My Sunday morning…

Today I made Carlene’s Ginger Beer.  I made it just like her recipe, right down to the wheel of lime and the spearmint.  I filled my glass 1/4 full of the Ginger Beer, then topped it off with ice and Crystal Light Peach Tea.  And the result – to die for!!! OMG, is this ever good.

Yes, I put it in a Coke glass.  And yes, I have much cuter glasses than this, but I wasn’t trying to stage it, just drink it.  And I know the glass isn’t full, I drank some of it already.  And no, that’s not really vodka sitting next to it, that’s just a bottle I found on a shelf in the garage, I filled it with the Ginger Beer Concentrate.  However, C does love a jigger or two in her glass.  And yes, that’s The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder you see in the background, and yes, it’s a hysterically good read.  Geezy Pete, now that I have that all cleared up, the recipe is on Jan Can Cook – it’s a goodie, ladies.  Really refreshing on a hot day, too.

I also made her Tropical Banana bread, more about that later…

Jennifer Aniston ate a Cobb Salad every day for 10 years…

I just read  this week, that on the set of Friends, she, Lisa Kudrow and Courtney Cox would eat a healthy version of Cobb Salad every single day.

So today I made this version of one.  It was good, but no way I could eat it every day for a month, let alone ten years.  I could eat it every day for the rest of my life and still would bear no resemblance to Jennifer Aniston.

Holy Crap, I just realized that in ten years I’ll be seventy years old.  SEVENTY YEARS OLD!!!!!!  I might as well just hustle on over to the Dairy Queen for a Buster Bar, Blizzard or a Chocolate Dipped Cone every  single day for the next ten years and be done with it.  That makes a lot more sense. 
Don’t you just love the working of the the mature mind???

Yorkie baths…

This video is just so funny, especially so since the M&M’s had baths and haircuts this morning.  Unlike these two yorkies, mine actually enjoy the process.  And, my girls are much cuter than these two…  Well, they are!!!

 

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from Big Red Kitchen

Does this fascinate you as much as it does me?  No, it’s not a cinnamon roll, it’s a pancake!  Our family is wild about both of these, so this is a must try at our house.

It’s from Robin, at Big Red Kitchen, and I’ve posted the recipe on Jan CAN Cook, click thru and take a look.

Wowza, what a great idea!

~ jan

Abby Sunderland

What kind of parents would let their sixteen year old daughter sail around the world by herself?  I’ve been watching coverage of this, and I’m just appalled.  I don’t care how “experienced” of a sailor this girl is, she’s sixteen years old.

These parents should be investigated.  Shame on them for encouraging their child to do such a dangerous thing…

Let’s get serious for a moment….

I’ve read the reports today about Shawn King’s apparent suicide attempt, and I feel really sorry for the lady.  Despite fame, talent, money, and beauty, she bleeds like everyone else.  I think sometimes we tend to think that celebrities lead a charmed life, but they don’t.

If, what we read is true, and she has been despondent for several years because of her husband’s alleged affair with her sister, what an awful price she is paying.  She has her own transgressions, but regardless, no man is worth ending your life over.  She has young boys to raise, how sad that this illness is depriving them of their mother.

I read recently that suicide is a permanent fix to a temporary problem.  Everything passes with time, I hope she gets the help she so desperately needs, it’s so sad.

Here she is with Willy Nelson, this is one of my very favorite videos, I love it at the end when she kisses him on the forehead…

 

A little nostalgia for you this morning….

Livin’ the country life…

Cuppycake….

I actually remembered to take my camera yesterday…

Maggie, Moo, she’s always got her nose in something…

What a class act…

Rediscovering soap…

These soaps bring back so many memories for me.  Mother’s sister, Mae, always had Dial soap in her bathroom, attached to her sink with one of those little rubber grippers.  I don’t know if I was more fascinated with the soap or the gripper. To this day I always think of her when I smell gold Dial soap. 

My Grandma Short always had Dove soap in her kitchen.   I remember distinctly how much I disliked the smell as a child, but now I love it.

I’ve blogged about Safeguard before, and how I remember when it first came on the market.  Egads, that was a long time ago.  Oh, the smell of it, one sniff and I’m right back to being a teenager again.  Well, not exactly, but you know what I mean.

Irish Spring reminds me of my twenties.  I loved that fresh, clean scent, it was the soap of choice in the 70’s for me.

In this day of body washes, soap, at least in our household, seems to have fallen by the wayside.  I picked up a couple of bars the other day, Dial and Irish Spring, just for old time’s sake.  Maybe you should, too.  I bet it would trigger a lot of memories for you, also.

There is nothing like a good chick flick…

Every movie can’t be academy award material.  Sometimes the critics are really harsh, especially when it comes to comedies/girl movies, and more so if the reviewer is a man.  But last night I saw Letters to Juliet, and it was a total delight.  A bit slow in the beginning, but it found it’s groove and it was so much fun.  A lot of it was filmed in Tuscany, the scenery was breathtaking, it was like going on a mini-vacation.  It reminded me of a good Harlequin Romance, just a movie instead of a read.

So if you’re bored this summer, and it’s still on, give it a watch.  Vanessa Redgrave is just lovely, there is an “older” man that is totally “hot” and Amanda Seyfried is one of my favorite young actresses. She’s so fresh faced, so wholesome looking, which is nice for a change, and she’s a great little actress, too.

It was a fun escape, give it a try.  ~ jan

How do you feel about wearing sleeveless shirts?

If you’re reading this today and you’re over fifty, I have a little poll for you.  It’s about wearing sleeveless tops this summer.

Do you dare?  Are you brave enough to let those bat wings flap in the breeze.  Or maybe you’re one of the rare ones who doesn’t have them. 

Personally, I just can’t do it.  Oh, I would love to, though, on a hot summer day, but I just can’t bring myself to expose all that Jello.  What about you?  There is a little poll in the right sidebar underneath the BlogHer ad.  Take a minute, tell us what you do.  It’s totally anonymous, of course…

~ Jan

Here comes Peter Cottontail…

Earlier this week, I went with a neighbor to take her dog to the vet.  We went to my vet, Dr. Wagner, who has her practice in a little red barn behind her house on a secluded wooded lot.  It’s all very Norman Rockwell, no computers in your face you when you walk in, no receptionist, just her assistant, in this quaint little barn, and it’s totally charming.

She’s the most accessible woman, she takes time for you, cuddles the dogs, she’s just a really nurturing person.

As we were getting ready to leave, I’m sitting on this bench in her waiting room, she had come out of the examining room with us and was chatting, and out of the corner of my eye I see this white cat.  Wait, it’s not a cat, it’s a rabbit!

This white bunny was hopping around her office.  It was just the cutest thing, ever.  Can’t you just picture going to visit the vet and seeing a rabbit peeking around the corner at you.  Animals are just the best, aren’t they?  They never fail to make me smile.  It’s good to share your life with one, or two.  They give you far more than they take from you, and always make you smile, every single day…

I snapped a few pictures of my summer garden for you…

Rue McClanahan, dead at 76 – we lost another great one…

 

We should all strive to do this today, and EVERY day…

"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly
where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities
that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that
you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May
you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge
settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance,
praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."

She’s growing up TOO fast….

Oh Law-dee, do I have summer desserts for you....

I just posted a new featured recipe on Jan CAN Cook for Frozen Hawaiian Pie and several other cool summer desserts.  Click thru and check them out ~ jan

Note:  Also look at the Creamy Lemonade Pie in the archives.  I made this last summer, everybody loved it.  Lindsay made it for her mother last month, it’s a great recipe.

Oh dear….

Hubby and I were out and about this morning. We went to breakfast, ran a lot of errands, he stood in a lot of lines.  He was loading the car with groceries, I was standing behind him, and saw the tag on his shirt.  Oh dear, he had it on wrong side out.  And he went in many stores that way.

This is to be expected of me, I’ve done this kind of thing for years, but him, not so much.  Oh well, he is going to be sixty-five this summer.  He’s still far ahead of me though.  I swear any sense I ever had has left the building. 

Abby Leigh, just a summer day…

Sex and The City 2

Oh, it was a stinker of a movie, ladies.  The critics were right on with this one.  The acting was bad, bad, bad, especially Charlotte, who overacted to the point that it was embarrassing.  The clothes were to die for, as usual, amazing jewelry, great bags and the heels were unbelievably high, but let’s cut to the chase, I know what you all are interested in.  How did they look?

Well, they were all trim and slim, all of them were really toned, but let’s face it, they, like the rest of us are getting older.  I thought Samantha looked better than any of them, and she’s the oldest.  Age showing around the eyes, the face is softer, but she looked amazing for a fifty something woman  Her body is still killer.  Carrie, however, didn’t fare so welll, in my opinion.  She still wears clothes like a hangar, the woman oozes style, no doubt about it, but she is so thin that her face looks really haggard.  Ouch, this sounds really catty, but I’m just being honest.

And Charlotte and Miranda.  Well, Charlotte isn’t so fresh looking anymore, her dewy skin is long gone, Miranda had a great haircut, she was never a beauty, but she’s working what she has.  They all looked like they were Botoxed to the hilt, but at least they didn’t have fish lips, no collagen, thank goodness.  What I did notice was that they had great makeup, especially the blusher, all of them.  Now that was good!

Sad to say, I think it’s either time for them to hang it up, or move on to something more age appropriate with their storyline.  Awful movie, I would wait until it comes to Red Box to watch it, even the gorgeous clothes weren’t enough to make up for a non-existing plot line and all those pregnant pauses, it was actually uncomfortable sometimes, their lack of dialogue.  They could have done so much better…

Rona Barrett, here, reviewing from Hollywood Heavensville…

RIP, Gary Coleman

Gary Coleman died this afternoon.  Two of his sayings from Different Strokes have been in my vocabulary for years.

The first is his most famous, in my opinion, “whatchutalkinboutwillis” – loved that one.

And the second I’ve been known to do a few times in my life, “I’m gonna hit those  milk and cookies ‘til the blues go away.”

He was only forty-two years old, so sad that he had to die so young…

Remembering a long ago country morning…

I gathered onions from the garden this morning and as I was standing at the kitchen sink cleaning them I had a flashback to when I was a child, watching Mother doing the same thing.

Except there was no sink, just a well in the back yard that you sank a bucket into to draw water.  There was a bucket in the kitchen that you filled, and a dipper to pour the water into my favorite old stainless steel bowl to clean them.  There was no air-conditioned kitchen to work in, or even a fan, so you did your work early in the morning before the heat of the day set in.  It was always my job to throw the onion tops on the ditch bank for the chickens, and I would do it and run back into the house because those chickens and I did not get along.

There was no pretty little glass to put the cleaned onions in, either, just a Ball fruit jar, and then she would put them on her round oak table, no doubt covered with an oilcloth to protect it from stains. And yes, we would eat the onions for breakfast, with ham and eggs and fresh tomatoes later in the summer.

I say it was so simple then, but was it really?  It was a hard life, but it was all we knew.  The older I get, the more I admire my mother for her strengths.  Her life was never easy, but she did the best she could.  I wish I could sit on the porch swing with her this morning, sipping sweet tea out of one of those fruit jars, and tell her what a good woman she was and how much I appreciated all she did for me.  I wish…

I’m going to give Eat, Pray, Love another chance…

I never watch Oprah anymore, but I did earlier this week when Julia Roberts was on talking about her new movie, Eat, Pray, Love.

I tried reading the book when it came out, just couldn’t get into it.  I’m so used to trash reading, that anything else seems boring to me.  But I need to broaden my horizons badly, everything I read has the same story, the same ending, so I’m going to give this one another go.  Tomorrow’s the day, I’m going to read, not skim, which I have a bad habit of doing, see if I can find my groove with this book. I tried several Jane Austen books last week, they didn’t do it for me.  There has to be something of substance out there that I will enjoy.  Surely, I’m not that shallow, surely…

I’m looking forward to the movie, the trailers looked really good.  I still don’t like Oprah, though! 

Water…

I’m one of those people, unfortunately, who doesn’t enjoy water.  However, Nisha and I were talking yesterday, and she said when she was visiting her sister-in-law that she had a pitcher filled with water and a whole sprig of mint.  Now doesn’t that sound interesting?  I have a big pot of spearmint right outside on my patio, I do believe I’m going to give it a try…

UPDATE:  I just filled the pitcher, put in the mint, hubby wanted to know why I put a bug infested weed  in the water pitcher and sat it in the fridge.  Men Schmen!!!!!

Flies, they must have a brain…

Darn these little annoying insects, I swear, every time I get a fly swatter, they disappear.  Put it down, they come back.  They’re smarter than I am.

Maggie has been napping on my computer desk, I don’t want to swat her, so I’ve been “trying” to smack this pesky fly without hitting her for the past few minutes.  Now she’s awake and helping, she’s biting at it when it flies through the air.  No doubt she will be more successful than me.  She’s smarter than I am, too…

It was just an ordinary day….

Today was a day like many others, just going through the routine, laundry, grocery store, loading the dishwasher,  boring, mundane, everyday chores.  And then I got a phone call and my day was full of sunshine.

It was Ryan, Abby has her first tooth!!!!!  I had this big, sappy grin on my face, I was just thrilled.  She didn’t ever act like she was teething, Lindsay just looked in her mouth and it was there.

If I’m this excited over a tooth, what will I be like when she takes her first step???

Oh, this Grammie business is such a kick in the pants.

She has a TOOTH!!!!!

Martha Stewart Summer Grilling Cookbook

I downloaded this PDF file and it’s a great cookbook.  Here’s the page to snag the download link,  it’s a goodie.  ~ jan

Martha Stewart Grilling Cookbook>>>

My Shape, interesting concept…

I was watching the news tonight and they were talking about this website, myshape.com – you put in all your personal information it finds the “perfect” clothes for your shape. Here’s part of what a review said about it -

What a great idea! MyShape.com is a website designed to help you find the best clothes for your body. Spend a few minutes taking your precise measurements, enter them into your profile along with your fashion and fit preferences and get great clothing suggestions that flatter your unique shape and match your style. Once you enter your measurements, the site determines which of 7 body types you are. You can then choose to shop the whole site, or narrow your search to the best clothes for your body type and personal style. MyShape offers the latest fashions for all age groups, shapes and sizes. Great finds and fits are on the way!

Here’s the click, it looks pretty interesting>>>

Hungry?

I’ve been busy today over at Jan CAN Cook.  Lots of new content, yummy muffins, raspberry scones that are calling my name, and some great recipes from The Noble Pig, including Snickerdoodle Pie, a must try for Ryan, the Snickerdoodle king in our family….  ~ jan

Here’s the quick click>>>

Ok, I’m definitely losing it….

When I posted the baby doll pajama blog earlier today, I thought it was familiar.  Duh, it’s because I posted the same picture and a totally similar article last summer!  I did a search on The Dish and it popped right up.

Jeez Louise, I’m really scraping the barrel for content these days.  Nothing like recycling.  Oh well, at least it was my own stuff, not somebody elses…

Baby Doll Pajamas…

If you happen to be a child of the 50’s, or even the 60’s, you will no doubt smile at this picture.  My mother made me pajamas just like these every summer.  In fact, this could easily be the pattern she used. 

She sometimes made them in gingham checks or seersucker, always out of cotton fabric, and when they were fresh off the clothesline, there was nothing better to sleep in.

So unlike today’s girls that sleep in tee shirts.  I wonder when they are my age if they will remember back to their tee shirt days, for no doubt young girls will be sleeping in something else by then, and they will look as dated as these pajamas look now…

A good memory on this warm summer day in Heavensville.  Sometimes I wish I would have kept a little chest full of my clothes when I was young.  How fun it would be to look back at them now…

The honeysuckle is in bloom….

For a few short weeks beginning mid-May the country air is filled with the  intoxicating smell of wild honeysuckle.

I’ve loved it since I was a child, sitting in the porch swing late evening, just breathing in the honeysuckle that grew profusely on our ditch bank.

And then when the boys were growing up, I remember sitting in the backyard with them, surrounded by wild honeysuckle, watching then play, and once again just breathing in the smell of it.

I’ve always been fortunate to live close to nature and the older I get, the more I enjoy the harmony of it.   It’s a wonderful thing, honeysuckle, and if you haven’t experienced it, you’re missing out on one of life’s simple pleasures.  Just go for a ride in the country some evening with your windows rolled down and breathe.  It’s a beautiful thing.  ~ jan

It's war....

I have this ongoing problem with the M&M's and fleas.  I think its because we live next to a horse pasture, but my friend, Trish, thinks that there must be a nest somewhere in the yard.  Whatever the reason, it's a royal pain in the patootie (literally for my poor little dogs) dealing with these fleas!

I use Frontline Plus, it works for two weeks and the fleas are back.  I've bombed the house repeatedly, sprinkled Borax on the carpet, and still we struggle.

I was p*ssing and moaning about this to Ang the other day, and she told me she's having great results with this flea med she uses on Chewie, her Westie.  So I called her vet, found out that it's a new product called Comfortis,  a beef flavored, chewable pill, no more putting that liquid on their backs and having to wait three days to bathe them, and it kills fleas within thirty minutes of administering it, and they stay off the dogs for the entire thirty days.

It sounded too good to be true, but I read a lot about this product online and people are thrilled with the way it works.  Of course you do have the few dissenters who say it killed their dog, but that's to be expected.  I read over and over about people who have the same problem that I have, Frontline Plus not working after a couple of weeks, but Comfortis actually works for the entire month.

So the girls are now flea free, we'll see how this works out, and I'll update you next month.

All I know is that I have two happy little fur kids, and for $30 a month for two pills, let's hope this works better than Frontline.  I also tried Advantix, but Mags was allergic to it.  She started scratching as soon as I put it on her at bedtime, and I had to bathe her in the middle of the night to get it off.  It's been an absolute nightmare, dealing with these fleas, let's hope this stuff works!!!!!

It's that time of year, and we were in the strawberry patch at 7:30 yesterday morning.  Okay, so hubby was in the strawberry patch, Maggie and I were sitting talking to the lady that owns the field, drinking coffee.

And no, this isn't the field, I got this picture off the web, our local strawberry patch is a bit run down, kinda weedy, too, but oh the berries are wonderful this year.  Hardly any core, full of flavor, they are amazing...

Mother always had a patch when I was a little girl, she would always be so excited, watching them turn red, picking the first of the season.  I never liked them that much as a child, didn't understand what all the hoopla was about, but now that I'm old mature of a certain age, I think they are wonderful.

I hulled them, put them in mother's stainless steel bowl, just like she did all those years ago, used the chopper to chop them and release the juice, sprinkled on the Splenda, made a shortcake with Heart Healthy Bisquick.

Wait a minute, what's wrong with this picture???  Splenda, Low Fat Bisquick???  This isn't the way I was raised.  We drowned them in sugar, made that wonderful pie crust out of lard and layered the berries between and topped it with real whipped cream.

Which is, no doubt, in part of the problem now.  And the reason I make them with Splenda and Low Fat Bisquick. :o(

But they were still wonderful, warm biscuit, berries, and a dollop of.... butter pecan ice cream.  Huh, butter pecan ice cream???  Yep, it's so much better than vanilla on warm anything, and not at all healthy, but sometimes a girl's just gotta live a little.

I was talking to Hooterville earlier, she loves her on a split biscuit, no doubt slathered with butter.  Oh, why can't the good things in life be healthy.  *sigh*  They never are.

But I did have some of them this morning on top of my oatmeal.  And thought of mother and that wonderful old stainless steel bowl that I write about so often.  Good memories, on this cool, cloudy Sunday in Heavensville...

Calamity Jane

I was driving down Vann Avenue, there was a new curb and a crook in the road  I was gawking at the park, hit the curb, bent a rim, ruined a tire.  Oh what a fun time that was!!!

Hubby just laughed and said he was glad I didn't get hurt.  Bless his little pea-pickin' heart, and thank gawd his testosterones have simmered down in his old age.  Twenty years ago he woulda pitched a hissy.

We do get smarter in our older age, well some of us do anyway.  Sometimes I think I'm pretty much dumb and dumber!  Duh...

Every Day in Tuscany by Frances Mayes

If you’re looking for a good read, full of scenery, simple life, gardens, countryside, this is the book for you. 

From the author of Under The Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, Mayes picks up the story twenty years later. 

I’m really enjoying it, thought some of you might enjoy it also.  No, I didn’t buy it, I downloaded the ebook from the library.  If you’re a reader and not accessing ebooks, you’re missing out.  They’re wonderful, and free if you can access them online from your local library.  And what else is in my Adobe Digital Reader?  Raquel, Jenny Sanford’s Staying True, and Carol Burnett’s autobiography – just released books, all free, works for me

~ jan

Here’s the excerpt from Amazon -

"The Bard of Tuscany" (New York Times) is back and better than ever. Two decades have passed since the purchase of Bramasole, Frances Mayes’s first Italian adventure into the meaning of home, made famous in Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany. In Every Day in Tuscany, her third beautifully rendered memoir, Mayes generously serves up another delicious helping. She continues to contemplate the satisfaction of a life created by one’s own hard work, but also celebrates the joys of the piazza, reminisces on her South Georgia roots, reveals her love of architecture and painting, and is especially hungry to follow the trail (which she has generously mapped out for us) of Renaissance painter Luca Signorelli.

After transforming Bramasole, you’d think that Mayes would have had enough of repairs and renovations, but she expands the idea of belonging with the purchase of a mountainside cottage. One day, as she and husband, Ed, are picking blackberries on a rugged slope above Cortona, Mayes writes of being "fatally attracted" to a "lonesome beauty," a partially collapsed stone-roof cottage. This new home becomes a place of comfort, especially when something shifts, when "one glorious summer evening at Bramasole," Mayes writes, "something unexpected intruded on this paradise."

Enchanted by the simple life, a life lived in accordance with the cycles of the sun and moon, Mayes tells her story through the seasons of a country and those of the heart. Winter is about restoring privacy, summer for reading, moonlight swims, watermelon and plum crostata. Mostly, though, the seasons are made up of days meant for being. She admires the Italians for their ease and grace of pure existence. "How do Italian friends naturally keep the jouissance they were born with?" she wonders.

Since Mayes is a poet first, her prose is infused with startling and indelible moments, and she will always inspire you to cook something. Luckily, there are recipes for everything from Melva’s Peach Pie to Risotto with White Truffles, as well as mouthwatering menus, including Roasted Garlic with Walnuts and Guinea Hen with Pancetta. Of the choreography of the kitchen, she writes, "meat glistens, lettuces float, you sneeze, I sing oh, my love, my darling, and dough rises in soft moons the size of my cupped hand as planet earth tilts us toward dinner."

People are always eating in Mayes’s world, and eating well. But good food is essential for a good life, which includes travel and the private discovery of something no less significant than a new star. On watching a couple from Milan eat a midday meal consisting of a full antipasto platter, risotto, then steaks, she writes, "Those are delicious moments for the traveler--a fine lunch with someone you love, poring over the The Blue Guide and Gambero Rosso, a weekend to explore a new place and each other."

More than anything, Every Day in Tuscany is a book for all travelers, those hungry hearts craving a lesson in living life to the fullest, whether at home or on the road. "It is paradoxical but true," she tells us, "that something that takes you out of yourself also restores you to yourself with a greater freedom.... The excitement of exploration sprang me from a life I knew how to live into a challenging space where I was forced--and overjoyed--to invent each new day."

With Mayes as our luminous North Star, we can navigate our way to a place where--if we are lucky--we will choose the road less-traveled, find our own rugged mountainside, and become part of the landscape, perhaps even find a sense of self, if not a place to call home.

Sweet little drooling Abby...

Best Pool Shot by a Naked White Chick

All The Wrinkled Ladies - thanks cuz, good one...

Just in case you missed it...

Must see tv….

Betty White is hosting Saturday Night Live tonight.  Can’t miss this, it’s a once in a lifetime must see….

Wow, I must be doing something right....

I don't bake often anymore, and I always "forget" to buy something at the store.  The family is coming in for Mother's Day, and even though I'm not cooking, it wouldn't be Mom if I didn't have dessert for them.

I went to the store today, got what I needed, put it on the counter tonight.  Oops, I forgot to buy vanilla.  Looked on a top shelf, there sat a new bottle.  Whew.  I read my recipe, I need two cups of sugar.  Drats, the sugar canister is almost empty.  I look on a shelf in my pantry and shoved to the back is a whole new 5 lb. sack of sugar.  Whew.  Oh-oh, I need powdered sugar for the frosting, I KNOW I don't have enough.  OMG, I found a WHOLE unopened box.

What's going on here?  I lucked out three times.  Never happens, EVER.  I think I have hubby to thank for this, he's always replenishing supplies for me. 

So life is good tonight, I don't have to run back to the store for anything.  ~ jan

It's just a name, in the overall scheme of things, does it matter?

Okay, ladies, think back to before Abby was born.  Remember how I saw that cute little Grandma on QVC selling jelly a few years ago, the one who called herself Nana Sugar, and I decided then and there that was what I wanted to be when I had a grandchild.

Remember how appalled my family was?  They vetoed that bigtime.  Lindsay said she wasn't going to get pregnant if I was going to call myself Nana Sugar, and I wanted that grandchild really bad, so I relented and thought of every name in the book that I wanted Abby to call me before finally deciding on "Grammie."  And you know what, it fits, it feels right, I don't even think about being Nana Sugar anymore.

And they remind me all the time that ultimately, Abby will be the one to decide what she wants to call me.  I realize that from experience, for years John called my mother, Mongo.  She would sit in front of him, drilling him constantly, saying, "Grannnndma" and he would look at her and say, "Monnnnnnngo."

So now I have it figured out that I will look at Abby and say "Grammmmmmie," and she just might look back at me and say, "Mammmmmmy."  Oh, wouldn't that be a trip if she decides to call me Mammy!  Hey, that was what I called my great grandma, she was Mammy Smith.

And that little devil sitting on my shoulder hopes she does because Ryan would just be horrified.  And John would roll on the floor laughing.  And what would Lindsay think about this?  I don't know, she's mellowed a lot lately, you'll have to ask her. 

Time will tell, it won't be too many more months before she starts calling me "something."  And no doubt I'll have a video of it, too.  Can't wait...

The Amazing Ross Sisters

This video has been circulating the web.  If you haven't watched it, you will be totally blown away.  The beginning is a bit slow, don't give up on it, it's awesome.  ~ jan

Milestones...

Abby is almost seven months old now and she's changing so quickly.  She sits up by herself, she stands, holding on to a hard surface with her hand, she babbles and blows bubbles, and squeals with joy.

She's discovered the joy of eating, oatmeal with fruit, veggies, bananas, applesauce, she's a little bottomless pit.

She's holding her own bottle, mimicking the sounds Linds and Ryan make, and, best of all, she's sleeping all night.

Lindsay's parents are visiting from Washington State this week.  I'm so happy that they get to see this precious little child, Linds was so excited for them to come.  I get to see her on Mother's Day, if anybody is in the neighborhood, stop by for a cuddle...

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I'm a tuna kinda girl....

I remember when I was in my forties, and my co-workers and I made fun of this lady who is the age I am now, that ate a tuna fish sandwich every single day for lunch. We thought it was absurd.

Well ya know what, girls, I could happily eat a tuna sandwich, Lays Light Chips and a piece of fruit every single day for the rest of the summer.I've turned into THAT lady!

Law-dee, who woulda thunk it...

Hubby thinks I’m really losing it this time…

I was showering yesterday morning, sitting on my shower bench, using my handheld sprayer, and Mollie, as always, was sitting right in front of me.  I looked at her, she looked pretty scruffy, so I just scooped her up, plopped her in my lap and gave her a bath with me.

She’s so easy going, she could care less that she was in the shower with me, she just laid in my lap and let me drown her.

It wasn’t like I was sitting in bathwater with her, it was actually pretty efficient.  But when you repeat it, it does sound rather strange.  I told Marti about it today, and she got this really odd look on her face and then started laughing.  Hubby just thinks I’m demented, but hey it worked for Mollie, it worked for me, we both got clean.  And Maggie, she was off snoozing in LC'’s chair, or I would have put her in there, too.

Like John always says, “Mom’s the crazy cat woman…. with dogs!!! “

I'm a mustard conisseur

Well, I am a conisseur, of yellow mustard.  Okay, all you mustard snobs, there is nothing wrong with yellow mustard, it's preferably to the fancy schmancy blends on a lot of things... If you're a long time reader, you will know that I'm a huge fan of Plochman's Mustard, and have been since I was a little girl eating mustard sandwiches with Daddy (two slices of white bread with mustard smeared in the middle, it was awesome).  It's just the best brand of mustard you can buy, and I have defended it many times to my girlfriends who insist that nasty French is the best yellow mustard on the market.  Blecht!

Well they're wrong, and now I have an ally.  Deanna!  Sweet girl loves mustard as much as I do and eats it on her french fries, too!  She's the only person I've ever known besides myself that enjoys it on fries instead of catsup, and she's a Plochman's fan, as well!  Last week when we were visiting her and John, she brought out the Plochman's, and wouldn't you know, after all these years they've managed to improve it.  The bottle, not the mustard, they would be fools to monkey with their recipe, even though Brooks Catsup has change their recipe and ruined their product, something that Hooterville and I lament about frequently.  We both adored Brooks Catsup, it was fiery hot and tangy, and now it's just wrong. 

But I'm getting off track.  I thought they would never change the Plochman's bottle but they have finally made a flip top on that familiar yellow barrel, doing away with that red cap that always got gunked up, causing your mustard to squirt sideways on your clothes.  I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me.

But it's not perfect, the hole is too large, causing you to squirt copious amounts of this wonderful yellow concoction onto your plate, saturating your food in *gasp* too much mustard.  Can there ever be too much mustard?  Of course there can.

So I fired them an email, telling them what a huge fan I was and how they need to make that hole smaller, but I'm sure some silly man in their quality control department probably dreamed up the idea of a larger hole, causing you to use more, thus buy more.  Yep, I'm just sure that's what happened, a woman would never do that.  Men Schmen!!!

Hmmmm, maybe I should email those Brooks Catsup people now, I'm on a roll here...

Here's a blogsite for you...

I was researching hanging baskets this morning, and this site pulled up.  Check it out, she's got a really cute site with a lot of vintage looks...

Decorator To The Stars>>>

I especially liked her Joie de Vivre necklace on a ball and chain with a rusty key.  Kind of fits my mood this morning, ummm, that would be the shabby look, not the Joy of Life, much too gloomy in Heavensville for that.  No sunshine til' Wednesday either, and I'm trying to plant fleurs.  Drats!!!!

Scroll thru the necklaces, really unusual, really cheap>>>

Every movie can't be academy award material...

Last night Peg and I went to see Jennifer Lopez in The Back-Up Plan.  The critics hated it, they said it was boring, and predictable, but we found it delightful.  It was funny, well acted, she looked adorable, had the cutest clothes and a hunky co-star,  and this little paralyzed Boston Bulldog named Nutz, who wheeled himself around in a cart, and absolutely stole the movie.

I get so tired of criticism.  Everywhere you turn the media is criticizing somebody or something.  Why can't people just enjoy what's unfolding in front of them and quit being so negative!

Great feel good movie, grab a girfriend and go see it.  There is a birthing scene that will just have you rolling in the aisles.  Peg and I were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe.  We laughed through the whole movie, were in a wonderful mood when we left the theater, came home and slept like a baby.  It was a good night...

Hi from Music City

We’re in Nashville for a few days visiting John and Deanna.

You’re looking at a plate of country soul food, catfish, white beans, onions, hush puppies and coleslaw.  Oh yeah, it was my lunch at a place called Uncle Buck’s yesterday.

They have a big landscaping project going, 100+ plants to dig holes for today.  I’m just going to grab a chair and watch.  Works for me…

I made a discovery yesterday...

First of all, just let me say that this week has been the pits, the pits, ladies!!!  This stupid bug just won't let go, I'm still nauseous, tired, cranky, out of sorts and I still haven't got my closet switched over.  And it's been, what, two weeks now?  And at this age I can't handle a mess.  I just can't take it anymore.  Anybody elses messes don't bother me at all, or when the kids come and we have stuff everywhere, that's fine, I guess because I know that when they leave, it will go back to normal again.

But this chaos that has been in my bedroom has been driving me wild, and I haven't had the energy to do anything about it.  It was so bad yesterday morning that I just sat in the middle of the bed and cried.  I told hubby that he had to do help me, I was just overwhelmed.  Most of it is because I don't feel good, but I was just at the end of my rope.  And bless his heart, he picked up, got me organized to the point that I could start to make sense of the mess I had created.  I still don't have everything put away, but I'm moving in that direction, finally.

And what was the discovery I made yesterday?  Well, when I was taking all my summer pants and sorting them into piles, I realized that I hate khaki.  I do, I hate it.  I have a boatload of it, too.  Capris, chinos, dressy slacks, some of it still with tags on it, the rest,  barely worn.  And I not only hate khaki on myself, I hate it on all women.  Well, except for those cute young things with the firm bodies and tan legs that look good in anything.  I think there should be some kind of law that women over forty shouldn't be allowed to wear it.

I know, I know, khaki and white, the perfect summer combo, yeah, yeah.  Every woman I see in khaki just looks dowdy.  It's boring beige, and it just screams old lady.   I love white in the summer, it's cool and clean and crisp, I love army green capris with a bright orange tee, too, but khaki is just downright unflattering.  Now, all of my friends who read this will be thinking, "well, I'm not gonna wear khaki around her anymore."  I'm just sayin....

So am I throwing it all away?  Hell no, I'm just shoving it on the back of the shelf, like I always do, in case I have some kind of revelation and start liking it again.  Um hmmmm, when pigs fly...

Abby is six months old now, just had to share…

 

Hubby had to work last weekend, so Maggie and I went to visit Ryan, Lindsay and Abby.  Lindsay dressed her up in her Easter clothes, and we took photos.  I know I’m her Grammie, so I’m a little bit biased, but she is just the cutest baby!!!!  Click on her pictures for a close up view…

Maggie, you gotta love her…

I’ve had the 24 hour ick.  It was bad, but I’ll spare you the details.  I spent the entire day in bed yesterday with Maggie taking care of me.  Well, she did!

She was either laying on top of me or pressed into my side, often getting up, walking around me, and laying back down again.  At one point, she got up, put her paw on my cheek and rubbed it, then licked my chin and laid beside me just watching me.

Veronica nailed it when she said once that some dogs are more human than dog.  That’s Maggie.  Molly was in bed with me, too, she totally ignored me, but not Maggie.  And people wonder why I love her so much?  It’s not rocket science, people.  She’s pretty precious…

We lost a good one, ladies….

Oh, those Designing Women were absolutely delicious.  Dixie Carter was the quintessential southern belle,  I always enjoyed watching her so much…

 

Here’s a clip from an interview she did on Bonnie Hunt’s show in December ‘08.

 

Rest in Peace, classy lady, you left us too soon….

“Dancing With The Stars” judge Bruno Tonioli

I just couldn’t resist showing this to you.  That little devil is sitting on my shoulder this morning…   Actually, I’m doing anything to avoid switching out  my closet.  I have this  huge mess in my bedroom, and it’s just not calling my name right now.  Know what I mean, Vern?

Abby Leigh, your daily dose of cuteness…