Do you remember???

Miracle Whip Cake... it was one of those World War II recipes when food was rationed. No eggs, no shortening, it's just flour, sugar, water, miracle whip and cocoa. It's amazing, and I hadn't made one in years. Hubby loves them, he took one bite last night and knew instantly what it was. Nisha makes them, she gave me the idea to make it again, when I was trying to do something for dinner last night as Ryan and Lindsay came home for the weekend. Did I mention that it's the easiest cake ever. Goes together really fast, it's foolproof. And if you can not eat it until the next day, it's so much better. Yeah, I know, it's hard to leave it set and not eat it. Good luck with that....

I frosted it with Nisha's recipe for caramel frosting, it was wonderful.

I know, you want the recipe.... Okay, go over to my Jan CAN Cook site, i'll post it there....

Twinkies and Root Beer...

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root Beer and he started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man. The man was sitting in the park just feeding some pigeons.

The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie.

The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at boy. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer.

Again, the man smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the man, and gave him a hug. The man gave him his biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?

"He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? God's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the elderly man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked," Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?"

He replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." However, before his son responded, he added," You know, he's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally!

~author unknown~

Thinking back...

As I prepared to go to the grocery store today, I was remembering how it used to be. Grocery stores were very small, personal stores, you knew the clerks, the floors were wooden planks and the produce sparse, but always locally grown in the summer. There was always a distinctive smell to a grocery store, and it was comforting. You knew what to expect when you went in... They weren't always air-conditioned, but they had big cooling fans, and a squeaky screen door, often with a push plate on it that advertised Sunbeam Bread featuring a picture of Little Miss Sunbeam.

There would be a big wooden butcher block in the meat department, You would place your order with the butcher and if he didn't have what you wanted in his case, he would go into the locker and bring out the meat or chicken, cut it on the butcher block and wrap it in white waxed paper that he tore off of a big role and tie it with twine from a hanger that hung from the ceiling. Then he would take a black marker that was perched behind his ear and write the price in big letters on the waxed paper packaging it.

The milk was in glass bottles that rattled when the milkman wheeled the cases into the store, the potato chips were either Chesty or Lays and "pop" was pretty much limited to Coke, Pepsi, and my very favorite, Nehi, which came from a local bottling plant. Nehi came in flavors, orange, grape and strawberry and it made the absolute BEST floats in the world...

There wasn't a big selection of frozen food, I remember having my first bag of frozen corn as a teenager, and I thought it was a wonderful thing. I've blogged before about my very favorite thing, Blue Bell Bologna, a really intense, garlicky flavored bologna that the butcher sliced, and charged fifty-nine cents a pound for. Mother would buy it in the summer when it was too hot to cook, along with a loaf of Bunny Bread, we would go home and she would make sandwiches, slathering on Miracle Whip, thick slices of tomatoes fresh from the garden and paper thin slices of red onion. Oh my, it was ambrosia... She always had potato chips and cold Showboat Pork 'n Beans with it, and a container of cottage cheese. Hubby and I still love that meal, I wonder if our boys do? They ate it often enough as children, I bet they would enjoy it again...

Today's supermarkets are so big, so impersonal, I don't like buying my meat that is vacuum sealed with some mysterious gas that keeps it fresh. We have a small market near where we live, locally owned, they still carry your groceries to the car. It's not the same as when I was a child, but it's a great store. They welcome Maggie, they say dogs come in all the time. I usually tuck her in my purse, hang my bag on my shoulder, and her little head is poking out of the top of my purse while I walk around the store gathering my groceries. The clerks all smile at her while I'm checking out and they talk to you about their daily lives. They cut their own meat, and they have lousy produce, just like in the old days. Some things are pricey, but their weekly specials are reasonable and it's a nice friendly place to stop....

They also have a senior citizens discount on Tuesdays, but so far I just can't make myself use it. I'm just not quite ready. Know what I mean, Vern???

Happy Anniversary!!!!!

Ryan and Lindsay have been married four years today...

He's taking her to dinner and to see Sex and The City tonight. He's such a smart husband...

Happy Anniversary, Dear Hearts, your journey together so far has been a delight, and you've only just begun...

Where are you all coming from????

My statistics for the viewship of my blog are up sharply. I'm getting a lot of hits from AOL, the entry page being The Boogie Woogie Done Right.

I'm glad to see all the new people, would some of you send me an email and tell me how you found me? My site must have been posted somewhere to get this sudden huge influx of people. Site owners are always fascinated by who actually reads their blogs.

Those of you who are new, I'm sure figured out pretty quickly that I'm a crazy woman. Most of the time I have a sense of humor about everything, including myself! I've been off my game a bit lately, worrying about Maggie and her surgery. But that's behind us now...

Laissez les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll).

~ jan

Maggie...

Maggie is starting to perk up. She's alert now, her tail is wagging, she's eating her dog food, and she was extremely interested in my lunch, as usual. I grated her some fresh apple, and she wolfed it down. Life is getting better....

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole ~ Roger Caras ~

My favorite line in SATC movie........

Okay guys, if you know me personally, you know my only claim to fame is that I'm a wham bam, world class typist, I rock in the typing department, ladies, I really do . Soooooooo...

Yesterday, when V and I were at Sex and The City, Carrie was interviewing prospective assistants, and she was interviewing this girl at Starbucks, and the girl was slightly tipsy, sloshing her drink around. Carrie looks at her and says, "Are you drunk?" And she replies, "A lil' bit, I didn't go home last night, but I can type like a Mother F*cker." Naturally, I was just howling with laughter, cause I can totally relate to the typing.

I would love to put that on my little It's Me, Jan Blurb. Can't you just picture it???

Claim to Fame: I type like a Mother F*cker

Nah, my blog is PG rated, can't do that, but I would like to!!!! It's that little devil that sits on my shoulder sometimes.

I'm perkier tonight. Can ya tell? Miss Maggie is totally stoned, she's feelin' no pain. She's just laying on hubby's lap staring with her little tongue hanging out. I'm going to give her another round of the pain meds in a bit, hopefully she will sleep all night.... I keep humming this in my mind...

Well they’ll stone you when you try to be so good
They’ll stone you just like they said they would
They’ll stone you when you’re trying to go home
Then they’ll stone you when you live all alone
But I would not feel so all alone everybody must get stoned

~ Bob Dylan, 1966

Surgery is over....

Dr. Wagner called me to tell me that Maggie handled her bladder surgery like a champ. Just thought you would all like to know that it's over and she is waking up from the anesethetic.

And, the plus of having a woman vet, they had to remove some of Maggie's baby teeth, and her face was wet, so Dr. Wagner's assistant was blowing her moustache dry. A guy vet would never do that!

Women are just the BEST!!!!!!!!!!

Sex and the City....

Veronica and I saw Sex and the City today. It's wonderful, it's too marvelous for words, girlfriends. If you haven't seen it yet, grab a friend and GO!!!!!

The girls look great, Miranda has the BEST makeup ev-er, Carrie wears clothes better than any actress in tinseltown, and is still a skinny be-otch. What does that woman eat, anyway??? Charlotte is still syrupy sweet, even though she does go for the jugular with Big over Carrie. And Samantha, oh my, Kim Cattrell will be fifty-two in August, and she looks absolutely fantastic!

The clothes were great, the hair and makeup was wonderful, the dogs adorable, it wasn't cheezy, it was amazing, sez Jan, gushing.....

staring at the blinking cursor...

i can usually think of a topic to blog about, today i'm just sitting here staring at the stupid cursor blinking on and off....

okay, let's jump in here, my garden is thriving, despite my windowbox, whose flowers on one side are profuse, flowers on the other side are spindly, all wave petunias, dunno whazzup with 'em. i have little tomatoes on the vines, my pepper plants are turning yellow, too much water i think, everything else is doing great.

it's hot, i'm housebound, don't want to face the heat and humidity today, maggie is snoozing in her bed on my computer desk. i think i'm just waiting out this surgery thing with her, which happens tuesday...

i'll be back later today, the nonsense will come, it always does....