunch for JP today. French toast with bananas, maple syrup, topped with whipped cream. His eyes bugged out when I put the dish on the table!!! I am not sure I have made this for him, at least not like this.

He said it was almost as good as Perkins, if not better!!! I guess that is a compliment. I was watching "Long Lost Family" last night and the girl looking for her birth mother said her adopted grandmother always made French toast EVERY day.....I thought, jeez I don't even make French toast hardly ever. So, today I made French toast.

I made enough so that I could have a bite or two....sure was yummy good. I wish I had JP's metabolism....he can eat all he wants and not gain much weight....me, I just have to look at this picture and the pounds soak through my eyes on to my body!!!

So here is JP's plate after a few minutes.....I am sure glad I got to have some. Told him I will make it again. I think Kylie enjoyed some of this too.

Tonight's dinner is going to be pork loin roast with potatoes, carrots, apple and celery in the pressure cooker. It took more time to put it together then it did to cook. But, the end result was delicious. I had to taste test it before feeding it to JP....right?

I think I am enjoying cooking with the pressure canner. This summer I shall try canning some tomatoes in my pressure canner. Depends on what I get a lot of this summer.

The Chicago Blackhawks are playing right now. The score is 4-4 with only 14 minutes to play. The Hawks lost a big game Saturday, 7-0.....I was really upset....but then I think they were even more sicker. Maybe they need some French toast!!!! Still a 4-4 game with 4 minutes to play. Looks like we are going into Overtime......5 minutes of play and then the shoot-outs. I like the shoot-outs, each team picks a player to shoot against the goalie, whoever gets 3 goals wins!!! So I sure do hope the Hawks get this one. NOPE Hawks lost 5-4....(sigh)

After the game I will go downstairs and ride my bike for a couple of miles, then work on some cards. I still have till April 7th to get my collection of cards together for Hospice. At least this time I shall not be under pressure.

Wednesday, Betty and I are going to Sam's Club for a hot dog. Sam's has the BEST hot dogs!! Betty has had knee surgery on both her knees, so she is looking forward to the outing. I offered to bring her a hot dog....but she asked to be picked up to go there....okay, it's a date!!!

This post sure did turn into a long post....was supposed to be a short one. That just goes to show how wordy I can get....oh well. So, have a great evening and keep looking up ~~~ better days are coming and maybe the Hawks might win their next game on Wednesday with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Cheers ~ Louise