Exercise, I Won a Misti and a Garden Walk

Hi there everyone, how have you all been doing. I guess I have been MIA again for a week, again.

Had Internet and U-Verse problems these last 5 days. Finally broke down and called At&t and talked to some foreign person that is so very hard to understand. (Gosh.....I hate having to do that). But the problem is fixed and you know "what I have to do??" Each day I have to pull the plug on the modem....can you believe that??? I struggled for 5 days. I would be on the Internet and the TV would freeze up then give me a message that U-Verse signal has been lost and I had to jump through 5 hoops to get things working again.....nope, not gonna do that. But then to top that off, every time I would try to do something on the Internet I would get the message "oops we can't find that page". Boy I was getting VERY frustrated.

First I thought it was my computer and I had to take it in to get cleaned and that there was some kind of virus. But then, when the TV would freeze up, I decided it was an At&t problem. So I finally called tonight and explained the situation to the first guy....we got cut off. Then I called back and got a second guy and had to explain everything a 2nd time (geez, getting a little upset by now) and I was not sure he could really figure it out.

Suddenly he said...."I know what  the problem is and he said I had to unplug the modem for 2 seconds every day" "yeah, sure, I said, we'll see" Okay....everything is working so far..................

So I really didn't start a new exercise routine....I have been thinking about it though....hahhahaha!!

I am soooooo excited!!! I won a mini misti from here. A misti was being given away everyday for the Month of May. All I had to do was leave a comment on the blog that was giving away the misti for that day here's that blog. Today I found out I won one......don't usually win things...but today was my "lucky day"!!! When my misti comes in the mail I will show you how it works....it's a great tool for a stamper/scrapbooker.

I took a picture of my Purple balls (their names fail me).....the first year I had one ball. The second year 3 balls. This year....6 balls! They are multiplying. (there was another one, but it fell on the ground....so it happily made it's way into the house as a bouquet. (maybe I should take a picture of it)

This is the Garden Walk....my neighbor Kathy...which I just met a few weeks ago has a wonderful back yard that I was just biting at the bit to see. Finally one day I gathered the nerve to ask her about a plant I had in my front yard....I did not know if it was a weed or a flower. She did not know what it was.....today she said it was "Phlox" I guess I will let it keep growing.

This is her Lupine.....pretty purple....love, love.

A beautiful Clementius.

Some pretty pink Lupine.

Ummmmm....I forgot what she called these pretty flowers. Kathy said she would let me know when more flowers were blooming in June...that will be fun. June is also the Master Gardeners Garden walk....I might go to that too. Never know what kind of ideas one can come up with. Course I have so many ideas going....I may not be able to keep up with myself.

Well, time to close here, I have to get another Father's day card up on Etsy tonight. Now, as long as things are working right....PTL!!

Have a great night and a good Saturday and keep looking up, things do get better....just ask me!!!

Cheers ~ Louise

Food, Flowers and Crafting

Hi there everyone....hope you are having a good day. Was reading a few blogs today, gosh, a few bloggers are really going through some sad trials. Prayers for you all, only God will see you through.

Then the bombings in Brussels today and Obama in Cuba talking to the Communist and at a baseball game??? I don't know....these are my thoughts, I think he knew about what was going to happen and planned to go to Cuba and after this, he is going to Argentina, is that another Communist country??? Oh my, nothing good is going to come out of all this.

All that happened today, sure got us distracted from the elections, seems the elections took a back seat. It's all a ploy and diversion to get our eyes off of what is going on.....really going on behind the scenes. As I said....nothing good is going to come out of all this, nope, nothing good.

Well, on to a lighter mood.....food, flowers and crafting. So below are a couple of meals I made from Blue Apron. Yep...."Cuban Sandwiches with Sweet Plantain and Kale Salad" Man, this was really good. The Cuban sandwich was made with pork, Swiss cheese, marinated pickles and mustard, the bread was grilled and pressed down....yep, I would do this again. I guess, after reading comments on the "real" Cuban sandwich...it also has ham in the sandwich, I shall try that next time.

Did you ever cook a plantain? Looks like a banana, but is harder and bigger. Peeled and sliced and grilled in oil, then salted. The kale was sliced fine combined with garlic paste and the juice of a lime, salt and pepper. Mixed with the plantain made for a very delicious salad. I gave this meal 5 stars.

This meal was the "Chicken Cacciatore with Fettuccine Pasta & Mushrooms" Oh yummy, this was really good and a very easy meal to put together. The chicken fried in olive oil then cut up in pieces. The mushrooms fried then garlic and red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you want it) then the tomato sauce and water is added, cooked then the chopped chicken, cooked pasta, butter and some reserved pasta cooking water. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with the Parmesan cheese.

A very delicious Blue Apron meal......another 5 star recipe.

In these next three pictures are my pretty little purple crocuses....

I thought I better take a picture of them from my kitchen window today.....

Because we are supposed to get a foot of snow tomorrow and they will be crushed under the weight!!! Pour little flowers, they thought it was spring and all chances of snow had passed.....I guess not.

I saw this on Facebook and had to save it to my files....it brought a chuckle for me today. Would be nice if I had a real craft room, but my craft room is down in the basement. Sometimes it is a bit dreary down there. But it is a good place to run to. I guess I do have a lot of card crafting stuff....but it is an accumulation of 20 years of making cards....yep, I have lots of stuff, but not half as much as some people do, oh well, to each his own.

Well, time to close here. I guess the next few days I will be crafting and making cards.....not planning to go outside in the snow.....one good thing, it won't last long and the temps are supposed to get warmer....at least in the high 40's by this week-end. Anyways, I need to make some cards for Hospice and get some new cards up in my Etsy store, guess I have been MIA there too.

You all have a great day and keep looking up.....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Looking Forward To.....

Hi there everyone...guess I have been "MIA" again. Just not a lot of things to write about....winter starts to get a little bit long by this time. Although the snow is beginning to melt and the birds are tweeting louder...so it is feeling like Spring.

I am looking forward to Spring and my gardens, flowers and trickling water in the pond. Bringing out all my ceramic animal creatures.....there's just something about Spring....you know??

Maybe this year, I will be able to "ENJOY" the Summer and my backyard. Sickness won't be a focal point in my life this year. It's hard to believe a Hernia can rule one's life the way that hernia did.

These are my little Cosmos....I bought some little plants and also planted some seeds. I am thinking there may be some volunteer cosmos coming this year....hand hardly wait to see what happens.

These "Brown Eyed Susan's" volunteer every year in my front yard. I wish they would volunteer in the backyard too....maybe cause it is not that sunny. Front yard is all sun.

Tulips.....love those tulips, I was not able to plant new bulbs last Fall, because of being sick with the hernia......maybe this Fall some new bulbs will get planted. (geez...the thought of Fall, put that out of my mind.)

My Crocuse's growing along side the house....a sure sign of spring when they show their little flowers.

Another picture of my little babbling pond....gosh I love the sound of water trickling....oh, but I guess the pond was not trickling in this shot.....but it sure looks nice.

My lovely rose of summer....can't be any more beautiful. I must make a copy of this rose and frame it. (Some day)

This past week I have been working on getting papers together for  Income Tax time. Be glad when this is over and the refund comes, then I can breathe a bit. I am hoping that we will get enough of a refund that I can buy a new (used) stove. My stove is going on 25-30 years and a couple of burners do not work along with the clock and timer......with all the cooking I do, a new stove is needed, tools of the trade, right???

JP's family was here last Friday....they got here about noon and left at 2:30....not a long visit....we went to Festival food and got some take out food at the salad bar, which is always good. They wanted to get back to Chicago before it got too late and the kids were a bit crabby too...so time to leave.

Sunday, I am going to a Stampin' Up Camp. Those are always fun. I will post the cards I make on Monday. They will be mostly Birthday cards....so that will be neat. I need some ideas for Hospice, cause next week is my Hospice meeting and I need to get about 50 cards put together.

Next week I have my Blue Apron meals coming....that seems to be the highlight of my week is cooking something different. I bought a plantain banana today...I am going to fry it in the next few days. I saw a recipe from Blue Apron doing that, do you think I can find that recipe...nope, so I guess I will try www.cooks.com. one of my favorite places to go for recipes.

Well, time to close, need to get some dishes done and dinner cooked before JP comes home. Have a great day tomorrow and keep looking up.....better days are coming!!! Cheers ~ Louise

MIA....

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been "missing in action". Been really sick around here. Even sitting down at the computer was a chore. So I chose not to even do a post. Well....I will make this very short. Hope you are all feeling well. I will come back when I am feeling better, see what happen on Saturday. Gosh...even doing this post is a chore.
Cheers ~ Louise