HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

It has been one weird weekend with sick folks around me during my birthday celebration weekend.  Scootard and our daughter Tracey have been ill.  Tracey was just starting her "throws" with a virus, and I was running back and forth taking care of things.  Scootard had moments of "normalness" during his vigilant fight.  Notice his facial expression?  Yep, that's normal...haha.  Tracey on the other hand, looked like she was about to "give up the ghost".....:-(.   Sorry about my laptop in the way.

But in spite of all of the illness in the house, all was not lost since I was taking the entire weekend to celebrate one way or another.  Tracey made me a basket some time earlier in the week and had it delivered to the house for me....:-).  It was a nice addition to the edible arrangement that I had received from our oldest daughter the day before......:-).

And a closer look revealed that there was even something in the basket for "Ms Vickey" when she takes her next ride in the spring......I'm thinking of naming him "Oscar".  Any suggestions??

I opened my cards to discover that some of them were musical...I have always thought those kinds of cards were very cool. Especially when they sing things like "Celebrate Good Times" by Cool and the Gang...haha

by this time Tracey had run out of steam and was back in her room in "quarantine".....:-(.

I'll bet she was VERY HAPPY that she was an adult when she saw me approaching with this.....haha.  You know how we sometimes do this with babies, right?  yeah....

A friend of hers sent this to help brighten up her day......:-).

Some ladies from our ministry planned a birthday get together and dinner for me. One of them made me an Italian Cream Cake and drove it all the way from Texas to give to me for my birthday....:-).  I thought it looked pretty cool in front of my birthday balloons.  Pretty cool- eh?

And then I got more cards.....:-).  Scootard held them for me while I took the shot.

And gifts.....:-).  This one came from one of the ladies who came in from another city......:-).

And the gifts kept coming....:-).  This will be very useful "whenever" we start to make our way back to Canada.  But with all of the sickness in the family right now, it won't be tomorrow as planned.  I'm glad they don't expire!  At least I hope not....:-(.

And a little something to keep me warm.....:-).  They know how I often get cold.....

I even got these "toe covers" to help stave off the cold......ha.  I call them my "Hoovian socks" because they look "Scandahoovian" like something that would have come from Scootards ancestors.

  
It was a good weekend in spite of all of the illness and lack of sleep that I had.  As soon as everyone had gone, I put on my old ratted out pj's and settled in for the night.

See you all next time.

Chicken Soup For The Sick Room.....:-(

Tomorrow is my birthday.  Today, I have spent the day trying to sanitize and take care of a sick family.  The bright side is that my oldest daughter sent me an edible arrangement for for my birthday that had a lot of things I needed to help in the battle of the flu bug.

I have never had an edible arrangement nor have I ever sent one to anyone.  So, at first glance, I thought I saw ice cream on sticks like fudge sickles or something and told Scootard that we had to hurry and eat everything!  We rush the basket into the kitchen took an "ice cream cone" off of the top and discovered that it was chocolate covered pineapple....:-).  Cool...since there were four of them, that would have been a lot of ice cream in one sitting....:-(.   Funny how the picture makes it look like a cupcake..:-).

After spotting the Kale that was used as a garnish, we started to tear the arrangement apart to get to it for the soup I had to make.

I rooted through the fridge to see what else I had that I could through in the pot.  I had some fresh spinach, garlic, onion, chicken breast, cabbage, carrots and herbs. I also found some brown rice to throw in.  Now, it time to cut everything into manageable pieces.......

I had a total of 5 large chicken breast which I decided to split and cut into cubes.  Then I seasoned it with poultry seasoning and a pepper blend that I already had made up in a storage can.

My experience has been that if I add the chicken too soon, it will come out dry and tough even though it is floating in liquid.  So, I tossed all of the veggies in the pot first and brought them to a boil.

Then I decided to quick fry the chicken in some olive oil to seal in the flavor and help keep it moist while cooking.

After the carrots were done, I tossed in the chicken and let it cook until everything was tender and the chicken was thoroughly cooked........

And PRESTO!  Everyone had a bowl or two and I am hopeful that fever that my daughter has developed in the time I was in the kitchen will began to break.....:-(.

A Day In The Big City!

After having spent a few days indoors, the walls felt like they were beginning to close in on me.  So, we decided to head for the "big city" of Oklahoma City once again.

Our first stop was a store called Burlington Coat Factory.  I don't know exactly why they call it that since they carry a lot more stuff then coats.  I was personally on the hunt for more things for our bathrooms and some wall decor for our kitchen in Oklahoma.  Of course, when you are not familiar with a store, you find yourself winding through the isles looking at.....well...everything there is!  Now, I have NO IDEA what this thing was supposed to be.........

but Scootard thought he had it figured out......hahaha.  I, on the other hand thought I had discovered "Big Foot"!!

ok, so just when I was sure he had recovered from his identity crisis.......

BOOM!  What's a person to do??  I decided to well.....I don't know the guy!  hahaha  I made a quick exit to the next isle over for the purpose of insuring all possible onlookers that I was NOT with "him"! LOL

But, alas......there he found himself....basking in....shower curtains.....hahaha.  I figured, it must be time to eat or something.  People can get "strange" when they are running on "fumes".....

We headed to a restaurant that I had not been to in years.......  I love seafood, but had recently had (and was still recovering from) an allergic reaction to some shrimp that I had eaten a couple of weeks ago that left me with whelps all over my face and neck.  It also itched so much that I went through 1 1/2 bottles of Benadryl trying to get some relief from it.  But the thought of trying some crab overtook me.....so we ventured in.....  

This is a shot of the interior......And let me tell ya.....that was one huge shark.  And he was wearing a bib!  Think on that one for a minute! haha.....

I decided to run to the rest room before they came to take our orders.  Couldn't help but chuckle at the sign....:-).  Hey, whatever you call it, you CAN'T get confused about where you were..

You can't help but think you are going to be mauled by a catfish on your way out of the stall!   

Then menu was "cute" and full of all things "crab".......:-).

Now, to get this figured out.  What's a person to do??

While I mused over the menu, I noticed the buckets in the middle of the table that had been placed there to dispose of your shells.  They even offered a roll of paper towels to clean up with during and after you meal...

But I decided to eat lightly since I was not feeling that well or that hungry.  I ordered the crab cakes which were very good and mostly crab meat and not "filler" as I have found to be the case with so many restaurants nowadays.  I didn't finish it although it was very good......:-).

Next stop.... one of my favorite stores.  Bass Pro Shop......

It was chilly outside which always makes me have to run back to the bathroom.  I was amazed that Scootard headed for the indoor fireplace......:-).  You know, being Canadian and all, it is unusual to see him feeling..."chilly"......:-).

Then we started our adventure through the store again.....I have no idea what this thing is, but he liked it...:-).

I wasn't warm yet, sooooo  I found this....:-).  Nice- eh?

I guess Scootard wasn't either!  ???????....geeze....ha.  What can I tell ya....SOMEBODY HELP ME!!  haha

on the way out of the store, I stopped to have a peek at this.....:-)

yeah, baby!  So, how do I look?  Is it "me"??....:-)

oh well.  Maybe one day.....:-).

After browsing the store for almost an hour, we decided to go to our next favorite stop.....still on the hunt for some decor for kitchen and bath..

you gotta love this place.  There are rows of ....well, just about everything you could think of for home decor..

We hunted high and low for SOMETHING that would be suitable for my kitchen.  But, alas!  It wasn't to be....:-(.  So, we headed for our last stop of the night......

Just when I thought I had seen it all........Now, I ask you; can you image getting your "toes done" sitting in the lap of a bear?? hahaha...

After Scootard grabbing a quick (not really) bite to eat, we started our "date night" at the movies.  The show?  "Lincoln".  I recommend this to those who are not familiar with American history and the struggles that the country went through to get us to the place we are today.  Still a long way to go, but glad I was born 54 years ago and not 254 years ago.....:-).

It was a long but good day....:-).

See you next time!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I wanted to wish all of my fellow bloggers, lurkers, and fans a very blessed and prosperous New Year!

I hope your holiday has been all you desired it to be, that you had a chance to hug someone you love, forgive someone who needs it, and remember those who did not see the end of the year.

Have a great year!  See ya soon.....:-).

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

We are still in Oklahoma and are enjoying a quiet Christmas Day with one of our daughters and all of my animals; Scooter and Georgio, (the ferrets) Bubbles and Pickles (the Cockatiels).

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

This is the view from our front porch right now......:-)

The picture doesn't do it justice, but there is a bit of a blizzard going on here.  We watched it go from sleet to full blown blizzard.  We don't usually get this kind of weather in the part of Canada we live in.  So, this has been a spectackular event to Scootard.  He has never been in my neck of the woods this time of year....:-).

Now, we pray the weather is much better when we start our long trek back home in a couple of weeks.....:-).

This is a tree we found in the attic already dressed and ready to go! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

Double Dog Dare ya!

When I moved to Canada, I started really experimenting with different recipes and spices to pass some time.  One of the things I concocted was a pepper blend that I gave various names to depending on which peppers I actually used.

I figured since our trip has been delayed until January, I might as well get busy in the kitchen making some of my famous blend.  We went on the local Army base and visited the commissary and loaded up on peppers.  The included Serrano, Jalepenio, (green and red ones), Pablano, Anahiem, crushed red pepper, Habanero and a white pepper that didn't have a label.

Having done this before without being properly prepared, (believe me, I paid dearly too);  I decided to take some precautions this time around.....Now, I'm armed and dangerous!  I pulled my hair back, turned on the exhaust and put on my "protective gear".  They teach you that in the military when you are under threat of a chemical agent.  haha  Oh, I wore plastic gloves as well......:-).

We had just purchased this small chopper from the store last week and I wanted to try it out.  This picture is actually AFTER I used it to chop everything.  I had to tear it apart to clean it.  It worked like a dream.....:-).  The cutting and chopping of the peppers and fresh garlic took about 20 minutes.  The peppers had to be cut into smaller pieces that would fit into the chopper.  AND THEN, the chopper stopped working at one point.  It took me an addition 15 minutes to get it figured out with the help of Scootard.  He said it had some kind of saftely mechanism on it that will not allow it to start unless all of the parts are properly seated.

After getting everything chopped, I heated a large skillet and added some virgin olive oil (first cold pressed), and added all of the peppers including the seeds.  After cooking them for about 12-15 minutes, I added some ground Cayenne, White, and Black pepper that I had already blended in another container.  I guess by now you understand why the mask, glasses and gloves.....:-).  The house was filled with the smell of pepper even though I had the exhaust on full power.

Once the peppers were tender, I turned the heat off and added 6 large cloves of fresh garlic that I had chopped in my new chopper.  I wanted the garlic "cooked" but not "toasted" which is why I turned the heat off before putting it in the pan.  The oil was already hot enough to do the trick.



 And of course, I had to have something special to put it in.  I just happen to bring my jar from Canada already labeled.  After letting it cool for just about 5 minutes or so, I added about a tablespoon of Buckwheat honey.  I used that particular kind because it was the only honey I had on hand.  I didn't do this in my other recipes.  But I wanted to see how it tasted.  I experimented with a small amount first before adding it to the entire batch. 

But after looking twice, it occured to me that it may not be the right size. So, I found another one and decided to go with it instead.  It was till too small and I had to put what was left over in a small dish.  No matter though.  We could use it for dinner that evening....:-).  Now, the filled jar was placed in the freeze for about 15 minutes to help create a seal

We had wild salmon, augratin potatoes and broccoli for dinner with my pepper sauce topping the fish.  It was excellent.  So much so that I forgot to take pictures!  haha

Oh well, trust me.... it was good, but you really need very little.

See ya next time