Ohhhhhh Is Anyone There???

 Hi there everyone. Thought I would drop a line or two. Yes, I am still alive and kicking. As you can see by the dates on the pictures below, they are 5 years old, but they are Fall pictures, so I am using them today.

I have not been much into a blog mood, only because not much is happening in my life. Since JP's death, (1 year, 2-1/2 months) everyday just seems to blend into another. I have tried to get a lot done around the house, but sometimes I just find myself sleeping. I get plenty done in my mind, but my body does not cooperate.

Next month, 11/21 I will be 76 years old. WHERE did that time go to?? Never thought I would make it to this age.

Well, to update you all. I had my garage sale and made about $140.00 which did help in paying some bills. The sale was back in June. I thought I would have another one in July, August and possibly in September. But I decided not to. June was enough for me. I am still in the process of cleaning the garage and ridding myself of all the old garage sale stuff that did not sell. I gave "Good Will" 6 banana boxes of stuff already with 2-3 more boxes to go. 

I have decided I am NOT going to sell and move out of this house. And would like to stay here for as long as I can. To down-size, pack and move just sounds like too much stress and a hassle at this time in my life. I am not under pressure now, as I was even 6 months ago as I have made plans with the City to begin paying my property tax which will now keep me from foreclosure in two years. 

I have had a few other financial situations cleared up, so my future looks a little brighter, that's if this country does not go down the tubes with inflation, high gas and food prices and every other crisis that comes up. 

It has been hard to keep my nose above water these last couple of years what with the Pandemic, JP's sickness and death, trying to make ends meet has been a challenge. But God is Good, and He takes care of His own.

I had a really good garden this year with tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, onions, dill and basil. I am in the midst of drying the dill and basil. I think the beans are done as it was my second planting. I brought in my green tomatoes, and they are ripening in a dish pan. 

My card making has been at a minimum lately, have lots of ideas, but seem to find other things to do. Cooking for myself is not fun. When JP was alive, I cooked much more, always trying something new and different. Now I just cook what is easy, fast or not so healthy. Hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, fries, steak, beans, broccoli, and corn. Chicken when I can and porkchops anything that can be made in the Air Fryer or microwave. My Air Fryer is my new friend.

My car has a gas line leak, so it has been sitting in the driveway this week. Monday, I have to take it to the service station, hopefully there is enough gas to get it there and has not all leaked out. Then the guy won't be able to work on it till the 20th, maybe sooner. Hopefully the bill will be affordable.

Well, I guess that is all for now, this was going to be a short blog, but I guess I am just too wordy. You all have a great rest of the month...I am sure it will go fast. The days are flying by, enjoy them while you have them. Keep looking up!!! Better days are a comin'. Louise

A Few Cards and My Gardens

Hi there everyone....did you miss me?? Yeah, been busy I guess. Working on cards, growing my gardens, enjoying my flowers to the trickling sound of my little pond. Such is retirement, not a whole lot goes on in my life.

So in these two pictures are some cards I put together. My secret stamper sent me the ladybug image, of course in black and white and I colored it in with alcohol inks. I really liked the way it turned out. When I first got the images (12 of them), my first thought was that it was a turtle, so I colored it in greens....but wait a moment....turtles don't have antena's do they???? Nope, it was then I realized this image was a LADYBUG!!! Big difference!!!

The image of the giraffes is what I sent to my secret stamper. I used pearl-x to color in the giraffes, so they have a little bit of shimmer. This is what I came up with, using the giraffes. Now on to August and a new image. Maybe next post I will take pictures of the cards I made using my image and the image sent to me by my secret stamper. Kind of a preview of what I have been doing of late.

In the pictures following, is one of my little gardens. From this end, is my cucumber plant, pepper plant and two bean plants. I already got a pepper off the plant, I cheated, it was already growing when I bought the plant. So I waited till it got bigger then we ate it!!! These plants get the morning sun.

In this picture, onions, lettuce, carrots  and radishes. I think I may cut some lettuce tonight...getting pretty big. We've had a few radishes....very small but good. I do have another planter with beans, a pepper plant and tomato plant growing. These plants get the afternoon sun.

Here is my garden pond....always fun to listen to the trickle of the pond. Hostas and white Impatient's grow in this garden as they like shade. I do have another Hosta to plant....a Popcorn Hosta.....not sure if I will plant it here or by the other planter along side the fence. I still have time before Fall. Don't want to rush things, you know?

It sure has been warm, some days going in the 90's and humid. We have all the fans going 24/7 just to keep a breeze flowing in the house. The basement has been tolerable. There is a fan going down there too, along with my "artic blast" a wee little air-conditioner that you have to sit by, in order to keep cool. I do have a window air conditioner in the kitchen. BUT, it only works for a short time and begins to spit. So I have to turn on the fan till it stops spitting, then I can turn it back up to #1 till it starts to spit again, then I turn it back down to the fan. The intervals are about 1/2 hour, it does get cool for a short time. I guess I really need to look into finding a new air conditioner. To tell you the truth....I prefer this kind of weather, struggling with the heat rather then struggle with the snow....the picture below is from this past snow storm in April....I guess I like my gardens.

Time to close here....you all have a great weekend, don't we all love Saturday and Sunday....yay!! Have a good one, keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Roasted Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Hi there everyone....hope you had a good day.....Wednesday's are always wonderful.....because it is "Hump Day" and there is only 2 days to go till the week-end. You know how we ALL LOVE THE WEEKENDS!!!

So Monday I bought a big head of Cauliflower for $1.48. I was thinking of slicing it to make "Roasted Cauliflower Steaks," then I thought of a soup of some kind....tossed it back and forth in my mind for a few days. Finally, while walking Kylie I thought, just to roast the cauliflower along with some onions and carrots in a 375 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes. Poured olive oil, salt and pepper on the vegies and mixed together to cover thoroughly.

The recipe I am using is "Cheesy Broccoli Soup," and will just change it up a bit....I tend to do that with a lot of my recipes before even trying the original recipe. We'll see how this goes....so far, so good. It's smelling pretty good and that's just roasting vegetables in the oven. JP always acts as my taste tester.....well, he has not died yet.

Here the vegies are all roasted and they totally tasted delicious. I had a little bowl with some "Yum Yum Sauce" on it.....maybe I should have made 2 roasted cauliflowers?????? In the next picture is the vegies in the hot water and cooking up some more. I added 3/4 cup of instant potatoes to make it thicker.  

I took an immersable blender and blended the soup, as you see in this last picture. Here is where I added the chicken bouillon, cheese and chopped bacon.

Here is the recipe:

8 cups water

1-2 Tablespoon chicken bouillon

1 roasted onion

1 roasted cauliflower

Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

1/2 bag of sliced roasted baby carrots

3/4 - 1 cup instant potatoes

1/2 package shredded Colby cheese

3 - 4 strips of cooked bacon, chopped

I shall have to give this "Cheesy Cauliflower Soup" 5 stars, I really liked it. The true test will be when JP has a bowl. I will let you know.

So there you have it, dinner for tonight, soup along with some fruit and maybe pulled pork on toast. Friday I will be making corned beef and cabbage....looking forward to that dinner. No....I am not Irish, but I do enjoy the corned beef and sandwiches on rye bread.

Time to go downstairs and work on some cards. I am still making those cards that I showed you the other day. It is fun and I will show you a few samples in the next few days. Sunday I am going to a Stampin'up camp and there will be more cards to show you.

Well, time to close here......keep looking up.....better days are here and the weekend is coming!!!! Cheers ~ Louise

Before and After Steak and St. Patrick Cards

Hi there everyone....this will be a short one....just wanted to show you the "before" and "after" pictures of that wonderful and de-lish-ous heart shaped rib-eye steak.

So here is a picture of the steak in it's "before" state, fresh out of the package from the butcher....I salted and peppered it and poured some steak sauce on top, letting it sit in the frig for a few hours.

A picture of the steak "After" it was pan fried in coconut oil with some onions and mushrooms.....oh my was this ever a good piece of meat....not sure if it was the coconut oil that did the trick, but it sure did smell good.

Here you see the whole meal....salad, mashed potatoes, garlic bread and left-over cod fish from the night before. There was steak left over for Sunday's meal of Steak and eggs and English muffins. Oh Yum!!!!

I will be doing another Card Give Away....this time a St. Patrick's Day Card. Starting today....all you need do is leave a comment, even if it is just to say "Hi". I will put your name on the list and every time you comment, is a chance to win one of my cards. On March 10th I will pick 4 names and then send those 4 a card.

I so totally enjoyed the Valentine give away....I wanted to do another one. Well, time to close for the night...have a good evening and keep looking up....warm days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Made a Few Things Last Night ~ 4 Sanity's Sake

Hi there everyone, hope you are all doing good this lovely last Wednesday of October. Where did this month go??? I know, I am always asking that question. The older I get, it seems the days zip by so quickly, I wish I could get a handle on this retirement part of life. After working for over 40 years, I guess I feel I must be doing "something", cause if I am doing nothing I must be lazy and sitting on my thumbs. Oh well, so yesterday about 3pm I gathered myself together and started making things.

I made a pot of "winterland" Roobius tea (sipping on it right now). I usually send JP to work with a large cup of hot tea. So he received this tea yesterday and today. Do you notice the Popsicle stick trivet?? I made that years and years ago. I am almost thinking it is over 55 to 60 years old and that I made it when I was in either Brownies or Girl Scouts.....My mother kept it for a long time, then I inherited when she died. I have kept it in the china cabinet for these last 13 years. Cleaning the drawer out, I thought is was time to start using it. What am I saving it for????

In this picture is my cranberry water. I have been buying a bag of cranberries every time I go shopping. I rinse the berries, then put them in a microwave glass pot with one cup of water and some organic coconut sugar, cover and cook in the microwave for 5-6 minutes. Let them cool a bit then mushed them with my pastry masher and Wah-Lah! Cranberries!!!! Then I take a couple of large tablespoons of cranberries, a packet of stevia and pour filtered water in the bottle, mix together and I have some wonderful cranberry juice. Sometimes I even add this juice to my smoothies in the mornings IF there is any left, as the husband likes this also.

So I am still working on those two large cabbages  I received about 2 weeks ago. This last cabbage, I cut up and made this awesome cabbage dish. My stepfather used to make this all the time and now I do. Fried some onions in bacon grease till the onions are translucent. I added some garlic to the pot too.



In this picture I have added the cabbage that I had soaking in a little salt water so it was already soft and easy to work with. Cooked it down a bit and added some caraway seed and pepper. (no need for salt as the cabbage is already salted) Then I added some of my tomatoes from the garden (yes, I still have a lot of tomatoes from my garden which are slowly turning red for me.) I should have taken a picture of all my tomatoes. It was a very good year for them....so I was pleased.

In this picture is the almost finished cabbage dish. Added some fresh and frozen tomatoes and red peppers from the freezer, and some already cooked bacon from the freezer, mix it all up and you have this wonderful cabbage dish. MMMM I think I shall have a bowl of this tonight.


So while I was doing the cabbage I decided to cook up my small spaghetti squash in the microwave. 10 minutes was all it took and I was able to cut the squash up like in the picture below. Why did I cut it like that? I read someplace that cutting it length wise causes the strings of spaghetti to be short. If you cut it like I did in the picture below the strings of spaghetti will be longer. Honestly, I did not notice a difference. After I seeded them and stuck them in the oven to roast, I then was able to scoop out the squash..........now what to do?????

Well, I did not take any pictures, but I made some tomato sauce with my Roma tomatoes, nope, no pictures. I par boiled them, then dunked them in cold water, peeled them and squeezed  the seeds out. Mushed them up, added spices, water, garlic, onion and then added the spaghetti squash. I turned it into Italian sauce.

Today's lunch for JP was the Italian tomato sauce over macaroni and hamburger patties along with some fruit and salad. He eats well, as you can see.

Well, time to go walk Kylie before it gets too dark. It is 5:39 pm. Daylight Savings starts this next Sunday (Nov 2nd). So this time next week it will be DARK OUT!!!! Gosh, I wish there was no Daylight Savings....I like the light!!!!!

Have a great evening and keep looking up. Tonight I will be working on making some cards. My next post will be a few cards I have been making....yep.....I like to make things I guess. This keeps my Sanity!!!!! LOL!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Chinese Dumplings or Potstickers

Hi there everyone. Aren't  you just loving this wonderful Fall....Indian Summer is always so beautiful. I still have tomatoes on the vines, so I am hoping these next few days they will ripen. Heirlooms seem to take longer for some reason. Picked a few tomatoes tonight, maybe I will put them in a bag and see if they turn red faster.

Well, today I made some Chinese Dumplings. Tina from www.kittykatkards.blogspot.com  gave me the recipe as she is pretty good at making them, they sounded so good, I thought I might like to try my hand at it. You can find the recipe here (sorry about the sideways picture, I wanted to get everything in one picture but forgot to turn it the right way before downloading onto this blog). When you go to the recipe, go to the second section, that will be the recipe that I followed.

In the top picture is the dough, mixed and cut in pieces....2 cups of flour and 1 cup hot water, mixed together and knead then roll into 3" circles. You can see in the top part of the picture I have the filling all mixed together. Ground pork, bok choy, onion, cornstarch, sesame oil, pepper and salt and yes, 1 tablespoon of wine.

In this picture I am rolling out the dough and spooning the filling on the dough and pinching it together on the ends.

Here is a plate of dumplings all ready made....I might have gotten about 35-40 dumplings made. JP ate about 12 of them for lunch....there's no telling how many I ate...gosh they were soooooo goooood!!!

Here they are frying up in the pan, then I added a cup of hot water and let them boil till the water evaporated. The sauce was just low sodium soy sauce and sesame oil....mmmm tasted so good.

This might be the end of the first batch and the beginning of the second batch, as you can see I have some ready to fry up.



Here is JP enjoying his little lunch....he even commented on how the filling even smelled good....he likes when I try something new....this might make it on the dinner table a couple more times. Guess I will have to find out how many calories each dumpling has. Ummmm, do I really want to know???

 

 

Well you have a great week and enjoy the beautiful weather we are having. Cheers ~ Louise

Fall Flowers and Vegies

Hi there everyone. Beautiful day today....isn't it? Well, at least it is beautiful here in sunny Appleton, Wisconsin!!! But that probably will change in a few days. Rain is in the forecast. But for today,  I will take this...the temps today are in the 70's. To me, this has been a most beautiful summer, not too hot and not too cold..........just right. 

Took some pictures yesterday while walking Kylie. My vine is growing beautifully. I forgot it's name...will have to look at some old blogs to find the name, it's a very simple name....sheeze, it's name escapes me right now.

The last couple of years this vine took up the whole side of the porch. I think the cold winter affected it a bit. I think it grew just perfectly this season. Pretty little white flowers, aren't they?? I have some purple Clementius growing along side this vine. They bloom in the spring, these white ones in September. To the left of the vine is my little tomato plant, producing little cherry tomatoes.

A closer look at the pretty little flowers......they do attract a lot of bees though...so I am very careful when around them.

In these next two pictures are some tomatoes. I got the seeds from a store on Etsy. They are an heirloom variety....I think they are called "black cheery" there is a lot of them growing, not sure if they will turn red, but right now they are half black and half green. (Oh my, can  you see the reflection of me taking the picture in the tomato...how funny)

In this picture are some more tomatoes...I had a thought yesterday to grill them along with our prime rib, onions, peppers and some red tomatoes........oh my what a great meal. These grilled black and green tomatoes....yep, I would do it again!!!!

In this last picture are my cucumbers....I had a good crop this year....lots of salads, dill pickles, sweet pickles and gherkins. All from this plant and my old wheel barrel with cucumbers growing. Yes...a good year for cucumbers from my garden. Must have been the right weather conditions all summer long.

Well, time to close here for a bit. Follow me on my other blog at: cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com  I am talking about beets there, another pot of borscht is going to be made in the next few days. Or maybe Lasagna soup...we'll see.

You all have a great rest of the day and keep looking up!!
Cheers ~ Louise

A New Month and a Garden Harvest

Hi everyone, how are you all doing this first day of the month??? Wonder how fast this month will go by??? Hard to believe the summer is almost over except for a few more warm days ahead of us and then WINTER is just around the corner.....YIKES!!!!

Well, I thought I would post some vegies from my garden.  I made a tomato garden this year....so in the above picture you see some of my tomatoes. My but they were yummy this year.  BLT's  were absolutely divine!! My cucumbers are doing good this year as I planted the young plants in an old wheel barrel. I have tried planting in other areas but they just did not seem to grow.....the wheel barrel must have had perfect growing conditions this year.

I have onions growing all over the place....but none of the onions seem to get really big....more like small marbles...oh well, guess I will just buy them at the store. The rhubarb did not do good this year, no harvest. Had strawberries growing in the front of the house.....they did well, lots of sun and rain for those berries. Not a good year for beans....planted in two different places....they did not take off...oh well. My oregano and garlic are doing well. Peppers are growing along with the tomatoes. Oh and how did I forget....I planted potatoes in a container....they are still sprouting, so have not received a harvest as yet...that's if the squirrel does not get to them before I do......DARN that squirrel!!!!

We've been given lots of vegies though...tomatoes, peppers, jalapeno peppers, egg plant, cucumbers, cabbage have been bountiful, with more to come, I hope.

In this picture is my green apples..........I am so happy that these babies made it. As of this writing I have 11 containers of cooked up apples in the freezer. Each container will make one apple pie. Oh yum!!

Our Labor Day will consist of JP going out to the tree and getting some more apples off the tree. He is taller then I...so hopefully he'll get higher then I could. I think they are ready now, cause the apples that I cut open today....the seeds were black or almost turning. So I will cut some more apples up tomorrow, cook them and freeze some and make a pie for Labor day. We have company coming from Chicago....so guess what....they are getting some apple pie. Why buy dessert when I can make a pretty good pie here with some whipped cream...........oh my, I can hardly wait!!!!

Well, time to close, it is getting late and I need to get some sleep. Going to be a quiet day around here, we'll get some things done around the house before company comes next weekend. Have a great Labor Day and don't' labor too much......lol!!! Keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Etsy Tap Dance Tonight.....

Sold a card, sold a card, sold a card!!!! Doin' the Etsy Tap Dance today!!!! Been such a dry spell lately, wondered when the next sale would come. Well today, I renewed a Father's Day card from last year around 11am and by 1:30pm that card sold......YAY!!!!

Spent the evening making more deers for some more Father's day cards. Gosh, if I could find that card in my files, I would download it onto this blog, but it may take awhile. Sooooooo I think I will just make a new card and take a picture and load it up onto this blog at a later date.

Started some seeds today, cucumbers, summer squash, basil, parsley, two kinds of heirloom tomatoes and peppermint zenias. Tomorrow I shall plant some swiss chard and pole beans, have some purple onion bulbs to plant also. This year I am going to put most of my vegie plants in the front of the house as we had so much rain last year that alot of my vegies got drowned out.

Watching American Idol..........I know, I know that's a waste of time, but I just love listening to Scotty sing, he has such a wonderful voice, can hardly wait till he makes a CD.....I shall buy it for sure!!!! So I am hoping he wins!!!!!

Well, I think that is all for today, you all have a great day.........cheers ~ Louise

The City Plants a Tree and I planted basil and onions

Well, we got a gift today. The City of Appleton Parks and Recreation Department planted a little Linden Tree in our front yard. So sweet...only thing we have to do is water it every couple of days. They mulch, prune, stake, fertilize and replace if it doesn't take. OUR cost........water the baby, 2-3 gallons of water every other day.....pray for rain. See that blue line on the sidewalk, far left......that is our water line....oh my, wonder how big the roots will get? I looked up to see what a Linden tree is......from the basswood family, will get to be 50'-60' tall and 40' wide. Will have little flowers in the spring and heart shaped leaves.............good for lots of raking. Oh, and it is fast growing too. Cheers, have a great day.

Well, I did some planting of my own today, basil and onions........that is a start. Will take a picture when the seedlings begin to grow. I have them in the old barbeque and covered with chicken wire to keep the squrrel out of it. He is a pest sometimes. JP bought me 4 tomato plants Mother's Day. Two Romas and 2 cherry tomato plants. So begins the planting, hopefully the weather will cooperate, been kind of cold lately and we have taken in the plants. Here you see my Geranium plant that JP got me for Secretary's Day....that was a pleasent surprise. I have decided to do Geranium plants for the front and back of the house.........they are hardy and bloom all summer long. I saw some Martha Washington geraniums, dark maroon. I shall have to pick one of those up Wednesday on my way home from Kaukuana. Never saw such a pretty plant before. Well, little by little I shall get things done..............so much to do, so little time. I shall close for now, it is almost 3:00am.........really time for bed.

Louise