Friday, July 18, 2014

Don't Go Rafting without a Baptist in the Boat!

 

Jeanne Robertson is without a doubt the funniest woman I’ve ever had the privilege of watching and thiis video is absolutely hilarious.  The more you get into it, the funnier it gets.  I so want to see her in person, I always check her schedule, and there are some possibilities.  This tall, graceful woman imparts humor without vulgarity, a rarity in these days.  And I love how she calls hubs “left brain,” oh Jeanne Robertson you are on feisty hoot of a woman!!!!

Do yourself a favor peeps, take a few, sit back and enjoy this National Treasure.  Jeanne Robertson I heart you!!!!!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Trader Joe's Ruby Red Chai, just because...

NewImage

It’s a cool evening in Heavensville, kind of a fallish tease in the middle of July, if that’s possible.  I brewed a cup of Ruby Red Chai, and oh my, I had forgotten how deliciously wicked this tea really is.  If you’re lucky enough to shop at Trader Joe’s, this is so worth buying.  I’m a Chai Tea lover, and this is the best by far.  I just don’t understand why they don’t come to Heavensville.  I email them monthly.  *sigh*  Sure Jan,  like they really care!  Of course they don't, but I sure will be one happy camper if they ever grace us with our presence.

I was also reading a recipe of a cup of brewed Chai, a lime, some coconut milk and sweetener, blended with ice.  Sounds like a plan when the temps go back to the 90’s next week.  In the meantime, I think I’ll have another cup.  It is caffeine free after all...

You won't believe this 80 year old woman's makeover...

 

She looks absolutely amazing!   You have to watch this, unbelievable...

I did it, I bought a Vitamix!

NewImage

I’ve loved the Vitamix for years, drooled over them, read about them extensively, but just could never pull the plug and spend the big bucks.  But a few weeks ago, I decided the time is right.  Hubby and I eat healthy, this is just the next step for our lifestyle, incorporating more nutritious foods into our diet.

But lawdee, I’ve never had so  many people express strong opinions about a purchase in my lifetime.  The reaction by family and friends was either VERY positive or VERY negative. This is not just a blender, folks,  I did the research, I knew what I was doing.

But I had to have a deal, I always want a deal, it’s the thrill of the chase, it’s in my blood.  Vitamix does not discount, ever, period!  The only deals to be had are refurbished or taking your chance with open box ones on eBay.  I plan on never buying another one, just like my trusty Cuisinart from 1978 that is still going strong to this day, and I wanted a good return policy in case the naysayers were right.

4th of July weekend Williams-Sonoma had their annual 20% off Made in America sale.  Well, Vitamix is handmade in Ohio, but when I called them, they said no can do, they never discount Vitamix and there should be a disclaimer on their website.  Well, there wasn’t!  I looked, the customer service rep looked, there was nothing.  So then I nicely asked her if I could please talk to her supervisor.  This isn’t my first rodeo, when something is offered, the company should make good and WS is the best of the best.  It was evening, her supervisor was at dinner, so she took my number, and in an hour she called back and said they would honor the discount and give me free shipping.  SCORE!!!!

But then we were going to the kids for several days to babysit the grands, so I had to delay shipment.  Finally it arrived, the 750 Pro Series, Candy Apple Red beauty of my dreams.  Yep, I got the latest and greatest, the model with all the presets. I’m just doing this once, I wanted the bells and whistles.  I opened it washed it, immediately made hubby a lemonade slushy, then I made a green smoothie (spinach leaves, flax seeds, strawberries, blueberries, almond milk and half a frozen banana, and all I can say is awesome!  Simply amazing!  And as for those presets, a lot of people on the forums say they don’t need them, but you turn it on, walk away, it does the work and you don’t have to guess.  The thing even has a self wash cycle.  Works for me!!!

And what am I making in it today? Salad dressing with ground chia seeds and also soup, cauliflower bisque.  You put in the ingredients, it runs for four minutes, turns itself off and you have hot soup.  And tomorrow who knows, maybe I’ll make almond butter to go with my flax crackers.

And now for the verdict.  I’ll give it thirty days to be sure, but so far the naysayers lost.  This thing exceeds even my finicky expectations. The Gadget Queen hit the motherlode!

What a powerhouse this machine is, better yet, what a deal it was!!!!

Monday, July 14, 2014

HGTV - FIXER UPPER

I am totally  hooked on this show, it’s so refreshing and so much fun to watch.   My friend Barb, who always has great finds, told me about this show  a few weeks ago, so I recorded the series and it’s a winner.  This couple from Waco, Tx, Chip and Joanna Gaines renovate and flip old houses.  He’s the brawn, she’s the brains, the woman just oozes style.

It’s just fascinating what they do with run down homes, they breathe new life into them and the results are amazing.  They finished season 1 and are now filming season 2.  You can catch past episodes on Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus, reruns are on Thursday nights on HGTV, 8 pm cst and you can read all about the houses and view the before and after pictures on Joanna’s Blog, Magnolia Homes.  They knock out walls, open up spaces, their ideas are very fresh and clean.  Joanna decorates with a lot of white and works in vintage artifacts whenever she can.  

At first I had a hard time visualizing them as a couple, but have since decided that they are an interesting mix and often comical to watch.  Joanna is gorgeous, tall and lean and wears wonderful casual vintage/boho style clothes and killer boots!  Chip is a Baylor educated good ole’ boy, who hasn’t grown up and they live with their four kids and various animals, including goats and chickens, in an old farmhouse that they are renovating for themselves.

Here are some details about the ongoing renovation of their farmhouse.  You can watch additional videos about their farmhouse on YouTube. 

 

Below are a few BEFORE and AFTER pictures, the first pictures from Episide 1.

BEFORE:

NewImage

 AFTER:

NewImage

 I don’t have a kitchen BEFORE picture, but just look at the AFTER:

NewImage

 And here’s a before and after from Episode 4 - oh my, this couple has such vision.

 BEFORE:

NewImage

 AFTER:

NewImage

 BEFORE:

NewImage

 AFTER:

NewImage

See what I mean?  Simply amazing what they accomplish and such a nice escape on a hot summer evening.

Thanks for the suggestion, Barb, give this a watch peeps, you won’t be disappointed.  I’m looking forward to Season 2, finally a television show that interests me.  ~ Jan

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Childhood Summers

NewImage

After the gawdawful winter we just had I said I would never complain about the temperature, regardless of how hot it gets.  And I’m not, but I have been thinking back to my childhood summers.

Hubby and I went for a ride at dusk last night in Tootie with her top down, and the evening sounds and muggy air I was feeling transported me right back to our little house in the country by the ditch.  We lived in a valley and there was always a breeze, but when the dog days of summer hit with a vengeance, there was no escape.  We would sit outside past dark, watching the fireflies, trying to fiend off the mosquitoes, catching an occasional breeze, anything to cool off.  The house was hotter inside than it was outdoors, despite a noisy box fan that did little more than move around hot air.  We would sit in metal lawn chairs with an icy drink in our hands, often watching the headlights from a train on the tracks far away, listening to it's whistle as it wound around the bends in the fields.  A car or two would pass, but country people were courteous, they would slow down so that they wouldn’t blow dust in our yard, and we finally would go inside and sleep in beds pushed next to windows, just trying to get a little relief.

People say you get “used to it.”  Well that’s just not true.  Hot is hot, and sweltering summer days were just endured and I never got used to them.  I remember mother dreading the summers when the farmers surrounded us by corn, there was no relief because the corn blocked the breeze.  But when we had soybeans in the fields around us, it was a good year.   Was life ever really that hard?  Was it? 

A couple of weeks ago, our AC was low of freon and not cooling the house. Oh my, it was so uncomfortable and it was only for a short while until the repairman could come and fix it.  But as a child, we endured months of hot weather.  Mother would always cook despite the heat, she would pick vegetables from the garden and can them in a kitchen so hot you could barely breathe.  The big vats of tomatoes would simmer on the stove, and you can only imagine how much heat that generated.  There was no choice, we lived off the land and the food had to be canned when it ripened.  She would pick the vegetables in the morning, then work at the drugstore all day, come home and can in the evening.  Today’s women thankfully don’t have a clue about that kind of hard work, but in those days you did what you had to do, you had no choice.  She was a remarkable woman, my mother.  She always provided for us and seldom complained about it, she worked so hard and I admire her for that.

Even washing the Ball canning jars was an ordeal.  As a small girl, we didn’t have a pump in the kitchen, only a well on the back porch where we drew water with a bucket.  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have dropped the bucket in the well while attempting to draw water, and mother would have to get grappling hooks and fish the bucket out by it’s handle.  Then she would have to heat water on the stove to wash the jars, drying them with her snowy white dishtowels made from flour sacks that smelled like sunshine from drying on the line.

We were estatic when we finally got a pump in the kitchen, and I’m not talking an electric pump and a faucet.  Oh no, we got a pump with a handle, and we would pump water from the well into a large white enamel bucket with a red rim and a wire bail handle and drink with the long handled galvanized “dipper”  that  hooked over the edge of the bucket.  We didn’t even have a spring fed well, our water came from a cistern, the water ran off the roof into the gutters which fed into the well.  There was a charcoal filter to “purify” it, but the water had to be so bacteria ridden.  We never got sick, our bodies were used to it.

We did have a deep well about a half mile away at the Illinois State Experiment Farm.  We would often take gallon jugs and fill them to drink, the water was much purer from that well than from our cistern.  

Hubby was appalled when he married me, he would never let mother drink the well water after that and he promptly installed running water for her.  It all sounds so primitive, but it was all we had, it was all I knew, and it wasn’t uncommon.  Country people lived that way, no amenities, just the bare basics. 

So I’m not complaining, even though the humidity is high and the temperature is hovering in the mid 90’s, I’m just grateful for a cool house and running water.  But if I could go back for just a day, even in this heat, I would do it in a heartbeat, just to be a child with mother again and relive that simple peaceful life in the country in our little house by the ditch.

 

© all the latest from Nashville ya'll, AllRightsReserved.

Designed by ScreenWritersArena