Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Dangerous Games...

When I was a kid there were toys on the playground that you could seriously hurt yourself on.  Swings so tall that you could launch yourself far enough to break an arm when you hit the ground.  See-saws where the board was so long that when you were up in the air your feet were dangling 4 feet above the ground.  And you could easily fit two or three kids on each side.  Someone always fell off.  Or worse... they rolled off when I was up in the air which made me drop like a rock!  Owww!  Maybe I was just little and everything seemed huge.  Well... I'm riding that see-saw right now and I feel the need to get off.  :)  My friend Dee asked me on facebook a couple of days ago where my blog was.  I told her I was too fat to write a post.  Still true!  But oh well.  January is right around the corner and with it the promise of better dietary behavior.  (insert big sigh here)  This morning the fatometer read 154.5 and glucose 113.  It's time for another visit to the doc for blood tests.  I've been stalling because I'm sure the results won't be quite as positive as the last round.  They won't be horrible but - meh!

I have made and consumed a few tasty salads lately.  That's a good start.  It's not as easy to eat fresh healthy veg and salads when you can't just go out to the garden and pick them.  Takes more planning.  The ideas are not coming to me as readily.  I'm more inclined to think about almond roca and cookies this time of year.  And pot roasts and potatoes.  I did have a tasty salad for lunch yesterday though...


This was an old stand by from summer... cukes, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil but winterized with a sprinkling of left over wild rice and red wheat berries.  With just a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Very tasty.  I should go back through some of my old pics to remind myself of what I should be eating.  :)

One more exciting piece of news from yesterday... my last Christmas present arrived.  A Boos Block cherry wood cutting board.  Dave is so sweet to get that for me!  I love it!



It may not look that exciting - but it is!  It's big and beautiful!  Dave did not understand why I just had to have one until I told him that all the chefs on the Food Network channel have one :)  Yeah - you guessed it...  enormous eye roll :)
Go check it out on Metro Kitchen:  http://www.metrokitchen.com/product/JB-CHY-R02
One of my new fav websites.  I've enjoyed free shipping all Christmas season.  Which is awesome since my knives were a little heavy and this board was seriously heavy!  It's actually darker than it appears in the pic.  And it will get darker over time.  I need to go get some mineral oil to treat/seal it.  Now you just watch.  You will now notice a Boos cutting board all the time when you watch your favorite cooking shows.  :)  And you'll remember you saw it here first.  You'll also remember that a cutting board does not make a chef... unfortunately.  If it did I would be awesome!  :)

Well gotta roll.  Gotta get to work.  It's snowing and blowing so hard it feels like a power outage kind of day.  At the very least it will be a snow shoe walk to the mailbox kind of day.  Umm... if I don't see you again before... HAPPY NEW YEAR!  :)  Since there will be New Year feasting I will write my next post when I am BACK DOWN to 154.5 :)  I'm horrible!  I promise to redeem myself next year!  Here's to a healthier 2011.  Hey, I'm still way better than spring 2010!

Ciao!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Out With The Old, In With The Moo - Continued

Fortunately I've been able to resist the Harry and David tower of treats under my tree and my stats reflect this.  This morning 152.6 and glucose 98.  Yay!  It would be awesome if this were the last time I lose those pounds :)

I've been rummaging around in my freezer in order to make room for Panda as we discussed last post.  I found some cube steaks I had purchased over Thanksgiving to make Salisbury steak for Michele - but we never got around to eating that.  Too much other stuff to eat!  I marinated it over night with grilling rub and Worcestershire sauce and seared it in my grill pan then sliced it up and made a steak salad out of it.
That's not a good pic... I really have to check the settings on my camera.  But you get the idea.  Romain hearts, shredded carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, crumbled goat cheese and marinated cube steak -topped with pine nuts.  It's been awhile since I was inspired to make a salad.  Of course I have made some - I just have not been very excited about them.  Too darn cold over here in snow country!  I enjoyed this one.  The salad was simple and tasty.  The steak was nice and warm and had a nice kick from the seasonings.  I just drizzled it with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  It made a nice light dinner.  Dave enjoyed it too.  With the other half of the steak or rather.... barely hanging together ground beef :) I purged my fridge and made soup.  That will be for dinner tonight.  It's sort of a minestrone type soup.  It also used up some beef stock from the freezer.  Oh... I just remembered... I'll go down and drag some shredded zucchini out of the freezer and add it.  And maybe I'll throw in a little bit of frozen left over stuffing too.  :)  (DONE) I love to save left over stuffing.  It adds lots of flavor and texture to just about any soup.  This particular batch of soup is getting pretty busy though.

Ok... dinner is over and I have to admit I was a little unsure what the soup would turn out like.  It was actually good.  Whew!  Well.... Even if it wasn't it was just stuff I would eventually have had to throw away.  Nice save though!  I made some sourdough cheesy bread to go with it.  I only had half of the piece that is shown here...
Enough about soup!

I also excavated some nice shrimp and clams that Dave's friend Scotty brought us when he came to visit in November.  They will be great in my Christmas Eve Seafood Chowder.  I still need some cod or flounder though.  Too bad there's none of that in there.  There are some tuna steaks but - I just can't get my head around tuna in seafood chowder.  Nope!  Not gonna happen!  There were also round sourdough loaves in the freezer.  I think I'll hollow them out and serve the chowder in them.  Well... for Dave and Amberlyn anyway.  I can't be trusted with a sourdough bread bowl :)  There were also some nice chicken breasts from Costco and I pulled out some tomato puree that I had frozen from the very last of my tomatoes.  They will make some fabulous tomato soup.  I'll serve them with sourdough grilled cheese sandwich strips.  I think I'll plan to indulge in those.  Ummm!  There are still two fat rib steaks courtesy of Scotty.  I have not taken them out yet.  I was planning on grilling those tomorrow tonight but Amberlyn who WAS coming over tomorrow is delaying her trip to spend time with her very handsome boyfriend.  While I would rather hang out with him than me too... well... I guess no rib steaks.  Too bad because those freezers are not nearly empty.  I'm trying to get the really good stuff out before Dave starts tossing everything out to the cows, dogs and chickens.  Hey - the turkeys are back... I bet they will help eat some spare bread from the freezer that I might have to toss.  I'm not sure I want to encourage them though.  They almost hang out on the porch as it is these days.  And those darn dogs just cozy up to them.  They truly are good for absolutely nothing.  But so sweet!  They are my pals.

Ok... I apologize!  I'm done now :)

Ciao!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Gift That Keeps On Giving!

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Costco featuring what appeared to be some very nice pears on a pretty tray.  I thought my mom might like the tray - and the pears, and my dad might like to complain that I got him pears for Christmas :)  so I ordered them and had them shipped to my parents house in Dover, TN.  I just love ordering things online!  I included a little note.  They arrived quickly.  Only problem was that the card was from someone else and made no sense at all.  The only way they knew that were from me was that the packing slip said purchased by Kathy Olsen.  My mom called and I had a good laugh about the note mess up.  I really didn't care as long as the gift arrived.  Several days later a box of truffles - also Harry and David showed up at their house as an appology gift.  I though that was pretty cool!  A two-fer!  That was great!  They can mess up my order anytime!  What my parents don't know is that when I arrived home from Woodinville under my tree was a Harry and David tower of treats.  :) I assume it's my apology gift for screwing up my order.  I didn't find a card yet but there must be one in my pile of confusinon and disorder that typically follows me whereever I go.  :)  It's beautiful!  I've always admired them in catalogs but never had the pleasure of being the recipient.  Of course now that I have declared an end to the holiday binging I will let other people eat the contents but I will enjoy the pretty boxes. 

Here's another really cool present...  Our daughter Amberlyn gave this to everyone in our family last Saturday night at our little family gathering.  I thought it was a wonderful and very thoughtful idea.  She made it.  It's adorable... little jars of hot cocoa mix.  They look so pretty and the card says...

 "The greatest gift is family and knowing that you're there.  We can all be connected by sharing this cup of hot cocoa on Chrismas Day".  Isn't that cool?  Thanks Amberlyn!  What a sweet gift!










I'll end by reporting that one pound slithered away and my glucose level is inching back down.  154.2 and glucose 116.  Wonder how many times I have lost that pound?  :)

Actually I'll end by showing you this not so great photo...  The real thing is oh so much prettier...

as I've been sitting here typing away the sun has been busy rising.  I happened to glance up and see a beautiful pink reflection in the window on the barn and realized that we have a georgous sunrise this morning.  It snowed about three inches yesterday so evertything is fresh and white.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  :)

Ciao!

Monday, December 20, 2010

The Unsuccessful Holiday Dieter!

Hi Yall!  I'm so lame!  :)  Well... I'm just back from a wonderful week in Woodinville/Bothell spent at work and with family and friends.  It was fantastic and fattening!  Now I have to report my poor behavior.  It all started with the Roca I made to give away for Christmas.  I ate so much of it that it made me ill.  Not nearly as ill as my mother though one year.  (Let's see if I can switch the focus from me for just a minute...)  I have made this recipe for years!  One of my nice little clients gave me her secret recipe back in the 80s.  I worked at John Patrick's hair salon at the time and she was always one of my favorites.  Her name is Janette.  This is a tribute to your Roca recipe Jeanette :)  Where ever you are.  I made it every year around Christmas time.  This particular year I may have made it for my dad's birthday.  In any case it was a gift for him and it was packed in a quart Mason jar.  My mom happens to love Roca too. She tried many times throughout the day to get him to crack open the jar but he just wouldn't.  Finally he went to bed and she was unable to resist any longer so she opened the jar and ate just one piece.  Of course that was one piece at a time until there was only one piece left in the jar.  She went to bed and was tortured by the thought of the one lonely piece left in the jar until she got up and ate it too.  You can just imagine the confrontation in the morning when Dad finally decided he wanted a piece of his Roca.  :)  Somehow it was all his fault since he wouldn't eat a piece yesterday when she offered it to him.  Amazingly I completely understand that logic.  She was rewarded by being so sick she felt steam coming out of her ears.  I also know that feeling.  Oh woe is me!   The picture above is the Roca packed up and ready to get out of my house!  Good riddance!

I did make one good choice last week.  On Friday evening I wanted to order a French Dip sandwich but instead I ordered chicken lettuce wraps.  Brenda's French Dip looked oh so much tastier.  :)  Other than that it was pretty much a free for all.  There were so many yummy things to eat!  And I did.  Bummer!  :)  I'll go ahead and just admit that I gained a few pounds back.  Again!  This morning the fatomer read 155.2 and glucose 121.  I thought it would be worse.  I forgot my glucose monitor last week.  How convenient!  Now I must be good and shrink again - or I'll look like all the rest of the middle age ladies in January on the cruise ship in my swim suit pretending to be thinner - and not convincing anyone!  :)  My friend Donna gave me a great tip.  Always take the stairs!

We did enjoy being with our west side family on Saturday evening.  Dave's brother and sisters and many of their kids were there.  We were only missing Aaron, Sue's son who is in the AF stationed in North Carolina.  All of our kids were there too except for my Katie and her little family, also in the AF stationed in southern CA.  We miss our little soldiers!  I did get to enjoy watching my oldest granddaughter Aubrey opening presents.  She had more presents that anyone.  :)

Now that I am back home I have to begin working on cleaning out our freezers.  A project I call... out with the old, in with the moo.  :)  We are welcoming our cow Panda back.  She will have a fabulous new look.  I'm horrible!  I really do hate the butchering aspect of the cows!  Anyway.... I am a bit of a food pack rat.  When I cut up veggies I save the end pieces and add them to a plastic freezer bag.  Same with beef bones or shrimp shells - anything that would make good soup stock.  Today I excavated those out of the freezer and made some "Souper Stock".  Unfortunately it is now taking up more room in the freezer than the bits and pieces that came out - but oh what wonderful soup I will have.  I always make seafood chowder for Christmas Eve. The shrimp shells and veggie stock will be perfect for that.  Here's what it looks like boiling away...
You can see the red and yellow onion ends and bits of carrot and shrimp shells.  Not pretty but if you happen to stop by on Christmas Eve you would be sold on scavenging your bits and pieces.  Good quality stock is expensive!  This made 5 quarts.  I also excavated some chili from the freezer and heated it up for dinner.  Very tasty!   Unfortunately I barely made a dent.  I haven't even thought about the freezer in the barn yet.  Well... I guess I'm off to scope that out next.  Who's hungry?  We may need some help!  Now that I think of it... I believe Adam may be coming over for Christmas.  Problem solved.  He'll eat anything!  :)  And lots of it!

I'll really have to work really hard to correct my lame behavior now or I will have to rename my blog as my dad commented and call it - The Unsuccessful Dieter.  I'm not giving in though!  Pa has irritated me just enough to make me want to fly right!  :)  He's very good at that!  Thanks Pa!

Ciao!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Oh The Brutality!

It is SO much easier (and more pleasurable) to put the pounds on than take them off!  Hmm... same with getting pregnant :)  Both of those processes end with screaming and wanting to kill people.  I have small progress to report.  Glucose 101 and fatometer 153.2.  Pretty lame.  I was down to 148!  And I still have Christmas to go through before my cruise in January.  Last Friday evening we had friends over and I decided to make some cookies.  I have not made cookies in - I don't even remember!  Back in the day when I made them for the kids I used to make ginormous cookies.  Probably as big as the kids faces!  And I used to eat them straight out of the oven.  That was when I weighed oh maybe 130.  It would be one cookie for me and one cookie for the plate.  Remembering that behavior I made them really small since I knew I would probably eat a few.  I might as well have made them the size of children's faces.  The result was the same!  I'm sure I looked like a lazy cat sprawled out on the couch with a sleepy smile on my face.  Actually I was relatively good on Friday night.  Most of them were eaten.  It was Sunday evening when they called to me from the freezer!  I'm a pathetic loser!  :)  I have not been all bad though.  It's just the occasional stunt like that that is making it pretty slow to get back to my pre Thanksgiving pants.

Winter is definitely harder to lose weight!  Salads are not very appealing right now.  It's so cold outside.  We still have piles and piles of snow.  After I come in from feeding the cows in the afternoon I'm not really in the mood to rush over and pull a bunch of cold veggies out of the fridge and make a salad.  I've been making more cooked veggies.  Broccoli with sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese and a sprinkling of pine nuts is very tasty.

I have been getting a bit of exercise though.  Just feeding the animals is much more difficult in the winter.  We have the mamas and calves separated from Red Bull and Ginger.  One group has the creek for water - although the creek has come pretty close to freezing over already this year.  If it does Dave will be down there with an ax :)  But the other group has to have water hauled from the house 6 gallons of water at a time then I have to climb up on the wooden fence and pour it over into their tank.  I have to do that twice a day.  Plus pitching hay over the fence is a bit of work.  Right now we have six cows so that's quite a bit of pitching.  I don't mind though really.  I do like visiting with the cows - and I do like rib steaks :)  There are also fences to check.  Just a couple of weeks ago (before the snow started) I bought some snow shoes.  They make it so much easier to walk the fence lines!   Dave and I do that together.  We enjoy our little walks.  And of course the dogs have to come along.   

Tank can sometimes be a little over excited.  Check out this tiny video...

We now have lots of turkey and deer hanging around eating the hay.  The dogs will chase the deer off if they are outside.  They have been in more than out lately because of Lucy's injury.  I need to let them out right now.  There are two deer eating from the hay bale RIGHT NOW!  They don't chase the turkeys though so I have to do that myself. Turkeys look a little too much like chickens and they know not to chase the chickens! 

Ok well (ha!  Sounds like Aunt Rita)... I better get rolling!  Gotta get out there and feed them animules!

Oh and by the way... I have a new grandchild scheduled to arrive early in July :)  Yay!  That means I need to collect a ruby.  :)

Ciao baby!




Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Turkey Anyone???

Have you ever noticed that Thanksgiving lasts longer than any other holiday?  Christmas is like a flash fire.  Yay! Presents!  Poof, wrappings up in smoke - done!  Thanksgiving just keeps lingering and lingering... I suppose this depends on how many leftovers there are.  This year with only six of us there are MANY leftovers.  Carol!  You need to come back over here.  You didn't eat enough!  Tonight it's turkey and wild rice soup.  I get to use up a couple of quarts of the turkey stock I made from the bones.  :)  After using those for the soup I will have 5 quarts left.   Well here - let me show you :)
This image could be right out of a book called Have Yourself A Merry Little Redneck Christmas.  :)  Don't you just love my freezer?  I was too lazy to go put them in the big freezer in the barn and my kitchen freezer is too full.  Dave discovered that fact this morning when I went to retrieve some turkey slices that I had frozen.  I opened it and he said, "Oh my God!  You filled the freezer up!"  The problem is that Panda is going to have her "sad day" next week and she will be going to live in the freezer.  So... I guess it will be a feeding frenzy between now and then - or I can just hope the air outside stays frozen because Dave will be tossing stuff OUT of the freezer.  What a tangent!  Ok...  back to my soup - in a round about way... I made the brown/wild rice yesterday to use up more of the big spiral ham I cooked when Michele and James were here.  I made fried rice with that last night.  So yum!!!  When I made my broccoli and cauliflower gratin for Thanksgiving I made way too much to put in the pan so I just stored some away uncooked and used that to go in the fried rice.  Last night it was the veggies (with bits of cheese and chopped up stuffing) and eggs and chopped ham and the rice.  A little garlic black bean paste and some teriyaki sauce made it extra special and kicked up that sodium and sugar content just right - flavor wise.  Wish I had some left for lunch!  But no!  Which means I ate too much!  Anyway... that used up the last of the stuffing and veg and tonight I will use up the wild rice for the soup.  See... told you I was getting around to getting back to the soup.  Note to self... you are crazy!

Another easy morning after dish was the ham/stuffing/veg/cheese quiche I made.  So easy to wisk the eggs and chop and throw everything else in.   Anyway - the point is... every time I make one ingredient needed to use up a Thanksgiving leftover it turns into another dish - another left over!  I won't have to go to the store for a month.  Which works out great since Dave has the truck for driving to work.  He barely made it up our hill last night in the little Honda due to the snow we got yesterday.  We must have about 14 or so inches piled up out there.  Beautiful!  If you don't have to drive in it.

Well!  I am completely exhausted!  I feel like my brain has just been on a scavenger hunt.  It ran all over the neighborhood and came back with a bunch of junk which makes up this blog post.  Bummer for y'all!  I'm out!

Oh... 115 glucose :(  154.2 fatometer.  :(

Ok... now I'm out!

Ciao!  :)

Monday, November 29, 2010

I'm Still Thankful!

Well, I made it through Pie Day, Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and a glorious weekend all filled with food.  Oh yes!  I'm feeling very fat indeed!  It could have been so much worse!  Bad enough though!  Let's just get the stats out of the way.  Today glucose 104 - not too bad, and fatometer has inched back up to 155.7.  Bummer!  My pants are feeling pretty snug!  I won't look great (even for my age) in my swim suit in January if I continue on this course so hang on!  I'm gonna slam on the brakes and spin the car around!  But first here's a recap of my Thanksgiving holiday.   First - it was really quiet this year.  Most of our kids were unable to come over.  Michele was brave enough to drive across the pass in the middle of a snow storm and made it here on Tuesday.  Wednesday before Thanksgiving is of course Pie Day and here she is mixing up and rolling out pie dough.  Pie day is very special for me.  I used to help my mom bake the pies so I always think of her on Pie Day.

  

And someone could not wait for Thanksgiving day to arrive...


Oh well!  Since there were only a few of us there were certainly enough pies to go around.

I worked all day Wednesday cooking as much of the Thanksgiving meal as I could so that Thursday would be less frantic.  We had of course been thawing out the turkey all week.  I was getting a little concerned though about what I was going to cook the bird in because, well...  here comes a little mini story...  The week before Thanksgiving I was in Woodinville and one evening my sister in law Andrea told me about a great roasting pan her mom had just purchased from Sur La Table.  Now that got me all kinds of excited because I had been salivating over a beautiful roasting pan and rack in their catalog for days prior to my trip over.  I knew it was on sale but I still was having trouble justifying spending quite so many dollars on one pan - even though I do believe that you usually get what you pay for.  I decided that I was going to splurge and just go for it.  No more foil roasting pans for me!  I had two options... I could go to the store and pick it up or order it online.  Since I had driven the truck I was having trouble imagining myself parking that beast in downtown Kirkland.  I can't even line it up straight in an empty parking lot.  I decided to order online.  Rather than pay $30.00 for shipping I opted for the ground method which was free, but according to the shipping department would not arrive until shortly after Thanksgiving.  I then remembered my sweet little mother who pesters God with all kinds of tiny things so I figured I would do just that... I asked God to deliver my roasting pan so I could use it for my turkey on Thursday.  I did however let him know that if he had way more important matters to attend to I would be ok with that - but I was totally willing to receive my roasting pan early if he could squeeze that little miracle in.  :)  I woke up each day wondering if my pan would arrive.  Each day it did not.  On Wednesday I listened all day for the dogs to bark announcing the approaching UPS truck but no barking.  About 5pm I decided I better  send Michele to the store to buy one of those stupid foil roasting pans.  What?  Dogs barking?  Could it really be...  
Oh yes!  My beautiful new roasting pan!  Well you can just imagine how excited I was about that!  I think I stared at it for the rest of the evening and couldn't wait for the morning to come so I could plop that birdy in there.

Thursday morning I rolled out of bed bright and early and started off with a long soak in the tub to set the tone for the day.  Of course there were moments of mild panic but dinner came togeather in the end.  The bird I must say was a huge surprise.  It was the prettiest, crispiest bird I've ever roasted - well here he is...
He was so pretty I couldn't even pick at the skin.  My brother Gene and I used to steal all the skin before my mom could get the turkey on the table.  If he had been here I would have chased him away with a meat fork!  :)  Which is what my mom should have done once or twice.  It may have cured the evil behavior.  :)  Anyway...Dave did the honors of carving him up.   Slice after slice fell to the platter glistening with moisture and I decided it was ok to go ahead and admit that he had been hanging out in the freezer since last year.  :)  Could a pan make that much difference?  What else could it be?  Crispy AND moist?  A tiny miracle for sure!

Our neighbors, Carol and her adorable mom that everyone calls Granny came over and had dinner with us.  Carol made some wickedly good almond tea cookies.  They were the kind that you might as well just eat in one sitting cause... well, that's what's going to happen anyway.  And we did.  :)  One of my favorite things at dinner was the home made huckleberry sparkling wine that Granny brought.  One of their friends made it out of local huckleberries,.  It was not meant to be sparkling but somehow it turned out that way.  It was mildly sweet and tasted really good by itself and mixed with a punch I had made - as a spritzer.  The bottle it was in reminded me of an old moonshine jug.  I have it soaking now to remove the sediment.  I am hoping that Carol will forget about it.  I'm sure I can find a use for it :)

One of the very best things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers.  There is of course always turkey soup.  My version of turkey soup is a variation of something Dave's grandpa used to make when he was a little boy.  Nifla.  It's a peasant soup.  Meant to use up what ever left overs are around the house and includes dumplings.  Not the fluffy biscuity kind.  It was very tasty!  The old turkey bones made that great big pot of soup and 8 more quarts of turkey stock that are now in the freezer.  Alright... I've been too lazy to actually put them in the freezer.  They are sitting out on the grill outside but they are frozen!  I also made Thanksgiving Shepherds Pie made with turkey, stuffing, turkey gravey, green beans and mashed potatoes.  It was divine :)

The thing that really sets this Thanksgiving apart is that it has snowed and snowed!  We have about a foot of snow in the yard and pastures right now and another 6 inches is expected over the next couple of days.  It is not melting off since the temperature has remained well below freezing.  It seems pretty early to be snowed in but - it sure is pretty!

Well it's time to say goodbye to Thanksgiving for another year.  I have my Christmas tree up and Christmas carols playing.  It feels like a hot mug of cocoa is in order.  Perhaps I can find a nice non-gross sugar free mix. :)  Riiiiight!  If only I can get through the Christmas holiday with no more weight gain I'll be happy!  Perhaps I'll get out my sewing box and find some pretty red and green embroidery floss and stitch my lips together.  :)

Ciao!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Eating in a Winter Wonderland

The cheer of the holidays arrived for me this morning when I woke up and found the ground covered with snow.  Yay!  I can see deer running across the fields and through the woods.  It's so much easier to spot them.  What an awesome weekend.  Well... except for poor Lucy (one of our yellow labs).  She appeared with the nastiest gash on her side and we never could figure out what happened...  had to take her to the vet yesterday.  Other than that it was lazy and wonderful!  My glucose level is 103 this morning and the fatometer reads 152.4 which is down a couple of pounds after the binge of the year.

This week is Thanksgiving!  My pantry is full of wonderful things I should not eat :)  Potatoes, fixings for pies is what comes to mind right away.  I am prepared to cook a feast for 15 or 20 people as usual but only Michele is coming over this year.  It will be a very quiet Thanksgiving.  How strange!  The boys can't get time off work to make the trip over and Amberlyn has traded us in in favor of Thanksgiving diner with her new boyfriends family.  We can't believe we are being abandoned like that!  :)  Katie will be fixing Thanksgiving for her own little family in California.  We will have left overs for a month!  Carol!  You better come over and bring Granny for dinner!  I am going to make a special treat for me.  Grandma Olsen used to make it because she always had left over pie filling.  Crustless pumpkin pie.  I'll experiment with sugar free sweeteners on this one and leave the normal pies fully loaded.  I'll also make a baked sweet potato for myself rather than eating piles of mashed potatoes.  I hope :)  My daughter Michele is coming tomorrow and we will mix up the pie crust and stash it in the fridge.  Wednesday is pie day :)  I used to help my mom make pies for Thanksgiving so I always think of her on pie day.  I always think of my brother Gene as I pull the turkey out of the oven.  We used to pick the crispy skin off of the turkey as it was resting (much to my mothers dismay) and munch it down.  In my family we have a tradition of holding hands and singing a silly little song... "here we are together".  It's quite a process.  It involves calling out the name of each one present and that could be on some years up to 25 people.  It always gets a little confusing but that's ok - it's pretty fun :)  I spoke with my mother a couple of days ago who told me that she got a letter from my nephew Andy who won't be home for Thanksgiving because he is in Marine boot camp.  He thanked her for hosting the most wonderful Thanksgiving dinners and wanted her to know how special they were even though he knew it was SO much work for her.  Even with all the help from other family members it is quite a feat to pull off.  He said that he would be thinking of all the family on Thanksgiving day and asked if she would call out his name when they sang the song so at least he could be there in spirit.  Well drat him!  Now he's made me cry twice!  I told her to call out mine too :)  Everyone remember our military families in prayer this Thanksgiving.  They are the protectors of this great country that we are so thankful to call home.

So... Happy Thanksgiving!  Ciao!


This is just to get you in the mood.  :)

Monday, November 15, 2010

I Am Determined to be Grateful :)

It's Monday!  That's what I'm determined to be grateful about.  I prefer Fridays and Saturdays so much more!  But I am super grateful that I woke up this morning.  :)  The struggle continues!  This morning 153.5 and glucose 123.  Not great.  Must have been that half a baked potato and the glass of egg nog!  Carol... you are responsible for the egg nog idea!  :)  On the other hand... last week one of Dave's buddies from the railroad came to stay with us along with two of his children.  Scotty was on phase two of his combo work/vacation.  Not only does he work for BNSF like Dave but he owns and operates a catering business.  He had been hired by BNSF to provide a feast at one of the North ID yards as they met a safety goal.  The feast - they call them "feeds" :) was a great success and having completed that task he planned to spend the next few days hunting with his kids.  We were astounded to be the happy recipients of more food than we can possibly eat in a month!  Just as I am packing to go to Woodinville for the week.  Let's see... I believe there are now 8 whole crabs in my freezer along with a bunch of boned, skinless and marinated chicken.  We pulled some out and I cooked it for lunch yesterday.  It was decidedly Asian.  Just a touch of pepper with onion, garlic and fresh ginger.  I'm not sure what else was in there - but so tasty.  There are about four more bags of that in the freezer.  Clam chowder!  Gallons!  Shrimp, razor clams... a big roll of elk pastrami.  What am I forgetting?  Oh and he had just been to Cash and Carry and purchased a huge prime rib.  He hacked us off 4 enormous steaks.  I say hacked because when I gave him my 30 year old Wustof chefs knife that has not been properly sharpened - ever, he decided he could do a better job with his hunting knife.  :)  Note to self.... next time a chef comes to visit have sharp knives!  Anyway!  We were blown away by his generosity!  Most of these awesome gifts are in the freezer - which is a bit of a problem since next month poor Panda gets to have her "sad day".  :(  That was a really long story working up to what I wanted to say about Scotty.  He is also a type two diabetic and is taking two medications along with insulin injections.  He's pretty proud of having a glucose level of 108 in the morning after all that.  He knows exactly what he needs to eat and also cheats like crazy and then takes an extra insulin shot to make up for it.  That my friends is exactly what I want to avoid!  I'd really like to keep my feet thanks!  I think I'll tape a picture of Scotty to my fridge.  I recall that my grandmother, Mama Quinn used to lock her trailer door and make a pan of cornbread and eat the whole pan while Aunt Rita banged on the outside of the door begging to be let in so she could remove the cornbread!  Come to think of it... I made cornbread to go with my chili last week.  I did not eat the whole pan but I did over the course of two days have probably 4 pieces.  Scotty said it was the best cornbread he's had in a long time.  :)  Is there any hope at all?   

Well, like I said, I'm packing up to spend a good portion of the week in Woodinville.  I need to behave diet wise since I have not done that so much lately.  I sure wish I had not baked those potatoes yesterday since I have rib steaks to grill tonight!!!  There really is noting like a crispy olive oil salt and pepper skinned baked potato to go alongside a mammoth rib steak!  What to do?  Now that's a problem I'm very grateful to have :)

Ciao!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

A One Liner...

153.6 glucose 117.  Improvement!  Still a ways to go to be back to two weeks ago.  Oh - ha ha!  Just looking out the window and saw one of our little calfies chasing a chicken.  Pretty comical.  :)  Ok I lied... not really a one liner.

Ciao!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Woe is Me!

Actually I guess I should have titled this one... Fat is Me.  I'm on a run away freight train... I'm pretty sure it's hauling lard!  :)  This is not funny!  Anyway I might as well just get this over with... fatometer:  155.6.  Gulp!  That's up about 7 pounds from "the good ole days" or about two weeks ago!  And glucose was 117 which is much lower than I expected!   I actually intended to eat well yesterday and I started out that way but unfortunately the noodles that were left over from the night before called my name and so I ate them with butter and parmesan cheese.  All of them!  Also, our neighbor called and  told us to come and get the apples from his tree since he was not going to use them.  Dave came back with a tractor bucket of them.  I selected six very nice apples and made a pie out of them.  How stupid was that!?!  And Michele who has paused here on her way back to Everett has made two very tasty batches of salsa.  What else do you do with salsa other than put it on chips???  Really!  Somebody help me out with some salsa ideas!  And what am I supposed to do with a tractor bucket of apples that will not cause blood sugar spikes?  All I can think of is... pie!  Nice warm apple pie.  Of course this fatness did not happen over night.  I've been on a big fat binge.  Just call me Bingy :)  It sure comes back faster than it goes away though.  If there's anyone out there who can relate to my despair I could really use some encouragment!  Post a comment.  Give me your best low sugar apple recipe :)

Oh... I really should mention how much I enjoyed our little mini trip to Seattle last weekend (which was part of the problem)  I took lots of cool pics from the roof of our hotel and down at the pike place market... and then my SD card went haywire and I lost all the pics.  Bummer!  But check this out... Here's my favorite thing I bought...

Matching aprons.  One big one for Mumsey and one little one for Aubrey and Charlotte when they come to visit.  Were gonna make diet food :)

Ciao!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

One More Week and I Would Have Had to Start From Scratch!

This will give you some idea of what happened last week... fatometer reads 152.1 and glucose 135.  And I'm thankful it's that good!  I have to say... during the stretch when I was doing so well I began to wonder if I really didn't have diabetic issues.  I can quit wondering.  The answer is most decidedly yes.  Yes Kathy, buying a large bag of peanut M&M's is really a stupid move.  Ok... I spent most of last week in Woodinville.  Just to be absolutely clear... any poor dietary choices on my part are not Andrea's fault!  She is always cooking yummy stuff that will be good for me.  It is my own fault if I sneak out into the kitchen and snitch a cookie - or three.  What I really need to avoid is that glass of wine!  If I have that I might as well just insert the end of a hose from a pump truck filled with any food into my mouth and turn it on full blast.  I know that!  And I did it anyway.  What a dork!  So... can anyone guess which behaviors I need to modify?  There were some real highlights though.  Everything at Jeff & Andrea's was awesome!  Always is.  Tacos at Dee's.  At least I got some exercise playing with Cyara.  We made alphabet letters with our bodies :)  Dinner at the Wild Vine was very good too.  I got a salad of some kind... forgot what though but I do remember Bobby's salmon being very tasty.  Oh... and the dessert I split with Amberlyn.  :(  We went there to watch my brother Jeff play guitar with Brad (his guitar teacher)  Twas fun!
Jeff is the one in black.  They did a great job!

On Friday I went to spend the weekend with my Aunt Jane and Uncle Jay in Paradise, CA.  I accompanied my Aunts Joyce and Marge.  We had a great time visiting.  Unc picked us up from the airport in Sacramento and I enjoyed driving past all the orchards.  Paradise is located pretty high up and the view is beautiful.  We were on our way to Chico to meet my cousin Robin, Maggie and baby Martha at the Farmers Market in Chico (which is open all year!!) and we stopped to take in the view.  Beautiful view.  Hard to tell from my phone pics but...  first pic me and Aunt Marge, second pic is Aunt Jane and third is just the view from the overlook























My Uncle Jay is a mighty fine cook.  He made us this delightful breakfast Sunday morning


And here he is enjoying it.  And Aunt Joyce

I realize now that I didn't get a picture of Robin and his family :(  but I did get one of little Martha.  :)  This was at the Japanese restaurant in Chico.  So tasty.  One of my not so great choices.  I had seafood udon.  Noodle soup.  Right.... noodles.  But it was SO good!  Anyway... little Martha ate and ate and ate...
oh yeah...  I'm sure she's going to love this pic when she grows up.  She was adorable though.  I'm still amazed at everything she ate!

Well anyway... I'm home again now so I can flog myself and then get back on track :)  I came home to a bunch of tomatoes that had ripened on the table while I was gone so today they are in the big ole pot becoming more marinara sauce.  I think I have one more batch after this one.  Last batch will be salsa though... if only Dee will give me her salsa recipe!  Yes... I think you already did... but I lost it.  I promise... I won't lose it again!

and here are a couple of pics that just make me glad to be home again...




And now it's off to work I go.  Ciao!

Friday, October 22, 2010

A Tribute To Dad - Happy Birthday!

Well first just to get this out of the way - 150.0 and glucose 113.  So... from the slightly elevated glucose reading you decide whether or not I had an almost respectable amount of dinner followed by a not so modest bowl of vanilla ice cream (not the light kind) topped with chopped up trick or treat candy bars.  I almost feel like Rodney Dangerfield - I got NO self respect!  Unfortunately I also have very little remorse :)  so you can see why this is such a challenge.  I am frequently way to willing to sabotage my diet!

Back to Dad.  Or as the grandkids all call him Pa.  This is for you - on your birthday.

I have a father to be proud of.  He is always there for me even though he lives on the other side of the country.  I always know if I'm puzzling or troubled over something that I can call and get a thorough consultation on any subject under the sun.  Well, maybe consultation is not exactly the word... anyway :)  he always gives me lots to think about.  I am so proud of my Taylor heritage.  I come from a long line of very colorful people.  Many of them were successful business men. Many were inventors.  Many of them were "preachers".  I had the privledge this spring of going to visit the church at Bury St. Edmonds, England which is the spot where one of my ancestors Roland Taylor preached with such conviction that it caused him to be imprisoned for two years and then burned at the stake by a church Cardinal - back in the mid 1500's.  I fortunately made this trip after having read Pillars of the Earth so I had a much greater appreciation of the long ago event.   Somehow I can imagine my dad in that role.  He is always willing to speak out for what he believes regardless of what anyone else thinks.  Whether or not your agree with him you have to appreciate that we absolutely need those kinds of people in the world!  They make you think.  Sometimes they make you angry :)  but they always make you think!   Taylors have one thing in common.  At least the ones that I have known personally and that is that they all love to laugh.  Now, sometimes they are laughing at you, but never without darn good reason.  My dad is one of those colorful characters (oh so colorful) who have been blessed in business through very hard work and decication.  He has a whole bunch of "real life" experience having learned many lessons, making some very good choices and some very bad ones too.  He has a very deep faith in God who has walked with him through the mountains and valleys of his life.  Many times leading and guiding him behind the scenes as my dad had a good many "wilderness" years.  He has been blessed with  the most devoted and adoring wife on the face of the planet whose self assigned job is to support and pray for him.  She has grown large knoby calluses on her knees due to many hours of prayer.  :)  I think of my dad as one of those "larger than life" people.  No matter what he does - he does it in a big way!  With all his might.  He has just a touch of the "grandest tiger in the jungle" syndrome which I appreciate because even though I have days when I feel like a complete failure I always bounce back because after all, I am a Taylor.  Of course God has his ways of helping us remember to be humble... :)  I am thankful that I have a family to be proud of and a name to live up to.  Many times in my life when I have been faced with choices I think.  Hmmm... is this something I want to have to explain to my dad???  :)  Sometimes it has caused me to make good choices.  Isn't it great to have a dad like that?  My dad really was instrumental in getting me on track with my diet.  He made me test my glucose level a couple of times when I really didn't want to - because I had a hunch that it was not going to be good news.  I think he almost had to hold me down to do it.  And he did not care that I was highly irritated at him for doing it.  He knew that it was an issue that I needed to deal with.  He's very helpful like that.  :)  Well, I could go on and on!  I love you Pa!  I hope you have many more birthdays.  Jeff and Andrea can't wait for you to be the care taker at their beach house - someday.  :)  Oh, by the way... this is instead  of a birthday present.  I know... worst present yet!  Even worse than fifty two boxes of individually wrapped up Jello.  :)  I still love that present!  If you ever become "forgetful" like Grandma... that's what you are getting every year.  You'll love it!

And that folks is my dad.  Gotta love him!  Well... I guess you don't "gotta", but I sure do.  :)

Ciao!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Can You Believe - It's Friday Eve!

Thursday is my third most favorite day of the week because it's almost Friday which is my second most favorite day of the week.  Well actually Friday afternoon is my second most favorite day of the week.  Saturday morning is my FAVORITE day of the week.  I'm very torn about Sunday.  There are a lot of great things about Sunday but one thing that factors heavily toward it being my least favorite day of the week is that it is situated right in front of Monday.  :(  That's a horrible thing to do to a perfectly lovely day!  Ok... that was completely ridiculous!  But so is the fact that you read through that entire brain fart.  :) 

You can tell I really have nothing to say today.  I should just get up and get busy!  We are having new friends over for dinner tonight and although I have mostly set the table and partly prepared dinner I still have lots to do.  I'm making chicken enchiladas.  I hope it turns out ok because I'm pretty much making it up as I go along.  You would think that with access to five billion chicken enchilada recipes I could just pick one!  That would be too easy - and besides, the four billion recipes that I read didn't seem quite like I thought they should.  We'll see.  My daughter Michele should be here tonight and if I mess this us she will be sure to let me know.  She has developed a killer chicken enchilada recipe.  I do mean killer too.  I could gain back all twenty pounds at one sitting.  :)  Pretty darn good stuff though!

Speaking of weight... 148.9 and glucose 106.  I hate having to report anything over 100.  Not that it's all that bad... especially since I am not taking medication to control my blood sugar.  Still... I really thought I could consistently keep it under 100.  I was a little surprised this morning because I couldn't remember eating anything yesterday that would have caused an elevated glucose reading.  As we know my brain is already checked out for the weekend so it took me awhile to remember the brown rice I had for dinner.  I made it ahead since I am planning on having rice and beans to serve with my enchiladas tonight.  I of course had more than the prescribed half a cup.  :)  Tonight I either need to eat a late lunch of steamed veggies and then drink a big glass of Metamucil right before dinner or just give up and pig out on the gooey enchiladas and follow that up by binging on the big bowl of trick or treat candy.  I'll let you know which way it goes.  The trick or treat candy was NOT my idea by the way.  It's this husband who just will not behave in the way I think he should.  Which is maybe why I love him so much.

Oh my!  He just let my stinky dogs in and they are pouncing all over me!  Here... I'll close with some random pics I took over the last couple of days - and they all contain stinky dogs.




This is Lucy on the bridge focused on the ball that she is just sure I'm going to throw for her.  Dave's cornstalks are in the background.  he decorated the bridge.













and this is Tank doing what he does best... nothin!



Oh!  Here are the grapes from my new vines.  Yes... this is the entire harvest :)  And they were so tasty!  Tank thinks so too!  


Can you tell he's as obsessed with food as I am.  When I take the chicken scraps out and throw them in the chicken pen - if I leave the door open he waits until I am around the corner and then goes in, scares off all the chickens and eats the vegetable scraps I threw out for them!  What a strange dog!

And finally Dave posing in front of one of the many cottonwoods that in the fall turn bright gold when the evening sun hits them.


I hope you enjoyed today's blog; as random and unfocused as it and these pictures are :)

Ciao!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Last Ten Pounds...

Well let's just start off with a great big sigh!  There!  I said it!   Blech!  This is hard!  The good news is that I'm holding steady at 150.5 and glucose 101.  The bad news is that I'm holding steady at 150.5.  :(  My original goal which I thought was attainable is 140.  I still think it's attainable and now I have even more reason to want to reach it... a January Mediterranean cruise.  How awesome is that???  I have the rest of October and all of November and December to drop those 10 pounds.  But here's the deal... I see some major hurdles in the way:  Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Those treasured holidays for me are all about food.   And not the weight loosing kind either.  The other thing I'm finding is that with the colder weather I'm not craving salads.  When it's cold outside I want warm food.  The thought of a nice chilled salad right now just makes me want to shiver.  I'll need to come up with some new strategies for fall and winter.  Once I overcome these fall hurdles and hit that goal weight I'll have to have superhuman will power to not gain it ALL back on the ship.  There are endless opportunities to commit dietary suicide.  I think I'll hang a sign over my bed that says LITTLE FLUFFY PASTRIES ARE GROSS!   I wonder if I could ever believe that?

Well  seems like I haven't posted a food pic in quite a while so here's one.  I was simmering a pot of tomatoes to make more marinara to can and thought it might make a nice base for a quick little fish dish.  This is tomato sauce, tilapia, zucchini and roasted diced poblano peppers topped with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.  It was tasty, light and healthy.  Plus it was a one pan dinner which was great since I already had a kitchen disaster with the new batch of marinara sauce brewing.


Really... it's fish.  Just a little hard to see under the zucchini, breadcrumbs and cheeeeese.

Ciao!

Friday, October 15, 2010

I Refuse To Report That...

This morning I weighed 150.4 because if I did you would know that I gave in to these thoughts - I'm sick and feeling like crap and therefore it's ok to lounge around on the couch watching TV and eating peanuts, pistachios AND a whole bag of popcorn - with cheese on top.  Oh... and a small plate of nachos.  I suck!  On the positive side it's Friday!  I feel better already!  My blood glucose was 103 which is not bad considering that I was!  Very fortunately I did not die in my sleep so I will have the opportunity to redeem my self respect today :)

Gotta go!  Ciao!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

I'm Back!

Life sure can get crazy huh?  Recently the different parts of mine have been competing for attention.  Last week I spent in Woodinville working.  Immediately after arriving back home I found myself in the middle of the most racket this house has seen since - well... last Thanksgiving.  It was a glorious weekend.  I had all my kids home AND my two granddaughters!  What a treat!  Here we are...
From left to right... Adam, Bobby, me, Dave, Amberlyn, Katie with baby Charlotte, Nicole with Aubrey, Michele and Daniel.  And Lucy looking for something to fetch.



















And... Mumsey with granddaughters Aubrey and Charlotte sitting by Grandpa's big pumpkin.


We are a crazy bunch!  After they all went home I had to take two aspirin and go to bed :)  But it was fabulous fun.  I've spent most of this week fighting a cold :(  Right now I'm psyching myself up for another work day.  Who to sue today?  :)  This is the best part of the day - right now!  I'm sitting on the couch watching the sky become brighter, slowly revealing layers of fog up in the pasture and against the big hill in the back. Looks so very fall.  The weatherman promises a beautiful day.  Last night I worked until dark harvesting the last of the tomatoes on the vines before the freezing nights ruin them all - two laundry baskets full :) I couldn't even carry them.  Had to get Dave to carry them into the barn.  Wonder how many jars of marinara two laundry baskets will make? Can't wait to find out.

Well... with all the activity I've had a bit of a roller coaster with the weigh ins and glucose readings.  Some days were less inspiring than others!  Today I am happy to report 148.4 and glucose of 95.  The last 10 pounds is not coming off quickly!  Still, I look better than I have in years and am confident that if I can maintain a reasonable diet I can have a long healthy life filled with many more family reunions and many more grand babies.  :)

Ciao!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Death By Birthday Cake...

Who knew birthday cake would be on the list of possible causes of death?  How can something sooooo good be sooooo bad for you?  Ok... Me.  Bad for me.  (Insert giant sigh here)  It's possible that I stuck my finger in the left over frosting a few too many times.  My blood glucose level this morning was 136 which is probably the highest spike since I began this adventure in May.  This means I get to have way less fun with food this weekend when ALL my kids and grand babies are home.  Boo hoo!  I can't get away with "nuthin"!  I also did have the tiniest bit of rice with the fabulous Thai shrimp bisque that Andrea made.  So yum!  But since it was just the tiniest amount and typically I can eat small amounts of rice I'd say it was the cake.  Ya think???  That glucose reading was like a slap in the face.  Apparently I enjoy being slapped :) because I bet it's not the last piece of cake I ever eat!

Ciao!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Woooooah!

Ok... back in the right direction.  I'm amazed how easy it is to slide down the slippery slope back into fatness :)  I don't want to really find out but I wonder if I could gain back 20 lbs in two weeks?  I don't have a weigh in this morning because I'm in Woodinville but my glucose level is creeping back down.  This morning it was 106.  Yesterday it was 127 and I ate very moderately on Monday (on the trip over).  Ok... I did steal four of Aubrey's french fries.  And I probably would have had more if they were hot crispy McDonald's fries but instead they were BK mediocre fries.  We stopped at BK because I knew I could get a chicken salad with no taco chips to have to toss away.  I think my glucose level was just left over from the free for all weekend.  Anyway... let your guard down for just a minute and POOF your fat again!  I guess I really should say POOF... I'M fat again!  I am staying with my little brother Jeff and his teeny weeny and very cute wife Andrea so if I were going to eat there all week it would be a successful week because she is a great AND healthy cook.  Last night we had baked chicken with marinara sauce and mozzarella.  So tasty!  And green beans... I resisted the mashed potatoes.  Yay!  But I'm not.  The rest of the week I have places to go and people to see.  Dinners out.  Let's see how I do the rest of the week.  :)  Oh!  All my kids are coming home this weekend.  I get to have both grand babies!  Maybe I'll be too busy to eat!

Ciao!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Yuk!

Well this is like ripping a band aid off.  Painful and just gotta get it over with so here goes.  Fatometer 152.7 glucose 124.  Don't even ask!  Obviously I have been misbehaving.  And stressed out.  And those two ingredients are a recipe for nonhealth!  Rather than focus on everything that's bad about today I will go do something productive.  Like take a shower.  :)  There's a start! 

Gotta get ready for a road trip to the "other side".  Ciao!

P.S.  Oh  the kids were right... I can't be trusted!  My baking career may be over.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

It's A New Day! Yay!

Thank God for new days!  Yesterday was horrible!  It didn't start out that way... just got worse as the day went along.  Once work was over I took a little stress walk and then made some tasty soup.  I never could shake the yuks though.  You may have noticed if you read my blog from last night :)  Anyway...the stats... this morning the fatometer read 149.3 and glucose 96.  Heading back in the right direction.  Amazingly I did not stress eat yesterday.  I did have one bite of Daves rocky road ice cream - which was very gracious of him since he is still iritated at me for eathing up all of his chocolate cake last Friday night.  What I didn't mention before though was that on Sunday we had friends over for dinner and Rosie brought a fabulous pear pie.  She made it out of pears from their tree.  It made me all kinds of excited for our trees to grow up and begin bearing fruit.  Made me feel all grandmothery to imagine making apple, cherry, pear and peach pies.  I expect my self dicipline will be well developed by then :)  But I've gotton off track... Rosie's pear pie was scrumptious.  I did have a small piece - very small.  And she did leave a piece for Dave for later - and I did NOT eat it.  Yay!

There's really not much new to report.  I have taken a few random pics over the last week that I'll share with you... whether or not you want to see them :)

Let's see...  I'll start with my turkey noodle soup from yesterday.  It was warm, tasty and soothing to the soul... almost.  :)















and this is a fall feast from a couple of days ago...  yum... corn on the cob from the garden and root veg from the farmers market


I took these random pics a couple of days ago when summer finally returned.  I was so excited!  This pic is late in the day showing what's left in my garden and the glowing cliffs in the background.  I call this the magic hour and always go outside to see the sun shine on the red rocks.  So pretty!





This next picture I call - If Only... for reasons that should be apparant since tomorrow is October


This pic is all about hope and faith... I know these grape vines are weeney now but someday there will be grapes.  Lots of grapes :)




And just look at the blue sky behind Dave's barn...who wouldn't want to live here?  And notice the pathetic weathervane on top of the barn... oh you can't see it?  Exactly!




















When was the last time you spent a few minutes admiring the clouds and picking out funny shapes?  For me about two days... but prior to that... too long!  Check out the cloud bunny...


Do you see it???  :)


Ok well... (reminds me of my Aunt Rita - she used to start almost every sentence with "ok well") this has been fun and rediculous.  A necessary part of each day... in my wacky world anyway.

Now back on my head... time for work :)   Ciao!