Mother’s Day…

When I was a little girl, if I remember correctly it was the fourth grade, Mrs. Wilson was my teacher and I made mother a card for Mother’s Day.  It was made of construction paper, I colored a purple iris on the front, and on the inside, I hand printed this verse…

In all the world
There is no other
Who can take the place,
Of my dear Mother

She saved it always, for fifty some-odd years.  It’s among her personal papers that are stored in the attic.  If I had it down, I would scan it for all of you, but not this year, I’m not ready to go thru her things yet.  Soon I will, but just not yet…

I really don’t have a brain…

I got this email from Carlene this morning -

Hey, Jan,

I love your new and improved window box....very nice indeed.   Thought you might like to correct yourself about your new wooden 'flamingo' from the Baby Store....I'll just bet you it's a STORK

Geezy Pete, of course they are storks.  Duh Jan.  Baby Shop???? Comprende???  I am laughing so hard here, oh I am such a ditz!!!!  Can’t believe I thought the storks were flamingos.  I’m just hopeless…

Jan, p*ssing and moaning about her internet connection….

Arughhhhh, I’m having problems with my internet connection yet again.  This isn’t my first rodeo with my ISP, it happened a few months back, if you all remember, I griped about it constantly, but magically, it “fixed” itself.  For a couple of days now, it’s been sluggish and intermittent, much like before and this morning I awoke to no connection at all.  I called Insight, the little man can’t come until tomorrow.  The technician put me thru the samo bells and whistles loops we always go thru.  Unplug, wait, plug back up, yadayadayada, nothing happened.

Of course, an hour later, it’s working again, not only working, but it’s the speed of light it’s so fast.  But I’m not going to cancel them coming, something is obviously going on here.

And do you know that before  I hung up this morning, that vapid little technician person asked me, “Would you be interested in our phone service, today?”  WTF? INTERESTED IN THEIR PHONE SERVICE???

That was the last straw, I said to her  “Are you kidding me?  Your internet service doesn’t work and you want me to add your phone service????? I don’t think so! Then I hung up.  She probably deleted my service call!  And if she did, I can’t even blame her stupidity on a man!!!!!  And no, I don’t want french fries with my diet coke, either!!!

Sorry guys, just had to vent this dreary  morning in Heavensville.  Sunshine?  Hell no!!!! But it’s been so foggy, we’ve had zero visibility!!!  Whoohoo…..

How two little bundles of fur rule my life….

I have a project I’m enjoying working with on the computer, I’m really interested in what I’m doing, and was going to spend a few more hours tonight working, while the juices are flowing…

But I have two fur kids who are thinking otherwise.  Maggie is standing beside me, jumping up and down like a pogo stick, barking her little head off, Mollie is sitting in the floor just staring at me.

They want me to go to bed.  Maggie barks and looks toward the bedroom, Mollie looks downright mad at me, and so what do I do?  Scold them, tell them to be quiet?  Heavens, no, I could never do that.  Hurt their sweet little  feelings?  No way…

So I’m off to bed, tomorrow is another day, why sit at the computer when I can snuggle with the dogs…

Say G’nite Gracie…

Townies, I have a piece of Heavensville History….

If you grew up in Heavensville, your mother undoubtedly bought your clothes from The Baby Shop.  It was a local institution for years.

It’s been gone since the 80’s, but hubby was at a tag sale last fall and someone was selling these flamingoes.  They were store fixtures from. yep, you guessed it, The Baby Shop…

The two by the waterfall are made of ceramic, the tall one is wooden, and you probably remember them in the store, I know I do.  The wooden one is dirty, and had a broken neck, which LC repaired, we won’t clean it though, it just wouldn’t be right.

So now the ceramic ones are living by the waterfall, and the wooden one is taken to the patio in pretty weather.  I am just thrilled. 

Just what I needed,  more geegaws in the garden.  I’m overflowing, but oh, these are just so special.

It’s almost dark now, but the rain has stopped, so I took bad pictures for you, they’re really dark, but if you click on them, you can see more detail.  I’ll take more when the sun shines.

 

These boxwoods are too pretty to smell like cat pee, but they DO!!!

Last year I had rosemary 0n these pots in the patio, it was huge and it was wonderful, and when you brushed against it, the smell was like a pine forest, but I’m not finding the big plants this year, so I decided that boxwoods would be better anyway, since they winter over.   After several discussions with V about varieties, I chose the english boxwood, because I like the small leaf.  I already have it in the garden, and I totally forgot how it smells like cat pee!

And since these beauties are big, the smell wafts right in your nostrils when you sit at the table.  Oh joy, what have I done now?  I can only hope that the smell will dissipate as summer gets further along.  Either that or it will intensify.  And I sure as hell won’t be brushing against it, as I don’t want to stir it up any more than it already is…

But since they are beauteous, not to mention pricey,  I’ll just light a candle and pretend I don’t smell anything.  Hmmmm, wonder how that’s gonna work out for me???  Oh, I can just hear the boys when they come home, they will tease me relentlessly about the cat pee smell.  Goodness me, Scarlett isn't going to think about it right now….. No siree….  Well, except that I’m in the sunroom typing this entry with the french door open to the patio, and the scent is drifting into the house.  Ohhhhh, Lawdee, the smell is just gawdawful…….

I could wile away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
And my head I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain

The Scarecrow, from the Wizard of Oz

Olive Garden Salad Dressing and Breadsticks Recipes…

Heads up on this, ladies.  I found these recipes in my June/July issue of Food Network Magazine, courtesy of my buddy V.  Anyway, if this really tastes like they say it does, you all owe me for rest of your natural born lives.  I mean, let’s face it, most of us would kill for these recipes!!!!!

I posted these on Jan Can Cook, tonight…

Salad and Dressing

Breadsticks

I have a milestone, time to toot my own horn…..

Finally, FINALLY, I have broken thru that same 10 lb. gain and loss window that I’ve been doing for the past year and a half.  I got on the scale this morning and I’m into whole new digits.  Whoo-hoooo.  Haven’t seen this since January ‘08, and that was just for about 10  minutes before I started gaining again.

I’ve now lost 7.7 lbs. since the first of April.  And I’ve done it despite have the most sluggish metabolism imaginable!   I attribute my loss to the fact that  I tweet what I eat, every single day, every single morsel that I put in my mouth! It’s  the fact that I publish every single bite  that is keeping me accountable.

I have lots of recipes on my Eating Right blog, including  a ton of archived recipes in the right sidebar, you might get some ideas, too.  Last night I posted a recipe for a fantastic 2 point cornbread  from HungryGirl.  There are also links to other weight loss sites in the right sidebar of EatingRight.  My friend, Roni, has the best site, it’s called GreenLiteBites, and every one of her recipes that I’ve made has been killer.

Here’s a direct link to the tweets, join Twitter and follow me, you might get some ideas, too.  Most of what I eat sounds pretty bad, but once you get into the swing of it, it’s easily doable and the food tastes pretty darn good.  I read those labels, weigh my food on a scale, and try not to eat too much processed food.  For the most part, I’m not hungry,I’m  just being accountable, not eating junk  and not eating out much. 

We all know what a difficult journey this is, and I don’t know how successful I will be, but just for today, right now, it’s working, and for me, that’s quite an accomplishment.