It was a great day...

What a fun 4th, my family was home, the guys took John's new smoker for a spin, we picnicked riverside, hubby joined us from work to watch the fireworks. Dogs are so sweet, Dilly is so adorable, the guys are so funny, Ahhhhh, families are the best....

I am blessed...

Hope your day is filled with sparklers and fireworks...

I've discovered...

That I don't really care for flavored yogurt, but I adore unflavored. I always bought yogurt in all the designer flavors, but I've been feeding the M&M's Stonybrook Organic Unflavored Low Fat Yogurt. Yeah, it's more expensive, but they're worth it.

Anyhoo, I've been spooning it on fresh fruit every morning, and I'm loving it. I actually crave the stuff, and sneak spoonfuls when I'm dishing it out for my fur kidz. While I always "liked" yogurt, I never "loved" it 'til now. So, goodbye Dannon Lite 'n Fit, hello Stonybrook Organic...

Strange, discovering this later in life, huh...

And as long a I'm talking about food, which I always am, I had a hold on a new cookbook at the library, picked it up yesterday, and I have to tell you, this southern girl knows her cookbooks, and this one is the best I've found in years. It's called Screen doors and sweet tea : recipes and tales from a Southern cook / Martha Hall Foose.

If you're a foodie like me, you have to check out this book. It's wonderful southern cooking, not the samo samo recipes, there are really different things in this book. As I was thumbing thru it I was thinking, "why didn't I think of that."

Of course, I'm eating healthy this month so everything looks fantastic, but no, really, this book is special. I'm trying her watermelon salsa soon. It sounds really good... And she makes homemade banana pudding and puts it in half pint Ball Mason jars for individual servings, unbelievably cute, and banana pudding is one of my guy's favorite things. This book is filled with great ideas.

Here's the Amazon link if you want to check it out. Just CLICK here.

later 'gators ~ jan

Update: I just found a link to several of her recipes in the book, including sweet potato biscuits, three day slaw and that great banana pudding. It's from ABC News, apparently the author, Ms. Foose, who by the way is a senior chef for Viking Cooking Schools, was on GMA. So click here, there are several pages of recipes - enjoy.... My little Wednesday gift to you.

Your daily dose of cuteness....

I guarantee you won't see anything cuter than this today, and surprise, it isn't my dogs.... This is my kind of guy!!!!!

Men Schmen!!! They're the same, worldwide....

I watched this clip three times, the more I watched the funnier it got...

WHY WOMEN NEED CATALOGS

The "Car" Love of my Life.... She was a TR6

The year was 1974, John was a toddler, and hubby bought me a yellow TR6 convertible. I still, to this day, remember how it felt to run thru the gears, the feel of the steering wheel, the smell of the leather, and the smooth feel of the gearshift knob. I just adored this car...

Little John and I would zip around town with the top down, he undoubtedly holding tight to his favorite red ball that accompanied him everywhere, me in sunglasses with my long hair streaming in the wind. When hubby was along, John sat on a little shelf in the back between the seats. After Ryan was born, sadly the car had to go, and it was replaced with a more family friendly station wagon, that lasted only a few months. I absolutely hated it!

There have been many cars in my life, hubby was always a car nut, I've driven Corvettes, Jeeps, Cadillacs, Chevy's, Fords, mini-vans, trucks, even vintage cars thru the years, but nothing ever compared to this little convertible. She was the car of my dreams. I still drool, even now, when I occasionally see one streaking down the road.

Ahhhhh, those were the days....

Another goodie from Carlene, enjoy.....

Groovin' . . . on a Sunday afternoon

Well, not exactly groovin', more like snoozin'...

The M&M's are sandwiched together in their little wooly bed on my computer desk, sleeping their afternoon away. Mags is tucked into the back, you have to look closely to even see her. Mollie has greasy ears, despite her bath, just some meds for her ears making them that way, she's not dirty, just medicated....

They're good friends, already. Maggie was never jealous of Mollie, she accepted her immediately. they sleep together, play together, eat together. Yeah, they're sisters, now.

Pretty cute, huh....

We lost a great lady, Tasha Tudor...

Veronica introduced me to Tasha Tudor back in the 80's. The woman intrigued me with her country life, her dogs, her dedication to nature and her strength of character. Veronica was intrigued with her artistic ability, she was an amazing illustrator, but for me it was the way she lived, in her farmhouse, walking barefoot thru her gardens with her dogs, growing her own food, I thought she was one of the most interesting women I had ever read about. Later, I saw a special about her life on PBS, Take Joy: The Magical World of Tasha Tudor, it was a mesmerizing glimpse into her world.

She actually reminded me a lot of my own grandmother, and she died a couple of weeks ago, at the grand old age of 92. Ms. Tudor lived an admirable life, and she was an amazing woman. We could all learn from her.

Your local library will have a video recording of her PBS special, as well as her many books, including her biography, The Private World of Tasha Tudor. If you have some lazy days this summer, and if you still has a VCR, you're in luck, pick up the video and watch it, read her biography, it will be time worth spent...

The following is taken from the New York Times:

Tasha Tudor, a children’s illustrator whose pastel watercolors and delicately penciled lines depicted an idyllic, old-fashioned vision of the 19th-century way of life she famously pursued — including weaving, spinning, gathering eggs and milking goats — died on Wednesday at her home in Marlboro, Vt.

She was 92, if one counts only the life that began on Aug. 28, 1915. Ms. Tudor frequently said that she was the reincarnation of a sea captain’s wife who lived from 1800 to 1840 or 1842, and that it was this earlier life she was replicating by living so ardently in the past.

But it was her uncompromising immersion in another, less comfortable century that most fascinated people. She wore kerchiefs, hand-knitted sweaters, fitted bodices and flowing skirts, and often went barefoot. She reared her four children in a home without electricity or running water until her youngest turned 5. She raised her own farm animals; turned flax she had grown into clothing; and lived by homespun wisdom: sow root crops on a waning moon, above-ground plants on a waxing one.

Read the obituary in it's entirety by clicking here. It's too lengthy to post, but it's well worth reading.

Small mind???? Moi????

I was reading my friend, Revka's blog this morning and she said "it doesn't take much to amuse a small mind."

Ouch... Maybe that's why I'm always little Miss Merry Sunshine and why I blog sometimes
"several times a day" as another friend, Robin talked to me about in an email a couple of days ago. She doesn't understand how I have the time.

It's pretty simple, I get up, do what has to be done around the house, and I sit here, playing on the computer, often amusing my small mind by incoherently babbling on this site.

I'll never forget, back in the day, four years ago now when youngest son Ryan said I would never blog on a long term basis. Ha, baby boy, I gotcha on this one, thousands and thousands of blog entries later, I'm still loving it. I struggle with content, as I'm sure you all can tell, but there is usually something in this "small mind" of mine that I can think to talk about.

I babble, I ramble, I sit in the sunshine, play with my dogs, and I'm usually happy. I really do live that simple life I talk about often... Works for me...