Here We Are....Two Weeks Into September!!!

Hi there everyone. What can I say.....I guess my blogging has been lacking lately. Not much happening, but then, a lot has in small ways. Least we are not facing hurricanes and typhoons and fires. Here, it's lots of rain, heat and lots of mosquito's that seem to find me no matter where I am. That's one good thing about winter, NO MOSQUITO'S!!!!

So JP lost some hours at work, which means finances have been a little tricky of late. I had to sell some old gold and silver jewelry  left by my grandmothers, mother and myself. Total income this time around was $315 which will go partially towards paying the rest of our house taxes. Then, we start all over again next January 31st 2019.

My doggie, Kylie has not been feeling well lately. I am so afraid that I will have to have her put down. I don't want to....God, could she just die in her sleep???? Not sure what is wrong...she is going on 14 years...hope it is old age. Now why, do we put dogs down and not people??? I asked my Vet that question, she said, because we care more for our animals then we do people!!!

Next Saturday, we are having company from Chicago. JP's brother and SIL...they usually take us out to eat, we visit a bit and then they leave late afternoon, so they are home for the evening....it's a "Kwik Trip" like the gas station. If you live in this area, you would know what I mean. We probably won't go out to eat though and just may order out and have it delivered to our front door. I am going to order a Pumpkin Cream Pie from Schwan's, which looks delicious....I always have the dessert.

Some good news, poundage wise, I have lost 30 lbs since last July 2017. Losing has been a very long and slow process....still have much to lose. My blood sugars have been much, much better. Hopefully I can eliminate the pills after a 50 -75 lb. loss. I am still doing the Atkins/keto diet which has proven to work the best for me. I have to admit though, I don't make it a religious thing, as there are some days I eat potato chips and popcorn, oh, and tater tots too. But pretty much stay close to eating the right things.

Well, I guess that is about all that is going on this month....and there is still 2 weeks left to go. So I thought I better put some cards up, as this is a "Card Blog" so following are some cards I made at Betty's last month....just a little slow in posting. Our next meeting will be this next Wednesday already....time flies when we are having fun???? Card making on my own has been at a minimal....as I have not been in much of a mood....need some inspiration, that's why I like to go to Betty's....there is always something that gets my juices flowing.

So this was a fun card to make, I actually made quite a few of these cards for Hospice. Birthday, Thanks and Thinking of you. I have the stamp set and the background stamp....so yeah, I think this will be my "go to" card for everything....easy and fast to make.

This was a fun card to make, punched out owls. We made the branches for the owls to sit on then pieced together the owls. Bright and colorful.

This was a pretty card. The flowers were embossed. The background???? You know, I forgot what we did. I shall have to ask, was it water color??? Anyways, it turned out really pretty.

This card was stamped and embossed, we colored it in with copic markers and sponged in the blue sky and water. Stamping the birds and verse. Betty always has the pieces cut, so we just have to piece it all together.

Thought you would like to see a few cucumbers growing in my garden....gosh these cucs made a great salad and tasted so good....just wish I had more.....maybe next year.

Well time to close here, you all take care and have a great couple of weeks. I may be back before the month is over....depends. Keep looking up, better days are coming!!! Cheers ~ Louise

43 Years!!!!

Hi there everyone.....how you all doing??? Well, today is JP's and my anniversary....yep, we have been married 43 years!!! So hard to believe how fast that time went. We had a lot of good times and a lot of sad times, but we made it through, always following that light that shined at the end of the tunnel.

When JP and I got married, Monday, August 27, 1973....during his racing season. He did not want to take time out to get married the conventional way, in a church, white dress, reception afterward. I even had to buy my own ring. Yeah, so we quickly got married at City Hall in Chicago at 11:00am. Then at 3:00pm we were signing the closing papers for our house in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Moving into our new house that night....geez what a day!!!

His family and mine were not very happy about the plans we made.....but at that time, they were OUR Plans. Six months later, my mother threw a wedding party for JP and I. If I had it to do over again, I would have waited till he had time to get married the real way, a Church wedding, a white dress and reception and a Honeymoon to some far away place! We never did get that honeymoon....still waiting.

So the picture above is JP and I on "Awards Night" (September 22, 1973) JP won the track championship and "Most Popular Driver". This was the track championship trophy. Most popular driver trophy was a bit smaller. Yep the girls were always chasing after JP....and the men? not so much except on the track.

I just recently signed up with a group from Waukegan Speedway via Facebook and was surprised to find there were quite a few people that remembered the blue Camaro and JP Gatti. There were a few comments that said "JP used to be my hero when I was a kid". What's really funny is the kid that was JP's President of his fan club is now 47 years old. Gosh time does NOT stop for no one!!!

The evolution of a race car. The above picture was in 1972, see, no lettering or numbers....they must have just finished building this car.

Here we are....same car but the number is plastered on it.

After the 1972 season....JP and 2-3 other guys worked on and rebuilt the car to look like this....pretty snazzy huh???? The day we had this picture taken was the last time the car ever looked like this. Because that night at the races, it seemed like every single driver was out after JP and his new car trying to stop him from winning the race. She was pretty beat up that night....so glad we had pictures taken.

Yeah, those were the days with a lot of good memories. It is very interesting too, that some of the drivers JP raced against, commented or "liked" the pictures I posted.

This car went through quite a few car owners and drivers too. JP sold his share of the car to Bob W. (JP stopped racing after he won the championship, he saw a driver get killed and did not want to end up like him.) So, Bob got a new driver in 74-77. Then sold the car to Chuck B., he raced it for a couple of years (77-78) then he sold the car to Micheal M. (79-80) which ran the car at Wilmont. Then in 1980 Micheal sold the car to Don L. he had it (80-82). From there we are not sure what happened to that blue Camaro, but we know it made a lot more laps around a few tracks. Would be interesting to know how many races it won with all the owners and drivers and where it ended up.

Well, there you go, the genealogy of a '69 Camaro. Forever engrained in our minds....our wild and crazy years. Some things I wish could be done over, some things not so much....all in all, it was good.

I guess it is time to close for now, have to get an anniversary card made for JP. He bought me (actually I picked them up) a dozen red roses. I bought a pizza for tonight, JP will have lox and bagles tomorrow and maybe I will buy a piece of prime rib at Festival's tomorrow....my choice of meal if we ate out someplace. I also bought a Chocolate Cream pie from Schwan's (now that will be a real treat.) No we will not be going out to eat. Cooking at home as usual.

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

Versitile Waffle Iron and a Card Order

Hi there everyone....sorry for the lapse in time on my blog....things have been slow around here. Guess there are no excuses. Been doing some different cooking lately. Not sure where I heard about this, but went straight to "You tube" to see the demo's. Yes, your waffle iron can make lots of things besides just waffles. Eggs, French fries (my idea), biscuits, cinnamon rolls, I saw a hamburger grilled on the waffle iron, quesadilla's, oh my gosh, the ideas are endless I suspect.

The other night, I baked some potatoes. The next day, sliced them and put them in the waffle iron till they were nice and crisp...oh yum. A little bit of butter and sour cream....yes so good. In the pictures below, eggs and bacon, cherry juice and ketchup.

I guess I am repeating a bit, but, in the above picture I broke up some bacon and placed the pieces on the iron. Broke two eggs, scrambled them with cheese and poured onto the waffle iron.

A picture of the finished product. Yep, looks just like a waffle....but it's two eggs, bacon and cheese. I almost did not get a picture, JP had already cut into the eggs....whew almost gone!!!!

In these two pictures are the French fries....I spray both sides of the waffle iron then lay the frozen fries on the grid, cook a little bit to defrost, then press down the lid to smoosh the fries and then leave them in there till they start to crisp.

I do the same with the sliced baked potato. Bought some tator tots from the Schwan's Man yesterday, so they will be my next experiment on my waffle iron.

Today I made cheesy chicken enchiladas....making my own enchilada sauce. MMM they were good...just google "easy enchiladas" and you will get many ideas.

Monday I marinaded a 3lb beef roast. Using Biz's recipe www.mybizzykitchen.com/2013/03/10/best-beef-marinade-ever On Wednesday I took the roast out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for an hour to get to room temperature. Biz said, by letting the roast sit on the counter to room temp, the roast will be less tough.

So my next step was to bake the roast. I preheated the oven to 500 degrees (yes, you heard me right) I also stuck the baking potatoes in the oven also. When the oven was hot enough, I stuck the roast in the oven, no lid. Baked the meat and potatoes for 15 minutes. (5 minutes per lb.) then turn the oven off and leave the meat and potatoes in the oven for 1 hour. OH....and not peeking, you will let the heat escape. Again, you can google "Shirley's Perfect Rare Roast" I do believe I will make my roasts this way, for now on.

The roast was done to perfection, 125 degrees in the middle and 140 degrees on the ends and red in the middle. Oh and the potatoes were done also. So yeah, I will do that again.

As you noticed, I mentioned in my title, I have a card order. And it's not through Etsy. Wednesday I got an order for 10 cards from a friend....I was very happy about that...so I am working on those cards plus finishing up the cards I have made for Hospice. The meeting is for this next Friday...it is always fun to meet with the other ladies. We pass around our boxes of cards to the other ladies, so we can see what the other's made. We always meet at the Atlanta Bread Company....so we all usually get a good cup of coffee too.

Well, I hope you are having a good Saturday. For me, it is time to go walk Kylie. Her "stop-pulling harness" is really working. She no longer takes me for a walk and she seems more calmer on her walks. Not really sure why the harness would make that much difference....but it has become a pleasure to walk her.

I hope you leave a comment on my blogs from now on till February 8th. Every name will be put in a pot and I will pick 4 people to receive a Valentine Card from your's truly. Comment as many times as you like that will give you that many chances to win.

Have a great weekend and keep looking up!! Cheers ~ Louise

Saturday's Go By So Fast

Hi everyone. How are you all doing. It sure was a lovely day today, sun shinny and in the 40's today. I'll take that kind of weather anytime.

As you can see I am learning a little bit more, day by day on this computer. Found this picture on Pinterest, (copied to my picture file and saved) thought it was pretty funny. As this is what happens when I buy a can of Pringles. I say, "now Louise, just a little stack"....but, before I know it, the whole can is GONE!!! One of my "guilty pleasures" that and Schwan's Golden Nuggets ice cream bar, they are sooooo yummy with ooey-gooey Carmel!! The Schwan's man did not have any bars on his truck last night....so I shall have to go through withdrawals the next two weeks...uge!!!

Today JP and I went to a Memorial Service of an old friend, he was only 56 years old and died of complications of diabetes....pretty scary. The Memorial was at The Salvation Army. JP and I used to work there over 13 years ago. It was like a reunion of sorts....some of the people, we had not seen for quite a few years....time sure does change people...we are getting older and more wrinkled and puffier!!!

The Officer that hired us back in 87 did the service....it was good to see him, he has been dealing with Cancer for many years but has been cancer free for the last couple of years. I liked the way he answered a few people, when asked "How old are you Ed?" and he said, "I am in my 75th year" for some reason I just thought that was awesome.....well, I am in my "67th year" and hope to make it as far as he has....the Lord Willing!!!

This day went pretty fast....just don't know where the days go. I walked Kylie today....a big German Shepherd came running after us....Kylie barked and I screamed, I am not sure exactly what happened, but the dog turned around and headed home.....do you think he saw something that scared him??? May never know...but I need to thank God and probably not go that way for a while.

Well, time to close this blog for today, you all have a wonderful Sunday and enjoy the presence of God in your life!!!  Cheers ~ Louise