all the latest from heavensville...

Obituaries are fascinating…

2012-02-10T11:12:00.001-06:00

I’ve read them for years, you never know who you might see and even though I seldom know anyone, I’m astonished at the things people put in obituaries. Often they show a woman’s high school senior picture, complete with the drape, and the woman is in her 80’s. Or they show pictures of when they were young with a picture as they are now, that’s always interesting. And I’m always fascinated by the men’s ears, it is true, they do grow longer as they get older.

This morning, they had a lulu in the Heavensville obits. It was an attractive man, 63 years old, sad that he died that young, but anyway, the following sentence was included in his obituary.

“He enjoyed remodeling, shopping at Rural King, while enjoying the popcorn.”

While it’s funny, it’s also sad, surely they could have found something more worthwhile to say about the poor guy than this. Jeez Louise, and I thought it was bad that I would want my dogs mentioned in my obituary. Kidding, family, just kidding, well kinda ;o)

Salad In a Jar, 3 months later and still going strong…

2012-02-09T14:15:00.001-06:00

I know you’re just dying to hear how my salad in a jar is progressing, umhmmm, sure you are, and if I’m sick of salad yet, and the answer is no! I’m still as excited about it as I was in the beginning, sealing everything I can think of, and still eating salad every single day for lunch. Am I losing weight, no, but then I’m not gaining either. Maybe if I start eating it for dinner, too… **sigh**

I continue to tweak it, I no longer use the great big salad bowl and toss it together, now I chop on a big cutting board, fill the jars, and then use my salad shooter to slice a pile of carrots, add them to the top of the lettuce, dice some celery and add it on top of the carrots. This week I used a head of iceberg, a bundle of leaf lettuce, and canned it separately. I’m dreaming of spring and using the leaf lettuce to make wilted lettuce salad with green onions and bacon.

Okay, I’ll shut up about it, until the next time. Have a nice day…

~ jan

Oh, I’m seriously thinking of making jam this spring, too. Bet you all can’t wait to hear about that either… **wicked grin**

And that’s not dirt on the side of my refrigerator cabinet, it’s how they stained the wood, drives me crazy, too! And my coffee maker isn’t dirty either, it’s camera glare. Glad I cleared that up for all of you…

Somebody is lazin’ in the sun…

2012-02-07T12:58:00.001-06:00

My take on Madonna’s Half Time Show

2012-02-06T11:25:00.001-06:00

I wasn’t going to watch, but I decided to see what all the hoopla was about.

After it was over, the reviews came in fast and furious, the younger crowd thought she was awesome.

And yours truly, okay I admit, I’m biased, however, if you took away the glitz, the special effects, the costumes and just watched the woman, what did you see? Ummmmm, a fifty something woman who wasn’t agile on the bleachers, who did a lot of bump and grind and lip synched.

Awesome, hardly, but then I’m biased…

Are you ready for some football????

2012-02-05T14:27:00.001-06:00

NO!!!!!!!!! I detest football, I always have, so I’m going to be watching Netflix tonight, hubby can watch it in the den, no football for this old girl.

Oh, I’ve tried over the years to enjoy it, seriously I have, but I just don’t get it, and I don’t enjoy it. All the hoopla over the Super Bowl, and tickets going for as much as $10,000 apiece, holy schmoly what a waste!

But that’s just my opinion, and I’m sure most of you don’t think like I do, but I just felt like venting this afternoon.

Now go watch that game and enjoy yourselves, while I watch a movie. And no, I’m not going to watch Madonna at half time, I can’t handle her either, the woman needs to retire for gawds sake, she’s 53 years old!

Well, I’m just in a great mood this afternoon. It’s not the game, actually, sinuses are giving me fits, I trekked to convenient care for some meds because I’m dizzy as a goose, poor hubby isn’t even getting Super Bowl goodies.

And that’s just the way it is this Super Bowl Sunday, Jan here in a p*ssy mood!

90 Year Old Couple playing the piano at the Mayo Clinic

2012-02-04T15:19:00.001-06:00

My friend Mary posted this on FaceBook, and I just had to share. They are so full of life, this will give you a huge smile on this rainy Saturday…

Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Bars

2012-02-04T14:59:00.000-06:00

Heads up ladies, these lemon bars are seriously, fantastic! I posted the recipe and the tweaks on Jan CAN Cook. This is a must try if you’re a lemon lover like the women in our family. THESE ARE INSANELY GOOD!!!!!!

Pioneer Woman and Saturday Morning, go together like coffee and cream

2012-02-04T08:44:00.000-06:00

I haven’t enjoyed Saturday morning television this much since I was a kid in the 60’s, watching Fury and Sky King. I’m so glad that FoodNetwork was smart enough to bring this wonderful blogger to their network for all of her followers to enjoy.

I’m such a fan of Pioneer Woman. She’s a real person, she’s a mother, she works hard for her family, and I find her delightful. 9am is fast approaching, I’m off to my comfy chair, coffee and cuddly dogs by my side to enjoy yet another episode.

You’re awesome Pioneer Woman, seriously you are!

Moving forward with life after sixty…

2012-02-03T10:17:00.001-06:00

I linked to a a post from Facebook this morning by Barbara Hannah Grufferman about decluttering your life after fifty, and it started me thinking about the things that I hold on to, and how they clutter my life. And here I am, past sixty and I still struggle with decluttering.

For me, it’s clothes. I have tubs of size ten clothes, mostly jeans and capris that has been cluttering my life for years now. It’s a lot of clothes, too, because at that size was shopping was fun.

But that was ten years ago, and I will never be that size again, and even if I was, the clothes would be so outdated, so why do I hold on to them? Is it because I need the affirmation that I really wore them? It’s not like I ever take them out and look at them, so who knows, but it’s time to throw them in the trash. A start to that decluttering.

My closet is full of clothes I never wear. I live in yoga pants and jeans, I seldom dress up, I detest it, so why do I have these clothes hanging in my closet? It’s time to declutter and get rid of a lot of things.

It’s such a wonderful feeling when your world is organized. There is a saying that when you live in clutter, you live in chaos. Well, everything in my world, thanks to hubby is organized, the man is a whirlwind. And for as much grief as I give him about throwing things away, I’m really grateful, because he makes our life so simple. He’s constantly going through the refrigerator, throwing away leftovers, he straightens the cabinets, he organizes drawers, he immediately pitches junk mail, it never comes in the house, he trashes it in the garage, and it does make things flow so much smoother.

The only thing he stays away from are my computers, my closet and my makeup, hence the clutter. And yes, the files on my computers are cluttered, well do a degree, they aren’t nearly as bad as they were a few years ago. It just goes against my nature to do things in an orderly way, and I wish I had an organized mind, but I don’t, but I’ve learned a few things along the way. I can’t handle things out of place in my house, a messy kitchen drives me wild, so I’ve learned to compensate for my unorganized mind. I make myself put things away immediately when I use them, as I’ve said before, I work in the sink to avoid messes in the kitchen, I fluff the sofa pillows of a morning, I do a quick walk thru. It doesn’t take long, and I’m finished, ready for whatever the day brings. I’ve learned that procrastinating is worse than doing something and getting it over with, and of course I still procrastinate, most of us do, but I have learned for the most part to just push through and get it over with.

But in the back of my mind, always is the thought that I need to declutter that closet, and dump those clothes. I think I don’t do it because there won’t be anything left. I seriously do wear 10% of my closet, and if I get rid of all the things I don’t wear, it will be pretty bare. But I’m not procrastinating about this, I’m just holding on to the old, because I can’t face walking into my closet and seeing empty shelves, instead of looking ahead to the new. And I’m not even going to start talking about buying new clothes, and how the manufacturers are missing the boat by not designing cute clothes for women in our age group, my friends and I complain constantly about this, and how we seldom find anything that we just love. And a lot of it is due to the fact that we’ve not only grown older, we’ve grown wider. But I won’t go there, not today, I’ve got enough to worry about with the decluttering.

A little reflecting going on in Heavensville this morning, but I seriously am going to declutter my world a bit this spring, I just have to get up the nerve to do it…

The sounds of silence...

2012-02-02T13:31:00.000-06:00

It’s another gorgeous day, sunny skies, temps in the mid 50’s. I took a ride on Milly to the creek, just sat and listened to the water, no cell phone, no dogs, just utter silence. I seldom experience silence anymore, there is always noise at my house, television, music playing, phones ringing, it’s nice to reconnect with nature and enjoy the quiet.

Then I picked up my neighbor, Trish, her little London is such a poser, she just sits and lets her take pictures of her. And yes, she’s just as tiny as she looks, all three whopping pounds of her. My girls need haircuts, and it’s gorgeous outside, I should be grooming them, I should be…

Sometimes you just need to accept a gift gracefully….

2012-02-01T15:41:00.001-06:00

I’ve blogged about my soon to be ninety four-year old neighbor before. The woman is a whirlwind, she can work circles around me, and is a world class cook with as many, if not more, kitchen gadgets than yours truly. She’s the one that gave me the fabulous recipe for German Potato Salad that I posted on Jan CAN Cook.

Something happened to my bundt pan, I suspect it’s at one of my son’s houses, but for the past couple of years I haven’t had one or replaced it, I just use my neighbors. She has three bundt pans, but she always gives me the old, heavy aluminum one that bakes to perfection. I’ve borrowed it countless times, always returning it with some home baked goodie that makes her eyes sparkle, and she always tells me to just keep it, but I never could do that, well, not until yesterday.

I had borrowed the bundt pan once again to make my yummy Lemon Cake Supreme, and hubby took it back with a plate of granola bars fresh from the oven. She absolutely, positively refused to take it, telling him that she never bakes anymore and she wanted me to have it. So he came home with it tucked under his arm, shaking his head because he couldn’t dissuade her.

And you know what, I’m keeping it. It’s a wonderful pan, something that I obviously can’t duplicate with a new one, I’ve tried, and none of them are as heavy as hers, and she obviously wants me to have it, so I decided that sometimes you just have to write a nice thank you note, and accept a gift in the spirit it is given. I’ll always think of her when I use it, it’s such a workhouse of a pan, it will never wear out. She’s had it forever and now it sits on my shelf, waiting until the baking urge strikes me and I need to bake in a bundt pan again. I’ll continue to share my baked goodies, and watch her eyes sparkle, and it will work for both of us. It’s a good thing…

~ Jan, smiling today…

Do I read Nicholas Spark's Safe Haven or not???

2012-01-31T15:00:00.002-06:00

I said I was finished with you, Nicholas Sparks. You’ve disappointed me constantly with your bad endings, I’ve cried enough tears over you, and now here is another one of your books that looks really interesting. Do I give you another chance or do I forget about you? Maybe, or maybe not, I haven’t decided yet.. ~ jan

Description:

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.

But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.

When grandchildren go home...

2012-01-31T12:54:00.000-06:00

It’s so quiet now, LC and I keep talking about Abby’s visit, remembering the cute things she said, and her infectious giggle when she was jumping on the bed. Of course she jumped on the bed, she’s at her grandparent’s house after all, she can do anything she wants.

I wish life was like it was in the old days, when families all lived nearby, and visits to Grammie’s house was a weekly occurrence. We went out for breakfast this morning, and I was talking to a grandmother who has all of her children in town. I was so jealous, and I’m not an envious person. *sigh* She’s just so sweet, I don’t want to miss a minute of her childhood.

But back to reality and another warm day, my friend Trish has phlox that are blooming, I just checked my chives in the garden, and I see green shoots peeking through the soil. I have spring fever and it’s not February yet. I’m glad to be finishing out this month, January has always been my least favorite time of the year, now I can look forward to Valentine’s Day and a hopefully early spring…

Trisha Yearwood is coming to FoodNetwork

2012-01-30T14:11:00.000-06:00

Oh, this looks like fun, I love her cookbooks.

In the as-yet-untitled series, Yearwood will share food traditions and display her Southern hospitality, sharing recipes with friends and family and preparing Sunday dinners to planning family reunion barbecues. Each of the six themed episodes will invite viewers into Yearwood's kitchen for her favorite meals and family stories.

"Fans know Trisha best as a music powerhouse, and through her new Food Network show audiences will learn first-hand what her friends and family already know -- that Trisha is a talented, passionate rock-star cook too,” Food Network GM and senior vp programming and production Bob Tuschman said. "We look forward to sharing this side of Trisha with viewers, showcasing an intimate, entertaining look at her personal recipes, family traditions and warm Southern hospitality."

Look who’s been to visit Grammie…

2012-01-30T09:31:00.002-06:00

I always thought I would be the Grammie that would be in the kitchen with a little granddaughter, her hands in the cookie dough, but Abby isn’t interested in cookies, she would much rather be on Grammie’s computer, playing little games, watching Dora the Explorer. It’s fine with me, I have two monitors, so Abby is on one, I’m on the other, we can sit here for hours. She puts that little hand on the mouse, moving it around the desk, she hasn’t quite grasped the concept of how to work it, but I can put it on an object and tell her to click it, and she will. If I would have had a few more days with her, she would have been surfing like a pro.

We visited the Children’s Museum for the first time. She had a great time playing with the exhibits, and we just sat and watched her. Oh, she’s at such a fun age now, she talks constantly, and says the funniest things. My girlfriends came to visit, and had such a fun time with her. Her Auntie V taught her to say pink flamingo, and Auntie Trisher let her borrow a rocky horse to ride.

The weather was warm enough to go for rides on Milly, the owner of the Chinese restaurant where we ate at lunch gave her a dozen almond cookies to bring home, she looked at him and said “tanks.”

It just went too quickly, but we’re visiting again soon.

We were watching television in the den, she was on the iPad watching a little movie, so Grammie got the headset, put it over her ears, she loved it and we thought she looked so funny with those big headphones on. She just cracked us up.

She likes to have her picture taken, says CHEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZ when the camera is pointed at her, but she squints her eyes, so all of her cheesy pictures have her eyes closed.

Oh Abby, what joy you bring to our lives. Who would have thought at this age that I would see the world through the eyes of a child again.

It’s a beautiful thing...

It's a good day...

2012-01-27T09:37:00.000-06:00

The family is coming in for the weekend, Ryan, Lindsay and Abby will be here this morning. Friends stopping by to say hi, what a great way to spend a January weekend...

A smle for you this morning...

2012-01-27T09:35:00.000-06:00

People post the funniest things on FaceBook. This just cracked me up….

GCB (Good Christian Belles)

2012-01-26T17:26:00.003-06:00

Looks like there might be some “must see” tv coming to ABC next month. From the creator of Steel Magnolias and the producer of Sex and the City, GCB is the story about a 30 something who is forced to go home and live with mother. Annie Potts, Kristin Chenowith star, and they’re both such good actresses. They’re calling this a Southern Desperate Housewives, Annie Potts says this is a tribute to her late friend, Dixie Carter, it could be interesting…

2012-01-25T18:28:00.001-06:00

A warm, fleecy robe on a dreary winter night...

2012-01-25T09:09:00.000-06:00

We’ve been out and about today. I used to laugh at Ma because she would always pick her days to run errands, and if the weather was bad she stayed home. Well today we had several things to do, I didn’t even look at the weather, and as soon as we pulled on the highway it started to sleet. The temperatures warmed a bit, but it rained the entire day. I wasn’t dressed that warm, it was windy, cold, miserable, just a raw, January day, and I’m thinking that once again, “Mother knows best.”

We’re at home every day, we don’t have to go out when the weather is bad anymore, but anyway, I come home, take off my clothes and put on my warm robe, turn on the fireplace and it’s pure bliss. Is there anything better than a robe? I think I remember most of the ones I’ve had through the years, too. They’re like old friends, my robes, and I only like loose, long ones. There is nothing worse than an old(er) woman in a wrap robe, it’s the most unflattering thing I can think of. I have one for when I get out of the shower, but once I’m dry, it’s history and I never look in the mirror. Nope, lose robes hide a multitude of sins, wrap robes are totally unforgiving.

I think my favorite robe through the years, actually I had two of them, a gray one and a lemon yellow one, were hooded long french terry sweatshirt styled zip front robes from Vanity Fair. Hooterville had one, too, we both loved them. I almost loved it as much as the football jersey nightshirts I used to wear. *sigh*

Every season I check Vanity Fair, thinking that they will bring back that style of robe, but they never do. With my luck they’ll bring it back as a wrap. :o(

And that’s it from Heavensville tonight. We had chinese for lunch, and I have leftovers, no cooking for me, I’m going to curl up by the fire with the dogs and read…

This robe from Norm Thompson is lovely. They also have a sweatshirt robe, but it’s belted and not nearly as cute as the ones Vanity Fair used to have.

I love this!

2012-01-24T17:28:00.000-06:00

Straw Bale Gardening

2012-01-24T16:03:00.000-06:00

I’m intrigued with the idea of gardening in bales of straw. You add compost, plant, water well, the straw retains the water, no weeds to pull, the roots finger out in the loose straw and grow quickly, it’s a wonderful idea. You can stack bales two high if you don’t want to bend over, how great is this!

This link to strawbalegardens.com is one of many sites online. Just Google it, click on Google Images for lots of pictures, go to YouTube, watch some videos - it's just fascinating, and a great idea to research while we’re all dreaming of spring and gardening.

I think this idea would work well for flowers, you could do the side plantings I’m so fond of and you wouldn’t even see the straw after the plants started to grow. Can’t you just see a huge mound of impatiens under a tree? Oh, the possibilities…

Dear Diary, how are you, I am fine...

2012-01-24T14:21:00.000-06:00

I remember my first diary, I was a preteen, it was green leather and had a lock and key. Every day my entries would always start with “Dear Diary, how are you, I am fine.”

I wasn’t very creative back in the day, but I wish I had that Diary now to see if I could conjure up any childhood memories.

And today, I’m not feeling very creative at all, I’m sitting here thinking, “Dear Blog, how are you, I am fine.”

And that’s how it is today, this relatively warm, 24th of January, 2012. I’m proving Ma wrong, too, it’s the third week of January, and we’ve yet to hit the single digits in Heavensville, and only a trace of snow. The only thing I can figure is that my mother didn’t factor in global warning. Ya think?

Twins Mimic Daddy’s Sneeze…

2012-01-23T18:15:00.001-06:00

This is the cutest thing I’ve seen in awhile…

Maxine nailed it again!!!

2012-01-23T18:14:00.001-06:00

What I’ve been up to this weekend…

2012-01-22T17:25:00.001-06:00

Deanna and John came to visit this weekend, we antique shopped yesterday, they found treasures, and went home with a car stuffed full, including a crystal chandelier for their bedroom.

Abby decided that she wanted to talk a lot to Grammie this afternoon. We had multiple phone calls with her telling me her opinion about a lot of things. For some reason she seemed to enjoy me singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” to her and wanted me to sing it again and again. This all started because she was looking at the moon and saying it was “too high,” meaning that she couldn’t reach up and touch it.

She has a bit of a cold, and tells her parents that her nose is crying.

I made yummy corn chowder yesterday and posted the recipe on Jan CAN Cook. And now it’s back to quiet evenings, dogs, a warm fire, and lots of wonderful family memories. Life is good this Sunday evening, I hope you all had a great weekend as well…

Cooking with oil in an iron skillet, a blast from the past…

2012-01-21T09:00:00.001-06:00

I remember back in the day when fried food was the norm in our house. When the boys were young, I bought oil in gallon containers, and dumped several inches in a skillet to cook with. Fried chicken, pork chops, potatoes, you name it, I fried it. But today, I’m more enlightened, and would never do that. We’ve all learned tricks to compensate for frying, my favorite being to pat dry chicken breasts or pork chops, then Pam a skillet, I use one with grill marks, brown it on top of the stove, flip it over, and immediately put it in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, uncovered. When you take it out of the oven it looks and tastes like fried, but without the grease.

But back to my story. In all those years of frying food, I always had a mess when I finished, my cooktop was greasy, and that was before smooth cooktops so it was a pain in the patootie to clean. On the occasion that I do fry something these days, an egg, bacon, etc., I’ve learned to never use a small skillet. Even if I have just one egg, I fry it in a 14” skillet, that way it never spatters on the cooktop. It’s a great tip, and no, I don’t put oil in the skillet, of course I fry that egg with Pam. This morning I’m making corn chowder, and I needed bacon drippings, so I pulled out the big skillet, fried the bacon, with no mess. It’s a beautiful thing, frying in an oversized skillet, took me years to figure it out, but better late than never.

I’m seriously losing it ladies…

2012-01-19T22:22:00.001-06:00

Earlier today I posted about tweaking that 3-2-1 cake, and something wasn’t quite right with the picture of the cake. I kept looking at it, and finally tonight, several hours later, I had a (bankrupt) Kodak moment and realized that I had posted the picture upside down.

Oh law-dee, what a bimbo I am. I had taken the picture with my iPhone, and emailed it to my computer. I’ve had pictures that came sideways in an email, but never upside down, well, not until today anyway.

Boy, is my face red. Why didn’t I catch this? So, if some of you looked at that post earlier and thought it looked strange, that’s why. I flipped it right side up as soon as I realized what I had done and reposted. Geezy Pete, I am totally hopeless!

Tweaking that 3-2-1 cake

2012-01-19T14:21:00.001-06:00

Yesterday when I made the cake and gave hubby a bite, he wasn’t a fan, but I haven’t been married to the man for forty years not to know a thing or two about his food preferences. He’ll eat pretty much anything that has a sauce on it, so I decided to try making him a mini pineaple upside down cake, his favorite. BUT, I didn’t have pineapple, so I tried it with peaches.

I put some peaches in the bottom of my mug, added some brown sugar, a dab of butter, a few sliced almonds and a dash of almond flavoring. And whlie I was making a double batch of the cake, substituting peach juice for the water, I nuked the peach concoction for one minute. I took it out, gave it a stir, put in the cake mixture that I had whisked on top of it and nuked it for an additional 1:35 minutes.

This time he loved it. He said it was a 7-8. I don’t know if I would give it that high of marks, but it’s fast, easy and a no brainer. Just thought you would all like to know…

And no, the cake isn’t molded, those are blue sprinkles in the picture. That white confetti cake mix was the only one I had in the pantry. Sometimes you just gotta roll with what you’ve got. Know what I mean, Vern?

My favorite things today…

2012-01-19T13:22:00.001-06:00

Hubby bought me a primrose, and it’s sitting on my desk, making me smile.

I found this iPhone cover on Amazon yesterday.

My iPod cover is the same mint green color, and I love it, it reminds me of an Easter egg. So it’s on my wish list, hey a girl’s gotta have a dream, especially in January.

I do believe I have a touch of spring fever, but I need to curb my enthusiasm for another six weeks. So here I sit, listening to a Splendid Table Podcast, looking at the birds on the feeder, just wasting away an afternoon. But that’s okay, what else is there to do in January. I’m counting my blessings, at least I’m not staring out the window at snow!

Update: I just looked at my iPod cover, it’s not mint green, it’s robins egg blue. Oh dear, I think I’m having a senior moment…

3-2-1 Cake

2012-01-18T13:34:00.002-06:00

Two ingredients, angel food cake mix and any kind of cake mix. Put them in a bag together, shake well, scoop out 3 tablespoons of the mix, add 2 tablespoons of water, then put it in a ramekin and nuke it for 1 minute. The recipe didn’t say whether or not to spray with Pam, but I did because I didn’t want a mess.

Ha, you can see how well that worked for me. But, if I wasn’t Miz Piggy it would have been fine. I made it, nuked it, and it was just this itty bitty amount of cake in the bottom of the ramekin. So I doubled the recipe, at least I think I did, I was talking to my friend, Nisha on the phone while I was making this and since yours truly can’t chew bubble gum and walk at the same time, who knows what I did. All I know is that it started to run over in the microwave so I quickly put a saucer under it and finished cooking it. It took about a minute and a half for the larger batch, but remember, I have the microwave from hell, so my timing is never accurate.

And how did it taste, curious minds want to know? Well, all I had was a confetti cake mix to mix with my angel food cake mix, so it’s kinda vanilla tasting. But it’s not bad, but I’m also desperate. I don’t have anything in the house that isn’t healthy, and this is the only thing I could come up with fast that didn’t involve actual work.

Would I do it again. Sure, I would. If this was topped with a sliced banana, a drizzle of chocolate sauce, or some fresh fruit, or my dilly’s favorite, lemon sauce, it would be pretty good for a quickie. A bit of almond flavoring would be nice, too.

But I think I would like it better using a chocolate cake mix. Or I could just stir some chocolate chips or cocoa into this. It’s not knock-your-socks off people, but it’s not too bad considering that it only takes 1-2 minutes start to finish. Except for the mess…. Ughhh!!

Tweaks: I made this again, doubled the recipe, put it in a mug, did NOT Pam it, nuked it for 1:30 and it came out perfect.

2012-01-17T11:49:00.001-06:00

Jan visits the Insurance Agent

2012-01-16T17:13:00.001-06:00

We just got our condo insurance bill, they raised it $100 this year, with no claims, so hubby and I decided we needed to visit our insurance agent and have a talk with him.

Well, the guy that we always did business with has retired and turned our account over to a twelve year old girl with a squeaky Minnie Mouse voice. Now, in all honesty, I have to admit that I was defensive before I even walked in the front door, but when we laid everything in front of her and started asking questions she wasn’t exactly forthcoming with her information. She actually sounded like a politician, never answering a direct question with a direct answer.

It only took me a few minutes before I had enough of that crap, and I told her she was really tricky, but that I was really old so that stuff didn’t work with me. She looked at me and said “oh, it’s not your first rodeo, huh.” And then she proceeded to calm down and work with us. But the damage had been done, I don’t trust her, maybe after she goes through puberty she will have more creedence, but to be perfectly honest, I just don’t enjoy children telling me what I do and do not need with my insurance coverage. And I won’t even get into the bad information she gave hubby, a misquote of over $200, but he caught it, and she wasn’t able to explain her mistake.

Our appointment was at 10am, she was going to get right back to us, email me with updated information, and it’s now 5pm and I haven’t heard a peep from her. Jeesh, enough already! We’ve had State Farm Insurance for almost forty years now, and never had a problem, but me thinks it’s time for a new agent. A grown up person.

So, if any townies know of a good State Farm agent on the West Side of Heavensville, let me know. And in the meantime, if I don’t hear from her, I’ll check with her tomorrow after she’s home from school and maybe she’ll have some prices for me. I know, I know I sound really old, well I am really old!!!!!

Paula Deen has type 2 diabetes

2012-01-14T09:51:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, Paula Deen announced she had type 2 diabetes and the internet was all over her like mayo on white bread. I have never read such negative posts in my life, people were absolutely gleeful, making fun of her, her “supposed” eating habits, and I thought it was just horrid!

Sure the woman is over the top, she cooks with fat, butter and grease, it’s her shtick people. She’s a broad, not a lady, had she been a lady we wouldn’t be seeing her on television. I’ve always found her funny, outrageous and her food divine. I’m a southern woman, I’ve known versions of Paula Deen my entire life. I cooked exactly like her back in the day, as well as most other people I know. And it was wonderful, satisfying, glorious, wonderful food.

So for all the naysayers out there that are ridiculing her and the fact that she now has diabetes, shame on you. This could be your mother, or aunt or someone you love.

I’m off my soapbox, but I was just livid and had to vent. That is all…

Mother always said….

2012-01-12T09:08:00.001-06:00

I find myself saying that a lot to my family and friends. As I grow older and remember the things she told us, I realize how much she knew just observing nature and the world around her. My boys talk about Grandma every time we’re together. It’s the best part of her, I think, reliving her memory from their perception, because a grandparent is so different with their grandchildren than it is with their children, something I’m finding out with Abby.

Some of the things that she always “said,” we’ll see if they come true this winter.

You don’t get big snows when it’s really cold, the biggest accumulations come when the temperatures hover in the high twenties and low thirties.
Winter doesn’t really kick in until about the third week in January, then look out.
If you have a mild winter on the front end, you pay for it later and spring will be late.

So we’ll see how this pans out, we’re getting snow this morning in Heavensville, 1-3 inches predicted. It’s not quite yet the third week of the month, but it looks like nasty weather is beginning. And it’s 32 degrees right now, hmmmmm, just the right temperature, maybe it will be more in the 3” range than the 1” if ma’s predictions hold true.

And, we have had a mild winter thus far, so I hope it doesn’t bring a late spring. It’s only been snowing for an hour, and I already have cabin fever.

We’re tucked in for the day, glad that hubby doesn’t have to drive back and forth to work in this nasty weather. I made soup yesterday, so it’s a lazy day here, just playing on the computer, listening to some smooth jazz with a dog in my lap, works for me…

It's a great day to read a book...

2012-01-11T13:44:00.001-06:00

It's rainy, cloudy, snow is forecasted for tomorrow, so the girls and I are snuggled in by the fire for the afternoon, me with a mug of hot lemon tea, and I'm reading all about Julia Child and her life in France.

I watched Julie and Julia the other night, decided I wanted to know more about this remarkable woman, so here I sit, enjoying this book immensely. Now if I just had a pot of her boeuf bourgiourgnon simmering on the stove. BON APPETIT!!!

Pioneer Woman's Second Season

2012-01-11T12:41:00.001-06:00

It starts Saturday morning on FoodTv. I tape it, and hubby has strict instructions to not delete the shows, EVER!

I'm such a fan, I enjoy seeing the kids, Charlie, the ranch. Yeah, I do...

60 Years of Today

2012-01-11T09:06:00.002-06:00

This week is Today Show’s anniversary, sixty years on the air, and as of late, I’ve started watching it again. I was such a fan in the day, loved the Dinah Shore Chevrolet commercials, wasn’t a fan of Dave Garroway but I liked Hugh Downs. I’m so old I even remember when it went from black and white to color!

When LC and I were newly married, we lived in Indianapolis and Jane Pauley was hosting local news on WISH television. She was cute and perky, and I followed her to the big time on Today. I continued to watch it until that pompous ass Bryant Gumble became an anchor, I couldn’t tolerate the man or his chipmunk cheeked sidekick, Katie Couric, so I switched to GMA.

But now, with my all time favorite Diane Sawyer absent from GMA, I’m once again watching Today, especially the 9am timeslot, as I don’t enjoy a Regisless Kelly Ripa, on a competing network. Without Reeg, the magic is gone. :( But what I really enjoy these days is the last hour of Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda. I know, I know, Kathie Lee is annoying, she has always been annoying and always will be, but perhaps she’s mellowed a bit, or I’m a bit more tolerant, or maybe it’s nostalgia because I watched her in my younger years. It’s campy, like girlfriends getting together without all the backstabbing that The View offers, and I enjoy it.

Here’s a clip from a couple of years ago with Jane Pauley in Indianapolis. She’s in her 60’s now, and looks amazing. It’s so nice to see a woman age without all the plastic surgery enhancements. A long and rambling interview, but I thought you all might enjoy seeing how she looks “today”

Our little Crimson Tide fan…

2012-01-10T15:05:00.001-06:00

It started out being such a great morning…

2012-01-10T09:44:00.001-06:00

The sun is shining, I slept in, got up, showered, hubby was making breakfast, I wandered into the kitchen, put a K-Cup in my Cuisinart brewer, and NOTHING! It’s totally DEAD, Fred! So I had breakfast with hot tea, and it’s good, but it’s not COFFEE!!!!!

So DH, is in the kitchen, taking the blasted thing apart to see if he can figure out what the problem is. So this song’s for him, he deserves it this morning…

Slurpee Straws aka Aluminum Straws

2012-01-08T15:47:00.001-06:00

This, ladies is the damndest thing I’ve seen in awhile. Hubby and I were getting gas today, and he comes out of the convenience store with a drink and this straw. It’s big and fat, it’s aluminum, and it makes every drink you take icy cold.

One sip and I was hooked, oh my it’s amazing. I came home and Googled it, these are known as Slurpee Straws, we don’t have 7-Eleven’s in our part of the country, but apparently other convenience store chains have jumped on the bandwagon and are selling them as well.

You know what they remind me of? If you’re of a certain age, I bet your mom or grandma had an aluminum pitcher and a set of stackable aluminum glasses when you were a kid. Oh my, did they make your drink cold.

I found these pictures online, talk about a walk down memory lane. I always drank iced tea out of glasses similar to this when I was a little girl. Maybe I need to be checking the antique stores and buying them again.

Or maybe I should just enjoy the aluminum straw. Hey it’s a great straw, it’s icy cold, and best of all it’s red. Such a cheap ~~thrill~~ chill on a gloomy Sunday afternoon. I know, it’s a stretch, but there isn’t much to get excited about in January around here.

Woohoo, works for me…

Happy Sunday ~ Jan

Does this sound familiar?

2012-01-07T14:57:00.001-06:00

Bigelow Vanilla Chai Tea, it’s amazing…

2012-01-07T13:00:00.001-06:00

Deanna tucked packets of this tea in my Christmas stocking, and I have been enjoying it with a splash of Fat Free Half and Half, but apparently never in the evening. However, last night it seemed like a good idea, and I had a mug about 8pm.

Fast forward to 1:30 am, still wide awake, tossing and turning. I just Googled the tea, it has caffeine. Just another thing to mark off my list in the evening. Let’s see now, no greasy food, no spicy food, now no Chai Tea, what’s left???

I know what you’re all thinking, the obvious, salad. Shut yo moufs, wimmen, shame on you!!!

Salad In A Jar Review….

2012-01-02T08:46:00.001-06:00

Oh-oh, here I go again, gushing about that Salad-In-a-Jar, but it’s time for an update. Despite the fact that my friends think I’m a bona-fide fruit-loop, and my family groans and rolls their eyes, I ignore everyone and continue to be in awe of not only making salads that last for a week or more, but sealing other things as well in my Ball jars.

A few more tweaks include:

Not adding spinach, it makes the salad bitter, I now prefer just romaine, iceberg, carrots, celery and radishes.
I continue to freeze in jars. It’s a throwback to when I was a child. Mother always used glass jars to freeze things, she also froze her fish and chicken in water to preserve freshness, but of course now that I use a FoodSaver to seal the jars, this isn’t necessary.
I’m using it for lots of dry products, as well, including cereal and popcorn.
I always have problems with big jars of applesauce molding before we eat it, so now I put applesauce in a sealed quart jar in the fridge and have no problems.
Same with salsa. I seal it, store it in the refrigerator and don’t worry about opening a jar and seeing mold on the lid. It’s a beautiful thing ;o)

Obviously, I could go on and on, and I do, but it’s just so amazing, the things you can find to seal in jars. Hubby loves auctions, I hate them, so he goes and brings me home all kinds of things. Last week it was three dozen wide mouth Ball quart jars, and a dozen and a half half pint jars, all new in boxes, never opened, for the grand total of $15! I was so excited, now I have enough jars to redo my pantry and store all kinds of things, which no doubt you will hear about, and my friends will just shake their heads and my family will once again groan and roll their eyes, but hey, it works for me!

If you’ve stumbled on this blog and are clueless about what I’m talking about, you can read about my sealing obsession here and here and here. If you’re interested, read all of the posts, as I started out using onions and green peppers, and quickly found out that didn’t work, and I address it in the later posts.

And my blackeyed pea casserole from my last post, the leftovers are in pint jars, all sealed, labeled and ready to go into the freezer for a quick meal. I know, I know, I’m such a nerd…

Amazing Black Eyed Peas for New Years

2011-12-31T17:16:00.003-06:00

If you’re one of those people who makes black-eyed peas on New Years Day, I have a wonderful recipe for you. My neighbor, the one with the fantastic German Potato Salad recipe, makes these every year, and it’s a fabulous dish!

2 cans black-eyed peas, I drain and rinse for a more subtle flavor
2 cans italian stewed tomatoes
1 lb. sweet italian sausage, with casing removed
1 large onion
2 tablespoons of italian seasoning
1 teaspoon of oregano, if desired

Brown onion and sausage, drain, crumble and dump all in a crockpot, simmer on high for 3-4 hours, meanwhile cook a cup or so of pasta, any small pasta will work and stir it in at the end.
This is so good, and so easy….

Enjoy and Happy New Year

~ jan

Reflecting, I’m not normally a fan…

2011-12-29T12:37:00.001-06:00

Christmas is gone, the hustle and bustle is over, and everywhere you look people are reflecting back to this past year. I usually avoid this, trying to move forward instead. But every time I see Abby, and how much she is changing, it forces me to look back and face just how much she has changed from a baby to a busy little girl.

She no longer says awesome to just about everything that happens in her little life. She talks now, actually non-stop, and as her vocabulary has increased, her favorite word has taken a back seat. These days her favorite words are “really, really fast.” She loves to do everything really fast, run, eat, ride in the car, she’s a regular little speed demon. She no longer wants her favorite little sheep story at bedtime, much to her parent’s dismay, they’ve read the same book to her every single night since she was an infant, but now she wants them to read her other stories and it’s a reminder that she’s left her babyhood behind.

She had a stuffy nose last week and told her Daddy that her nose was broken and she wanted him to fix it. Such wonderful little memories to reflect back on as she grows.

She has what she thinks is a phone, and talks into it much as her momma and daddy do into theirs. I hear her saying things like “yah, yah, um hmmmmm, sure, okay, okay” and it’s so funny.

I went with Lindsay to her little music class last week where she was totally showing off for me. Yelling “Hi Grammie” multiple times to me, and of course I was cracking up. Her mother wasn’t amused at some of her antics, her teacher probably wasn’t either, but I thought it was hilarious. Ahhhhh, the joy of being a grandparent.

And now we’re home, settling in this week, getting ready for the long month of January. But I have multiple projects to keep me busy, and it hasn’t really been cold, and by March, the weather will be warming. That isn’t so far away, March. Well, okay, ask me that again about the middle of February, but today the grass is green, the temps are in the 50’s, and the sun is shining...

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and that the coming year will be filled with good health and prosperity.

Enough reflecting from this old(er) girl, I’m ready for move forward to the new year.

~ jan

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T18:35:00.000-06:00

Happy Holidays from our family to yours......

Abigail Leigh, our little Christmas angel....

At our age, you just don't give a shit!

2011-12-15T18:26:00.001-06:00

My friend, Carlene, sent me this. It just about sums it all up....

This is a deceptively simple philosophy that I have been working on and refining for most of my adult life. I am delighted to now say that I believe I have refined it down to its utmost essence, and sufficiently enough to share it with a select band of friends that may appreciate its elegance and simplicity.

Susan Branch has a wonderful blog...

2011-12-13T08:54:00.003-06:00

Susan Branch is one of my very favorite talented people. Her blog is just delightful, complete with little birdy chirps. She has some wonderful Christmas pictures posted, and a delightful little gingerbread house that looks pretty simple to create. Here's a snippet of a video with the gingerbread house, this site is such a fun little escape this busy week. If you're not reading her, you're really missing out - you can check her out here...

Enjoy! ~ jan

Jergens Overnight Repair Lotion, it's a good thing...

2011-12-06T17:02:00.001-06:00

Last year Deanna introduced me to Jergen's Ultra Healing Lotion and it became a nighttime ritual for me. Oh, I'm all about the smell and as you regular readers know, I'm a huge fan of Original Scent Jergens, it's my go to daytime lotion. I have a bottle sitting right beside me at the computer and I slather it on just for the aroma. But the Ultra Healing was more intense, it worked well for me at bedtime.

So, I'm on a run to Walgreens this afternoon to replenish my empty bottle of Ultra Healing, and I spot this Overnight Repair. I bought it instead, and oh my, the smell is amazing! Not as good as original scent, nothing will ever replace that wonderful cherry almond scent for me, but this is a close second and it does really hydrate your skin. I think this one's a winner, ladies and I always share my finds.

Like the rest of you, I've tried all the lotions, can't handle Nivea's smell, Lubriderm smells terrible, too, I've tried that gawdawful Neutragena Norwegian Forumla, and pewee it's stinks! I've even tried Bag Balm and Cornhusker's Lotion. But Jergens goes back to my childhood, and since I seem to be reliving it, it's working for me. And we all know, for me, it's all about the 'odour,' and this one is kickass!

Give it a try if you need a new bottle this winter, it's a great find!

~ Jan

My favorite birthday gift of all…

2011-12-03T12:56:00.001-06:00

This is my card from Abby. She’s quite the little writer, and obviously had a lot to say to Grammie. I will treasure this always, it’s dated and tucked away to show to her someday when she’s older. I thought you would all enjoy a smile this Saturday…

Sierra Mist Diet Cranberry Splash Soda

2011-12-01T13:10:00.001-06:00

It's this time of year again, they only have drink in the stores at holiday time. I've drank it for a couple of years now, ever since my buddy V told me about it. The diet version is sometimes hard to find, but worth looking for. This stuff is wonderful!

~ jan

Our little Miss Abigail is out shopping today, LOVE the Yorkie hat!

2011-11-30T14:01:00.001-06:00

My Thanksgiving recap…

2011-11-29T16:43:00.001-06:00

We were tucked into this cabin up a winding mountain road, complete with a mountain stream in the back yard. We had wonderful weather, sunny, 60’s, it couldn’t have been better, but…

John, the firemaster, burnt almost a cord of wood. As I mentioned in my last post, the fire was blazing nonstop, and remember, our weather was in the 60’s! So we turned on the air conditioner, opened doors and windows, the dogs panted and drank a lot of water, and we made numerous trips to the back porch to sit in the swing and cool down. But I must admit, that boy does know how to build a roaring fire!

They took pictures of me and hubby, despite the fact that I’m a firm believer that nobody over the age of fifty should ever have their picture taken.

John and Deanna, however, looked adorable. This was taken our last evening in downtown Gatlinburg. Hubby and I sat and people watched, with Maggie on my lap. Since it was my birthday weekend, the family couldn’t argue with me when I took Maggie everywhere with me. She went in restaurants, shops, tucked into her little Sherpa bag. And why did I take her? Because I’m a worrier, and I was afraid somebody would break into the cabin and take her, or that John would burn the place down with his fires.

Izzie and Mollie stayed behind, and I know it sounds terrible, leaving them and taking Maggie, but you all know she is the chosen dog child. We did take the others doggie treats to compensate.

We played Gin Rummy, Scrabble, Mexican Dominoes, and Deanna and I took turns sitting by that roaring fire, reading trashy romance novels. We cooked on a temperamental stove, with burners that would either be blazing hot or icy cold, but we managed. We baked the most wonderful molasses cookies, a recipe I will share with you on Jan CAN Cook, and we had bags of caramel corn that I had sealed with my trusty FoodSaver, and it was totally fresh, despite the humidity, but I won’t get started on that again, I’ve bored you all to tears with my FoodSaver stories.

It was a special birthday, a great Thanksgiving, and a wonderful time. I missed Ryan and his family, but I was glad that Lindsay got to spend time with her family and we will all be together at Christmas.

I’ll get that recipe for those cookies posted for you soon, they were so good, even better than the one we’ve always used.

~ jan

Update: I just posted the molassses cookie recipe, you can access it here

Happy Thanksgiving from the Smoky Mountains...

2011-11-24T14:22:00.000-06:00

We're spending a few days in a cabin in the mountains near Gatlinburg with John and Deanna. Here's how its going...

1. Temperatures are In the 60's so we have a fire in the fireplace with the AC on.

2. It's 3pm and we haven't eaten because the stove is temperamental and food is still cooking.

3. The family is playing dominoes, I'm not a fan, so I passed, it's too hot to play anyway.

4. We brought the dogs, they're panting and snoozing the afternoon away.

5. Even though I never venture out, tomorrow we will join the masses to shop until we drop.

6. Did I mention that it's hot in here?

7. Deanna and I slept in while John and LC made pumpkin and pecan pies.

8. It took years of training to get them to this point *wicked grin*

9. Remind me to tell you all later about the FoodSaver and KarmelKorn. It was amazing!

10. Did I mention that it's hot in here,

Okay, I've goofed off enough, time to slave over that darned stove. Nah, not really, we're all doing it. Whew, it's hot in here, but we're having such a good time and temperatures are cooling down tomorrow, hope the firewood holds out!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!

A we begin this Thanksgiving Week...

2011-11-21T10:17:00.004-06:00

We've been posting what we're thankful for this Thanksgiving on Facebook. This was my post yesterday, several people commented on it and I thought some of you that read the Daily Dish might enjoy it as well.

I'm thankful for the important things, family, friends, health, as all of us are, but if I strip that away, what else am I thankful for?

The wind on my face when I step outside, blowing leaves that bring back long forgotten memories of Novembers past, memories of loved ones now gone, the smell of candles, the warmth of a fireplace, soup simmering on the stove, sunsets that light up the sky, a simple hug and a child's laughter.

I'm thankful that I can hear, see, taste, touch, and smell, the five senses that allow me to enjoy all of the simple things in life, for they are the best gifts of all. Live in the moment wherever you are this Thanksgiving and be grateful, we are all truly blessed.

~ Jan

Fried Egg Salad

2011-11-19T10:35:00.001-06:00

I’ve been reading online about fried egg salads. I’ve been having computer “issues” and dinnertime came last night, I was drawing a blank, and since LC will eat anything I put in front of him I pulled out bacon and eggs from the fridge to make breakfast for dinner.

As I was scrambling the eggs, I remembered the fried egg salad recipe and decided to try the salad with scrambled eggs, resulting in one of the best salads I’ve ever made. I topped my greens with Catalina, topped it with crumbled bacon and the scrambled egg, and it was love at first bite.

Crisp, cold salad, warm egg, sweet dressing, salty bacon, rings of red onion, Law-dee ladies, is this a winner!

Tweaking Salad in a Jar…

2011-11-17T10:57:00.001-06:00

I’m on round two of vacuum sealing my salads, and I’m totally hooked. It’s so easy to grab one of these out of the fridge, pour the dressing right in the jar, shake and serve.

I’ve learned a few things I’ll share with you and then I’ll shut up about this, well maybe I will.

Make sure your greens are damp, not wet, or you will have soggy salad
Don’t add onion, the flavor is too strong
Don’t cut lettuce into too small of pieces, it works better if lettuce is a bit chunkier
Some people add folded paper towel to the top of the jar before sealing to absorb moisture, I haven’t tried that yet.
It is faster putting these salads together when you know what you’re doing. My total time start to finish this morning was twenty minutes.

This time I used a head of iceberg lettuce and six small heads of artisan lettuce, which is really tender, we’ll see how that works out. I added celery, carrots and radishes, and had a total of seven quarts.

I’ve been adding nuts, Craisins, and fruit, long with protein, to this mix. Today I’m going to try toasting oatmeal and sprinkling it on my salad, I don’t know how that will work, but it’s healthy so I’m going to test it. I need to buy some flax seed, too, that would be a good addition. I’m reading that people are adding Fiber One Cereal to salads for crunch, can’t quite wrap my head around doing that, though…

Yes, I’m still obsessing, I know. Be patient with me, it will pass, it always does

2011-11-16T21:09:00.001-06:00

They've screwed up Levi sizing!!!!

2011-11-15T20:33:00.000-06:00

Please tell me that Levi's run smaller than they used to, PLEASE TELL ME!!!!! I'm seriously considering cutting the size tags out of my old jeans and sewing them into my new jeans in a misguided attempt to make myself feel better.

They probably make these in China and these are sized for Asian woman. Thats why they don't fit! Or it's some kind of awful trick they're playing on us, CONSUMERS BEWARE!!! Do you think I've finally gone round the bend???? It appears that I might have.

I honestly don't see anything wrong with wearing yoga pants for the rest of my life. It won't be so bad, I just won't go anywhere until it's dark, and nobody can tell what kind of bottoms I have on, they will just look black. It will work, right???

Oh, of course it won't work, but these are desperate times! Maybe I should just buy Walmart's brand of jeans, I bet they aren't sized small!!! Oh heaven help, I am going to have to order up those Pajama Jeans I joke about.

No, Jan, you are just going to have to eat human bites and then maybe after oh, three or four years, if you're very, very lucky, Levi's will fit properly.

I think this screwed up Levi sizing is political, it has to be, there is no other excuse! And Levi is missing the boat, they should make all of their jeans HUGE,then we would happily keep going down in size until they fit. Can you imagine the shrieks of joy that would come from the dressing room when fat women everywhere could slide into a size six? They would make a bloody FORTUNE! I think I should email them, don't you???

I really need to curb my enthusiasm…

2011-11-15T12:44:00.001-06:00

I was talking to Nisha this morning, gushing about sealing food in jars, and she asked me if I had always been this way? Super excited, well more like obsessive, about new things I’m trying. V and I laugh about it, too, I get so caught up in the latest and greatest, and then the next thing comes along and my aging brain forgets all about the last latest and greatest and I’m off to something else.

BUT, trust me, this FoodSaver sealing in a jar thing is a keeper. Mother always taught me to store foods in the fridge and freeze in glass, it doesn’t pick up odors, it doesn’t stain, it just works best. And I have all of these glass containers that I use, however, they don’t seal, therefore the food doesn’t stay fresh as long.

So I’ve turned into a one woman sealing machine. See this picture, it’s bacon, yep, bacon. You know how you open a package of bacon and it turns brown and dries out, even though you have it in a Ziploc, well no more. I just stuck my bacon in a quart jar and sealed it up.

Today I found large mouth pint jars, no easy task, as canning season is over and the stores aren’t stocking them, but my local Rural King had them, so I’m good to go.

I popped a quart of salad for lunch, took out some cannelini beans, put the rest in this jar and sealed them. You’re probably thinking, why would she do this, she isn’t going to keep them long term? Well, it’s fast, it’s quick, it keeps them fresher, and it’s glass people. Love this – L-O-V-E this! Now I need some wide mouth half pint jars and I’m good to go. I don’t bother putting the rings on the jars, that’s just another step, and you don’t need them, these lids are totally sealed. I learned online to take a small screwdriver, put it at the top of the highest glass ring mark, jut under the lid, give it a half turn and the lid comes off without bending it, and you can reuse it again and again. Oh, the possibilities….

And my lunch today, well let me tell you, it was so good. I opened a quart of salad, squirted a heaping tablespoon of yellow mustard on top, then I added packet of Splenda, salt, and pepper, a splash of olive oil and a healthy glug of fat free half and half and squeezed half an orange over the top. I put on the lid, shook the jar until it was combined, poured it in my salad bowl, added the beans, and a can of drained tuna and tossed. Delicious, easy, fast, see I’m obsessing. But this is the best thing I’ve come across in like forever!!!! Now that I have my pint jars I’m going to attack my pantry and put all kinds of things in pints. Yes, I know, obsessing…

Oh, I totally forgot to tell you how the salad is working. It’s perfect, crispy, cold, not brown, the only thing I will do different next time is not add onion, because it’s such a strong flavor the lettuce takes on the taste. Hubby wanted salad for dinner last night, it was ready for him to eat in 30 seconds. It’s the damndest thing!!!

~ jan here, doin’ the happy dance

Oprah’s Favorite Things for 2011

2011-11-14T12:30:00.001-06:00

I’ve been over Oprah for years now, but my friends and I always enjoy her favorite things, and even though she no longer has a show, she still has a list.

Here’s the link if you’re interested, I found not one thing that I would buy, it’s sure not like the good old days, but then what is….

You can check it out here, see if you have better luck than me, the only thing that floated my boat was the chicken pot pie, and Marie Callender makes a great one for a better price, so forget that, too…

Corn on the cob without silking it.

2011-11-14T12:20:00.001-06:00

Okay, so the poor ole feller has a bit of trouble with one of his ears turning loose, but this is so cool!

Barb’s Amazing Creole Burgers

2011-11-13T11:29:00.001-06:00

I made my friend Barb’s Creole Burgers yesterday and they were awesome.

Read all about them and get the recipe on Jan CAN Cook.

Another great Sloppy Joe recipe, I’m a happy girl…

~ jan

Salad in a Jar–this is absolutely FANTASTIC!!!!!

2011-11-12T10:41:00.001-06:00

Last week I told you about my FoodSaver not working and my eBay purchase of another one. It arrived yesterday, brand new with tape and cardboard still intact, so of course I fired it up immediately and it worked perfectly.

So this morning I got up, assembled my ingredients and I was off to the races.

I used two heads of iceberg lettuce that I washed, chopped and spun dry in the salad spinner. They don’t recommend you use baby bibb or spring greens, they’re too tender and don’t last as well, romaine and iceberg work best. Then I used the slicing blade of the salad shooter to quickly shred all of the other veggies.

Then I gave it all a quick toss to combine all the ingredients in the mixing bowl, which by the way is the greatest, cheapest thing ever. This huge stainless bowl came from a local restaurant supply house, cost less than $10 and I use it so much, it’s awesome!

I started using a funnel to fill the jars, quickly realized that it was a pain, it was easier to just position the jar over the salad bowl and scoop the greens with a measuring cup. Hubby doesn’t like green peppers, so I only added them to some of the jars and I didn’t add soft ingredients like cucumbers, tomatoes, or mushrooms as I’ve read that they don’t hold well. I also used a regular stainless knife to chop my lettuce, even though I have a plastic lettuce knife, there is “supposedly” no need to use it as the lettuce doesn’t turn brown and I’m not a fan of tearing it because I like a finer texture and it’s hard to achieve when tearing it.

Then I wiped off the tops of the jars to make sure they were dry so that the seal would hold and I was ready to vacuum seal them. It was really fast, really easy, it only took twenty seconds per jar to seal. And no, there is nothing running down the front of the FoodSaver, it’s just shadows from the jars ;o)

And how long did this take? From the time I started assembling my ingredients until I put them in the fridge, thirty-five minutes start to finish and I have enough salad to last me for seven days. And this was the first try, I’m thinking next time it won’t take as long as today because I’ll know what I’m doing. One mess per week and enough salad to last for days, works for me…

Red Silicone Whisk, this is a REALLY good thing…

2011-11-10T10:58:00.001-06:00

I just bought this silicone whisk at either Marshall’s or T. J. Maxx a few weeks ago, both of our stores had a big display of them.

Oh my, what a difference a flexible whisk makes, it gets into all the nooks and crannies of your bowl, it’s just amazing.

You can find them online, too – HERE IS ONE SITE if you don’t want to trudge through the stores looking for them. They’re a little more spendy online, I only paid like $5.99 for mine. But check around, they are all over the place. Super little gadget!!!

What I’m using for Moisturizer…

2011-11-07T10:18:00.001-06:00

In my twenties I was a Merle Norman girl. I bought all of their products, and they looked amazing on my young skin. Then came Clinique and I jumped on that bandwagon. For years I used their moisturizer, toner, makeup base, shadow, blush, even their cologne. All the way through my thirties and forties I was a Clinique girl. Then came my fifties, and I’m realizing that moisture is moisture, so I started using drugstore moisturizer instead of the pricey department store stuff. Now I still have brand loyalty to certain products, I’m a huge MAC fan, but that’s a whole other blog.

Anyway, the drugstore stuff worked great for me, I can’t even remember which brands I bought, but they were inexpensive. Then I turned sixty and discovered the little pots of Aldi’s moisturizer, which was awesome and only cost a few dollars and ranked right up there with department store brands in consumer tests.

And now that I’m almost sixty two, what am I using? Well, I must confess, I ran out of my Aldi’s brand a few months ago, and I had a bottle of Johnson’s Baby Lotion sitting on my makeup table, because I adore the scent and I like slathering it on at bedtime because it smells so good. So I put it on my face, and guess what, it worked as well as a makeup primer as any of the other stuff I’ve ever used. It’s gentle, non-irritating, what more do I want. And it’s $5.00 for a gigantic pump bottle.

So now I’m using baby lotion as a moisturizer. Do you think I’ve come full circle? Hey, it works, it’s cheap, and at my age, regardless of what I slather on, it’s not going to turn back time. Just push down on the pump and you’re good to go. Nothing to unscrew or squeeze, it’s fast, no mess, and at this stage of my life I appreciate anything that’s easy to use.

I wonder what I’ll be using in my seventies? I have no idea, I may be using Udder Cream or Bag Balm, but if I have enough brain cells left to still blog, I’m sure I’ll be telling you about it.

Hope you’re all having a great Monday!

~ jan

Note: After I posted this I started thinking, and I imagine a lot of you are saying, well this won’t work for me because I use moisturizers that have built in wrinkle-reducing ingredients. I’ve had prescriptions for .025 strength Retin A since I was in my 30’s, and been diligent about using it all these years, so I don’t need additional ingredients in a moisturizer.

Random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

2011-11-06T14:45:00.001-06:00

I was going through my blog archives, and it’s really shocking how many years I’ve been doing this, and all the really stupid things I’ve said. My poor family…

This week I heard from a nice lady named Holly who has been reading me for quite some time now, it was so nice to get her email, because blogging is such a solitary thing, I just type out whats on my mind and hit send, having no idea of who is going to read what I say.

My friend, Diane, told me this past week that she enjoys the blogs about my childhood. She can relate to those posts, because her early years were similar to mine. Feedback is good, it’s nice when people let me know their thoughts, heaven knows I give all of you way to many of mine. ;o)

I suppose that my blogs will remain in cyberspace for years to come, and I wonder what Abby will think about her grammie when she’s grown and reads some of these entries. I seldom filter anything, I just start typing and whatever thought pops in my head ends up on here. Maybe I should be a bit more selective, but nah, by the time Abby is old enough to read all of this, she will have long figured out that I’m her wackadoo grandmother.

So I’ll just keep on keepin’ on, spinning my wheels, going nowhere. But perhaps occasionally I will give you a smile, or some good information. That’s my purpose, that’s what keeps me doing this…

Look who’s sharing a birthday…

2011-11-05T18:24:00.001-05:00

No, no, not Trigger, it’s Jean and Roy Rogers. Roy was a hundred today, Jean was a few years behind him. Okay, quite a few, but she is older than me. Happy Birthday, old friend, I hope you have many, many more…

Sharing the good stuff..

2011-11-05T15:16:00.001-05:00

These little plastic tulip sundae dishes are a great find. They are usually in stock at Walgreens, and at holiday time they have them in red and green.

You’re probably wondering why I’m showing you these, what’s so special about plastic bowls? Well, first of all they are like $.49 apiece, and they are the best thing ever when I’m in the kitchen baking. I guess I’ve watched too much FoodTV, but I always measure my different ingredients into little containers before stirring whatever I’m baking together.

Okay, I confess, it’s not entirely FoodTV, it’s mainly so that I don’t forget to add something. I have glass ramekins, and FiestaWare ramekins, but they’re bulky and heavy, these are lightweight, stack easily, grab one and you’re good to go. I have a ton of them, and I use them for all kinds of things. They’re the perfect size for little hands when you are fixing a snack for little people, I use them for coleslaw, potato salad and baked beans, and they’re perfect for a scoop of ice cream, or a serving of pudding or Jello. They’re unbreakable, dishwasher safe, you’ll find a boatload of uses for them. You won’t want to trot them out when Aunt Martha comes to visit, save the cut glass for when she comes, but for everyday use, you can’t beat these!

You might want to check the seasonal aisle next time you are in Walgreens, I think I’ve seem them at Wally World, too. I know, they’re plastic, but they’re goodies, pinky swear they are…

~ jan

Why do things never go as planned, EVER!!!!!!

2011-11-05T14:07:00.001-05:00

I’ve been wanting to make that salad in a jar all week, but I didn’t have lids, couldn’t find my wide mouth jars, didn’t have enough lettuce, you know the story. So yesterday, this little squirrel gathered up all her nuts, found some jars, bought some lids, got the salad ingredients and I was good to go this morning. WRONG!!!!!

I got out all the ingredients, lettuce, peppers, radishes, celery, red onion, carrots, and I’m slicing and dicing like a madman, thinking that I’m really liking this and I should dust off the trusty old salad shooter the next time to shred the veggies. I got everything in the jars, it looked great, it was so much easier to prepare salads this way, I was beyond excited! Yeah, I know I need a life, but anyway, I get out the FoodSaver, attach the vacuum hose, fire it up, and nothing! El zippo, nada, no can do, the blasted thing wouldn’t vacuum. Hubby to the rescue, and even he, who can fix anything, couldn’t make it work. I was frustrated beyond words!

So I go online to Foodsaver.com, get the customer service number, talk to this nice lady named Ruth who gives me all the info on FoodSavers, the latest and the greatest, and of course she has a deal for me. I say “thank you very much, but I’m not ready to order” after she is pressuring me to buy one, but I’ll check around because you can always find things cheaper elsewhere than the original manufacturer.

Sooooo, the one I liked was Model V3840, $299.00, which was crazy expensive, but I liked it because it was stainless and I can leave it set out, so I go to eBay, find the same one, Buy It Now, no shipping charges, no tax, for $76.49. It’s a retail store returned item, the seller is a power seller with great feedback and 100% return policy, so I felt comfortable buying it. Yeah, I know, it sounds to good to be true, but in the past I’ve had good luck with this type of thing, let’s just hope it holds out for me this time.

And of course I read the reviews, and it’s the same as it is for all FoodSavers, some people love them, some hate them. I think it’s because people can’t figure out how to seal the bags, it’s really tricky getting that bag in that little channel, but once you get past the learning curve, it’s a walk in the park. We’ve had ours for several years, and it’s the type that you seal by pushing down on the unit with both hands, this one is hands free, you just push a button, a big improvement, since it gets constant use. We buy whole pork loins, have the butcher cut them into 3/4” chops and freeze them. They’re so good, and so inexpensive when you do it this way. We’ve had great luck freezing all kind of meat, no freezer burn, ever, with a FoodSaver.

So, with a little luck, in a few days, I’ll be showing you pictures of my Ball jars filled with salad. Oh, about the salad, I put them in the fridge anyway, because I already had them in the jars, I pulled out a quart jar at lunch, it’s the perfect amount of salad for two people, or a chef salad for one – this is gonna be awesome once I get it working. I’m also going to vacuum seal nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, raisins, my pantry is going to be lined with Ball jars, which will make me smile, because these are the jars of my childhood.

So, let’s hope I’m not gonna be on here in a few day p*ssing and moaning about how the thing doesn’t work and I have to send it back.

I’m usually pretty positive about this type of thing, but it’s been a really bad month, so Little Miss Merry Sunshine is just a bit skeptical. But we shall see…

Peanut Butter, Jif vs. Skippy…

2011-11-04T14:50:00.001-05:00

When I was a kid, I did not like peanut butter, I didn’t like the smell, the texture, the taste, it just wasn’t for me. Then I grew older, and my opinion changed, and now that I’m really older, I adore peanut butter. By the time I decided I liked it, largely in part to commericals like this with Annette Funicello, who I thought was absolutely drop dead gorgeous, I jumped on the Skippy bandwagon.

Skippy became a staple in our pantry, and then the boys grew up and started watching commercials like this.

Well, of course I had to be a choosy Mother, and they just had to have Jif instead of Skippy, I abandoned Annette and my brand loyalty and started buying Jif. And I liked it, I really liked it, it was sweet, it was yummy and it had a great looking jar. ;o) My kids loved it and to this day it’s our families peanut butter of choice, even though blind studies show that Skippy always beats Jif. In fact, I had a lively discussion about this very thing just a couple of weeks ago with my friend Trish and her brother Mike, who are die hard Skippy fans.

So, maybe I’ll buy a jar of Skippy for old times sake, but I just don’t think I’ll like it as well. It just doesn’t get any better than Extra Crunchy Jif in my opinion. And now that they’ve had the worst peanut harvest in decades, those jars are going to get pricey. But sometimes it’s just worth it, sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. So I bought a hug jar today, peanut butter and celery, mother always fixed this for the kids, and it’s still our favorite way to eat it…

Thanksgiving Favorites

2011-11-03T11:56:00.001-05:00

It’s that time again. Every year I post my friends Thanksgiving recipes, a list we all collaborated on back in 2008. There are some amazing recipes here.

Some of the most requested are Nisha’s Chicken Velvet Soup from L. S. Ayres Tea Room, Jan and Kaysi’s wine infused Cranberry Jello Salad (Lindsay’s Aunt Jan’s recipe, not mine) and everybody’s favorite, Barb’s Melt-in-your-Mouth Pumpkin Bread. All of these recipes are special, as are the ladies that gave them to me. I’ll post them in my sidebar until after Christmas.

Happy Cooking!

~ jan

Here’s the quick link for you…

About that food storage YouTube link yesterday…

2011-11-03T10:20:00.001-05:00

I hadn’t watched it before I posted it, but it was a Morman lady taking food storage to the extreme with solar ovens and 1-3 years worth of food stockpiled. I admit, I was fascinated, and sat and watched all 8 or 9 videos.

I was intrigued by her pressure cooking meat, that took me back to my childhood as mother, grandma and the aunts always canned meat, quart jars filled with chicken, jars of sausage and my favorite, pork tenderloin in gravy.

Mother canned so many vegetables, fruit, pickles and relishes, and an email this morning from my friend, Carlene about sauerkraut made me think of the fall when she always shredded cabbage, let it ferment in big crocks in the kitchen and canned it for the winter. I loved it, cold from the fridge, it tasted nothing like the kraut you buy in the bag at the grocery store today.

I still have her old recipes, her sweet pickles that took fourteen days to make, her wonderful garlicky dill pickles, zucchini relish, Aunt Mae’s Pear Honey that I need to post on Jan CAN Cook, to name a few, and it makes me sad that I never make any of her wonderful food. Maybe I should pick just one thing and make it, just to see if it tastes as good as I remember.

I’ve already given John and Deanna the heads up about my birthday dinner this year, as we will be with them in a cabin at Gatlinburg. I want something I haven’t had since I was a child, and I’m sure nobody will like it but me. It’s a strange combo, but oh how I loved it.

Mother always made it in an electric skillet, she would brown hamburger, onion and green peppers, drain off the grease, then stir in a quart of her canned tomatoes, breaking up the tomatoes with a fork, then she would add dried spaghetti and simmer it until the spaghetti was tender. The starch from the spaghetti would thicken the sauce and it was just yummy! Then, and this is the best part, she would make mashed potatoes, put them in the middle of the plate and puddle that spaghetti over the top. Oh my, it was soooo good, no wonder I wasn’t a skinny little kid! It was totally unlike the spaghetti we have today, no italian seasoning, not even garlic, just onion and green peppers.

Will it taste as good as I remember? I can just see all of you thinking, ewwwwwww, I don’t know about this. Hubby is already going “yuck” but he’s just gonna have to deal with it along with the rest of the family, while I take my walk down memory lane. In our family you get anything you want for your birthday with no questions asked! I’m still working on dessert, haven’t quite figured that out yet.

Heaven knows I’ve had many years of strange combination of birthday foods from the boys growing up so I doubt they will give me a hard time about this…

Besides, what goes around comes around. Works for me!

Our little tiny dancer...

2011-11-02T09:33:00.001-05:00

I haven’t had a crazy idea in a long time….

2011-11-02T09:17:00.001-05:00

Well, that’s debatable, but back in the day I was always trying some kind of hare-brained project, that often resulted in less than stellar results, and most assuredly involved poor long suffering hubby engineering my schemes.

But I’m older now, I just don’t have the determination I once did. Oh, I still find “things” I would like to do, but usually forget about them in less than five minutes because my brain cells are dying off faster than Superman’s speeding bullet. And then along came Pinterest, which I and a lot of my friends, enjoy more than anything we’ve found online in ages. There are all kinds of “ideas” to pin, and because it’s visual, it triggers my aging brain into remembering. A good thing you would think, well, not always, because once again the wheels are turning and I have all kinds of “things” on my to-do list. At the top of that list is a little project which involves Christmas and family, and it’s a great one, but since my sweet daughters-in-law read this blog, I can’t talk about it. I can, however, clue any of you as to what I’m doing, it’s just really fascinating, inexpensive and will make a great gift, so if you’re interested in knowing what it is, just email me.

Now on to my next project. It’s Salad in a Jar. I try to eat salad several times a week, especially now, because I’m just getting over the gawdawful flu/sinus/ear infection that has plagued me for the past three weeks, which resulted in my lying around with hubby spoon feeding me boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese, my comfort food of choice when I don’t feel well. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people who doesn’t eat when they’re sick, oh no, yours truly stuffs it in like it’s the last supper. And since I’ve lived in Yoga pants for weeks now, putting on my jeans and zipping them is taking herculean effort, the muffin top goes all the way to my chin, and once again, I’m on the salad bandwagon. It’s either that or start ordering up those Pajama Jeans that were all over the infomercials last year.

But, I’m also lazy. I know it’s no big deal to make a salad, but sometimes I just don’t want to chop all those veggies, cut the lettuce, day after day after day, you know what I mean. Precutting results in brown edges, and limp lettuce, so that isn’t an option either.

But this is where my latest idea comes in, thanks to a great blog I found via Pinterest, called Salad in a Jar. You do need a couple of things to make this work, wide mouth Ball canning jars and a FoodSaver attachment. I’ve long been a fan of FoodSavers, my whole family uses this amazing gadget to vacuum pack meat for the freezer. I found this YouTube video on how to vacuum seal jars if you’re interested. She starts showing how to use it 3:30 minutes into the video. There is another video, this one is a whole 8 part series about food storage, you can find it here.

I’m going to link you to the original article on how to do this, because after all it’s not my idea and I can’t take credit for it, but in a nutshell here’s what you do.

You take several quart size, at least for me because I like big salads, wide mouth jars, but you could do this with pints as well, put in your salad greens, vacuum seal them, and put them in your refrigerator. Because the vacuum seal sucks the oxygen out of the jar, the salads stay fresh all week without turning brown and wilting. All you have to do is grab one, add protein, put dressing in the jar, shake it, pour it on a plate and you’re good to go….

Ingenious huh? I’m going to try doing this today. I’ll update you on the results.

Here’s the link to the blog entry, in fact the entire website is pretty amazing, I’m so in awe of people’s talent…

Hope you’re all having a great week. ~ jan

BOO!!!

2011-10-31T10:03:00.001-05:00

I wish Halloween was the way it used to be…

2011-10-31T09:53:00.001-05:00

The Halloween’s of my childhood were so different than today. We were hobo’s and pirates, outfits put together from whatever we had on hand. We dressed up in Mother’s clothes, her pearls, her high heels, and a little hat with a veil and white gloves and we walked familiar neighborhoods where people knew us, and they actually “guessed” who we were.

We wore half masks, with a tablecloth thrown over our shoulders and we were transformed into Zorro. We paid $.79 for a gauze mask at the drugstore that smelled awful when you put it on your face, but we were thrilled when we looked in the mirror and saw a princess or a devil looking back at us by just by using our imagination and that inexpensive little mask.

People made popcorn balls, wrapped them in cellophane and gave them to us for treats. And we got big red shiny apples, and it was simple, and it was magic…

Those really were the days, my friends…

My annual Halloween Sloppy Joe Recipe...

2011-10-30T10:55:00.001-05:00

I post this recipe every Halloween, it dates back to the early '80's when we were living in Denver and my friend Susan shared it with me. It's been an annual Halloween tradition at our house ever since, Sloppy Joes and potato chips, and now the boys make them for their families. When they were little it was such a busy time getting them ready to trick 'or treat, so I would make this ahead and have it for them when they got home with their "loot." And since I love holiday traditions, it quickly became a "must make" every Halloween.

I've given this recipe to countless friends, and everybody loves it. It's made from simple ingredients you will have in your kitchen, almost as easy as opening a can of Manwich and so much better! So, if you've never tried these, do yourself a favor and make them for your family this week.

This recipe is a scan of a scrapbook cookbook page I made for John and Ryan a few years ago, it's a bit hard to read, so here is the text:

1 teaspoon salt
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar (white)
2 tablespoons brown sugar (heaping)
1 cup Heinz ketchup
1/4 cup water
cayenne pepper to taste
1 lb. ground beef

Salt and pepper ground beef to taste, brown with onions, drain, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. My guys always loved them with a slice of melted Velveeta on top and my homemade Lime Pickles.

This is one of those recipes you will make again and again, it's just the best ever!

Happy Halloween

~ jan

I just had to share this tonight....

2011-10-29T18:44:00.001-05:00

My friend Trish just sent me this picture of her granddaughter, Hayden, all dressed for Halloween. Is this not absolutely precious? What a sweet little girl this is...

Just like the squirrels, storing nuts for the winter…

2011-10-28T19:20:00.001-05:00

I’ve talked often about living off the land as a child. Gleaning popcorn in the fields, after the combines had harvested the fields, dragging burlap sacks over the wet ground, and filling them with ears of corn left behind. Laying them out to dry, and spending evenings shelling them to store in gallon size pickle jars for the winter months. It sounds so “Little House on the Prairie” to write about, but that’s what we did.

One of my favorite things to do was to visit a pecan grove, not far from home. The owner would bump the trees with a blade on a tractor, the nuts would fall to the ground, and we would fill coal buckets, weigh them, pay for them and take them home to crack and pick out the nuts for Christmas baking. To this day, there is nothing I like more than fresh pecans, well except for those hickory nuts I’ve talked about. The same hickory nuts that my friend Mary sent me last year, and that I hoarded in the freezer, eating a few at a time instead of sharing them with the family because they don’t have hickory nut memories like I do, and besides, I was an only child and we all know that I tend to be selfish about certain things. *grin*

We would also visit the apple orchard, where the big wooden ladders were sitting by the trees, mother would climb the ladder and fill a bucket with apples, then pass it down to me to put in a bushel basket. She loved McIntosh apples, and thought they made the best pies, I always loved Golden Delicious, and they were as big as softballs in a little girl’s eyes.

We also cooked pumpkin to can in Ball fruit jars. Not the jack o’lantern pumpkins you buy at the store, those aren’t good, you have to have pie pumpkins, bursting with flavor. They’re the ones that make the good pies.

And I can’t forget the sweet potatoes. We would dig them before the first frost in the garden, dry them on newspapers in the smokehouse, then wash them, and store them under the beds in cardboard boxes. I’ve always adored sweet potatoes and the way mother would bake one of each, one irish potato, one sweet potato, and we would cut them in half and share them at dinnertime. We still buy bushels of sweet potatoes, the best deals to be had these days are at Wal-Mart the week of Thanksgiving. They sell them for about 25 cents a pound, or at least they have for the last few years, and if you ask, they will sell them to you by the box.

We all have our childhood memories, everyone’s are unique, I’m just fortunate enough, through my blog, to share mine with you. Share some of your memories with your family this weekend, once again, it’s these simple things that they will remember about you and treasure for years to come….

Jan reviews the iPhone 4S

2011-10-28T15:58:00.001-05:00

First of all, it’s no surprise to anyone that I’m a bells and whistles girl, if it has eye candy, I’m all over it! And yes, I’m a huge fan of Apple products, it’s just the way I roll…

I also should say that I’ve been a big fan of my Droid X, it’s a great phone, but when the new iPhone 4S was released there were two things that had me drooling.

The first is iCloud storage, since I have an iMac and an iPad, the idea of being able to access information between these devices and the iPhone intrigued me. But what really sold me was Siri. OMG, if there is anybody who needs a “Personal Assistant” it’s your truly. So I ordered a cute little white iPhone, and patiently waited for FedEx to deliver it.

When I unboxed it, I must admit, I was skeptical. Next to my Droid X, it’s small. The screen isn’t as large, the unit itself is much smaller than the X, but after using it for a few days now, I’m used to it and it isn’t an issue.

What do I like about it? What’s not to like about it. The screen resolution is crystal clear, much more so than any phone I’ve ever owned. It operates the same way my iPad does, so there was no learning curve, and everything works seamlessly and fast. There is no lag, the applications access instantly, it absolutely purrs. When I text, the digital keyboard is much more responsive than my Droid. I used to have so many problems getting my fingers on the right keys, but it isn’t an issue with this phone. But I seldom have to correct anything, the voice recognition is so advanced, it’s awesome!

Siri is absolutely brilliant. She understands what I say, even when I mumble, and everything is hands free, I simply tell her to call or text someone and she does it, totally with voice recognition. I ask her what the temperature is, I tell her to remind me to take something out of the oven, when I ask her questions she doesn’t know, she searches the web for me. And yes, I think of her as a real person, the woman is amazing! I told her today that she was my best friend, and she responded, “you are certainly entitled to your opinion, Jan.” Cracked me up!

I really don’t think I’ll be adding tons of apps, I just tell Siri and she accesses what I need. I wish I could rename her though, I’ve always wanted an assistant named “Wanda,” and who knows, maybe in the future I can change her name.

There is one negative to this phone, and for me, it’s a biggie. It’s the navigation. The Android Google navigation was absolutely wonderful and free, there is nothing that compares to it on the iPhone, unless you cough up $5 a month for VZ navigation. I will do that when we travel, it’s worth the money to me, as we use navigation all the time.

So that’s it in a nutshell, the more I use this phone the more I like it. Today I used the front facing camera, made a silly little video and sent it to Abby. The camera is excellent, the ease of use, for me, is so much better than with the Droid. I’m hooked…

I would never try to get someone to switch to an iPhone, we all have different needs for our phone, it’s a personal thing, but for me, as Apple says, it just works!

It's October, why am I thinking of Christmas???

2011-10-27T11:45:00.001-05:00

I was thumbing through Pinterest this morning, and found a link to make your own vintage Christmas tags. I remember back in the day, I would be all over this like mayo on white, but now I mostly just look at it and dream...

But perhaps some of you might enjoy looking at her freebies, some really pretty stuff here. It looks like she's tearing edges to give it a aged effect. Here's the link...

And if you haven't found Pinterest yet, oh my are you missing out. You can access my Pinterest here or it's always in the right sidebar, I have quite a bit pinned now, some killer recipes, check me out...

~ jan

It's time for soup...

2011-10-25T08:55:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year, today I'm going to make Paula Deen's Butter Bean Soup. I have a small collection of soup recipes on Jan CAN Cook, and I'll be adding to them this fall. They're all good, especially the Sausage Stew, and the Chickpea Soup with Sausage.

You can access them here...

Enjoy ~ Jan

Be careful what you wish for….

2011-10-25T07:17:00.001-05:00

We just got back from Lexington, where we spent a few days babysitting Abby while Mom and Dad got a long weekend getaway. Remember how I complained because she refused to say Grammie? Oh, what a difference just a month makes, now it’s “Grammie?” “Grammie?” “Grammie?” constantly. But oh, so cute, music to my ears.

John and Deanna came for the weekend, and we went out for the day on Saturday. Deanna dressed Abby in a cute little outfit, we put on her little coat, Uncle John transferred her car seat to his car, he and Larry strapped Abby in, we all got in the car and started to take off, and I said, “Did anybody get her diaper bag?” “No” was the response. “Did anybody fill her sippee cup with juice?” “No.” So we trudged back into the house, got the necessary equipment and we were off.

We left the subdivision headed for town, and I said, “Did anybody get her stroller?” “Noooooooooo.” So back to the house we went.

We were all laughing so hard, looks like we have a few kinks to work out with travelling with a toddler…

Oh how I HATE change!

2011-10-18T15:32:00.001-05:00

Now that Stella is starting to finally recover from the ick that has plagued her for the past week and getting her groove back, I’m on a rant.

See this bottle, this is a glass bottle that once contained Vicks Vaporub. And granted, I had my trusty bottle of Vicks for a badzillion years. because, let’s face it, you don’t use a boatload of this stuff in one sitting.

And after poor hubby had trudged to the store time after time for all kinds of nonsense to try and make me feel better, I sent him once more to get me some Vicks, because I couldn’t find mine.

He came home, tossed it on the bed, I eagerly unboxed it, and something wasn’t right. It didn’t look right, it didn’t feel right, the Vicks itself looked like it was a different color. IT WAS BECAUSE IT WAS IN A PLASTIC BOTTLE!!!!!! Oh, I was beyond upset because they quit making it in a glass pot. It probably didn’t look right because it didn’t have the cobalt glow that the glass bottle had. I used it of course, and it smelled the same, but it just was wrong. I swear if I still had the old bottle, I would transfer the contents. So, if any of you have glass Vicks bottles, for gawds sake don’t throw them away, give me one! I’ve already alerted hubby to look for me one at a tag sale, but he says he never sees them.

Oh, they better not mess with my Carmex glass bottle, that’s holy grail! If they screw that up, I will have one hissy fit, but I’m going to start stockpiling my glass Carmex containers just in case it ever happens.

What a traumatic thing to have happen to someone who is sick. I’m going to email the company, I am, and it won’t be pretty, either ‘cause I’m in a mood! Just quit changing things, for cryin’ out loud, we old(er) people don’t like it!!!!!!

Oh, and cough drops, they’re smaller now, why????? This has me all upset, too!!!!!

I wish.......

2011-10-12T11:46:00.002-05:00

Here's what I'm wishing for today aka an exercise in futility...

I wish:

I wasn't sick, two days in bed now, blecht
I had braids, they're back, and I've always loved them but would look silly with them at this age
I could lose 10 15 okay 20 lbs., another exercise in futility
My house was decorated for fall, dropping the ball this year :o(
I was sitting by a campfire with the old ladies, enjoying the day (private joke, they will get this)
I had a new cuddly robe for fall, I see few in the stores and they all tie at the waist, not attractive when you need to lose 10 15 20 lbs.

Jan, blogging in bed from her iPad, surrounded by Kleenex, dogs and ~~juice~~ Diet Dew

Abby turns two!

2011-10-10T14:37:00.001-05:00

Saturday was Abby’s birthday. She’s all giggles and smiles, busy every moment, exploring the world. She loves being outside, sliding down her slide, again and again, and playing with the ~~sand~~ rice table that Grammie and P-Pa got her for her birthday. I love to just sit and watch her, she’s such a joy. She calls me Grammie now, when we I first saw her, she jumped up and down, squealing “It’s Grammie, It’s Grammie!” Talk about tugging at those heartstrings.

She had a fun “Little Einsteins” party, and Mama and Daddy dressed up as June and Leo, Abby was Annie. It was so sweet watching her open her gifts and play with the little kids. These years pass so quickly, I just want to remember every moment…

A lot of memories, today…

2011-10-06T11:39:00.001-05:00

When I was in elementary school, I made a card for Mom, and I’ve always remembered the verse. I thought it would be especially fitting to post it today, which would have been her ninety-third birthday.

In all the world there is no other

To take the place of you,

Dear Mother…

I have a serious cracker addiction…

2011-10-05T09:03:00.001-05:00

Seriously, I do. I can, for the most part, pass up cake, pie, well maybe not pie, or cake, but I can pass up chips, ice cream and candy, but I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to crackers. Gimme’ a sleeve and the entire thing somehow vanishes!

I think it’s genetic, my mother adored crackers, Zesta’s were always in the house, and many nights she had crackers and milk for a nighttime snack. My boys fell on the cracker bandwagon at an early age, John especially, has a severe addiction. And I’m starting to wonder if my little Granddaughter has fallen prey as well. Give her a bag of Cheez-Its and she inhales them. But then her sweet little Mama is a salt-aholic, so the poor little thing doesn’t really have a chance.

And my cracker of choice – well, I do love Cheez-Its as well, but I’m also a fan of Veggie Thins, Wheat Thins, Ritz and Club. In other words, I’m not really picky, I like them all. Since I have no willpower, I seldom buy them, but hubby is always dragging them into the house, and he doesn’t even like crackers! I know he’s being nice to me, but I’m thinking I would rather have flowers. He’s been bringing me Snickers, too, but I froze those things, maybe I need to put the crackers in the freezer, too! I just don’t know why I can’t resist them, what is it about those damn crackers anyway!

Keepin’ it all in the family…

2011-10-04T14:14:00.001-05:00

Meet Miley, my friend Diane’s new pup, who just happens to be my Mollie’s granddaughter. Isn’t she the cutest little dog! I met her a couple of weeks ago, and was just enchanted. There is just nothing better than a new pup, even better when it’s a Yorkie! Yeah, I know, I’m really prejudiced, but Yorkie’s are God’s special creatures, in my opinion, they are just wonderful little dogs…

~ jan

Sittin' on the dock of the bay...

2011-10-02T13:21:00.003-05:00

There is just something adorable about old men and a little girl with piggies. Lindsay and Abby visited her family in Washington State last week and Lindsay snapped this picture of Miss A. With her great uncle and Grandpa.

I’m such a happy mom tonight.

2011-09-28T18:45:00.001-05:00

John and Deanna were married at sunset, on a beach in Kauai, last night. She was such a beautiful bride and our John was a handsome groom. I am so happy for this marriage, she is so good for him and to him, he chose well, my son.

They had a wonderful wedding, stress free, relaxed, and now they vacation for another week before flying home. Their marriage has the foundation that you want for your children, friendship, happiness, contentment, and love.

So here I sit, joyful, teary eyed, absolutely thrilled with this union. I so look forward to the years to come and having this amazing woman in our family. We are so blessed…

It’s nice to have your child home again, regardless of how old they are…

2011-09-25T10:09:00.001-05:00

Lindsay and Abby are in Seattle visiting her family, so Ryan has been working from here for the past few days. Oh, the joy of it, to have him here, doing the things we always used to do, cooking, laughing, going for drives in the country, just the silly stuff.

Of course it isn’t the same as when Linds and Abby are here, I miss morning coffee with Dilly and that sweet little toddler playing in the living room, but it’s so nice to have a few days with him, just living in the moment.

He talks to Abby on the phone, she says “Dada?” and he says, “Yes, Abby.” She then proceeds to talk to him in only a language they understand. We were out yesterday and she was texting him, yes texting, for real she was. She’s figured out how to press keys and hit send, she sent him four messages. So far she hasn’t texted Grammie, but I have a feeling it just might be in my future. Oh, how will I ever delete them?

And that’s my life this rainy day. Ry’s birthday was last week, we’re having Sunday fried chicken today, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, you know how it is, certain foods he just has to have. We made a trip to the orchard yesterday, so it’s apple pie ala mode for dessert.

Then he goes home, his family flies back this week and life goes back to normal. But it’s been so special having him home again for a few days. Now if I could just beam Lindsay and Abby here for Sunday dinner it would be perfect ;o)

Icy Hot...

2011-09-21T15:17:00.001-05:00

Hubby went to the drugstore, bought Icy Hot, came home, rubbed it on my back, and lawdee does it feel good. But the smell, the oil of wintergreen reminds me of smokeless tobacco, which my Grandma used when I was a little girl. Grandma was from Kentucky, and her whole life she dipped "snuff" while hiding her mouth behind a handkerchief. I remember not understanding what she was doing, and mother evaded my questions. I guess she thought the subject was not for "delicate" little ears.

But the smell this afternoon reminds me of grandma and it's a comforting memory. Who woulda thunk it...

Pain...

2011-09-21T13:57:00.001-05:00

Note to self: actually, note to everyone: Never sit for long periods at the computer, working intently without moving around. Holy Moley, I never have back pain, but I've got it now! This has been going on since Sunday and I'm not a happy camper. Poor hubby, he's been really good about taking care of me, I think he deserves an apple pie when I'm better...

Birthday Boy…

2011-09-20T14:53:00.001-05:00

Today is Ry’s birthday. Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!!!! Just saying that makes me feel younger! Yeah, it does. Works for me…..

P*ssing and moaning...

2011-09-18T17:32:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I feel that my body is betraying me. How dare it hurt when the weather changes. This part of the aging cycle especially bothers me.

Why does it have to be like this, why am I turning into a human barometer, acutely aware of every weather front that comes through? My head hurts, my body aches, and I don't like it one bit! But there is no solution to this, I suspect it is just goig to get worse. So i sit here complaining, which does no good either, but sometimes you just gotta vent!!! Know what I mean, Vern????

Webcam 101 for Seniors…

2011-09-14T19:24:00.001-05:00

I saw this on ABC news tonight. Oh, this old(er) couples are SO funny. They had no idea they were actually recording anything, and her daughter found the footage and published it to YouTube. Oh, she’s chewing that gum so hard….. SO CUTE!!!

Not a pleasant thought, but reality….

2011-09-12T11:26:00.001-05:00

One of my good friends has a friend that lost her husband last week. He was only sixty-seven, and died of cancer. Naturally, we’ve had several conversations about this, and it’s a wakeup call for all of us.

This woman, that lost her husband, was totally taken care of, he did everything for her, which sounds good, but in reality, it isn’t, because now she’s left to pick up the pieces and go on with her life and is clueless as how to do it. I can write these things about her, because she doesn’t read this blog, and I feel so sorry for her.

We have to face the facts, especially if you, like a lot of us are now sixty or beyond. If you’re married, or have a significant other, one of you is going to die. It’s hard to think about and it’s such a reality check to read this, but it’s true. And the best thing that you can do for your spouse, or they for you, is to achieve independence.

The worst thing that you can do for your partner is to be totally dependent. So take stock of your life ladies, are there areas that you need to step up to the plate and take charge of? Whether it be finances, home maintenance, or teaching a spouse to do the laundry or cook a simple meal, take action today.

I’m fortunate to have a husband that is self-sufficient, but so many people I know have spouses that aren’t. It’s not only the women who have problems when they are left, often the men are in worse shape because they don’t know how to take care of the necessary things in day to day life.

So if your husband doesn’t cook, and doesn’t want to learn, at least make a notebook, giving him instructions on how to do the simple things. How to do laundry, what to do with your things when you’re gone, how to scramble eggs and make breakfast, how often to water the plants, you get my drift. Sometimes it’s easier to write these things down than to discuss them with a spouse that isn’t interested.

And in turn, don’t bury your head in the sand. Be aware of where the insurance policies are, the stocks, the bank accounts. Know where you stand financially, be able to take care of the checking acount, and find out how often you service your car, rotate your tires, all these things will be left up to you if you are the one that is left. There will be furnace filters to change, lawns that will need mowing, smoke detector batteries to be changed, so many things that many of us take for granted, someday we may have to face doing them ourselves, and you will need a plan.

Oh, isn’t this pleasant talk for a sunny Monday morning. But stop and think about what I’ve written, this past week was an eye opening experience for me. If I die first, hubby will be able to cope, and thankfully, if I’m the one that’s left, I won’t be that woman who doesn’t know how to take care of myself, and I don’t want you to be either.

~ jan