Groundhog Day Giveaway

Surprise Groundhog Day Giveaway. Enter here by leaving a comment about my blog. Winner will be drawn Feb. 2nd. so have your comments posted by midnight Feb. 1st. you must comment at this posting, and thanks for visiting my blog. Check back after the 2nd to see who won.

Bulldogs RULE

I just had to share some of the photos I have taken of my English Bulldog, Baxter. You will hear about him from time to time if you follow my blog. If you have any questions about bulldogs I would love to share the little I know about them. He is our first bulldog, and I had been told that once you have one you will want another and I find that to be true. He is funny, like having a little 2 year old running around the house. He is our daily entertainment and makes us laugh almost every day. He has little temper tantrums just like a little kid. He does not need a lot of exercise which was important to me when we were looking for a puppy. I am not able to do a LOT of running around with a dog anymore. He will come in from outside and run frantically around the couch 4 or 5 laps and plop down, ready to nap. He is a happy little guy. Enjoy the photos, we sure do.

never clean your fish late at night

My husband had been bugging me to clean the fish bowl for days. I always had something or nothing I would rather be doing than that task. Late Thursday night I had this little burst of energy about 11:30, (that should have been my first warning) and I came upstairs from the computer and started cleaning the kitchen up. I had baked cookies earlier in the day and cleaned up most of my mess, but there always seem to be some that you miss. When I finished and was satisfied with the kitchen I saw the fish bottle. Mr Coffee, the beta fish, is in a large jug leftover from something I don't recall anymore. We got Mr Coffee for our foreign exchange student a couple of years ago. When he left we inherited him. He got his name Mr Coffee one day when his bowl was sitting by the coffee pot, a Mister Coffee, and he would just float and stare at the coffee maker, hence the name Mr Coffee.
I put Mr Coffee in a glass and proceeded to clean the jug. It is not a hard job, I swirl the little pieces of colored gravel around in the jug and it takes all the scum off the sides of the bottle, Rinse it out with fresh water a few times and your done. The hardest part is to get the fish out safely and into the glass while I clean the jug. Many a time Mr Coffee has missed the glass and landed in the sink. How he has lasted this long I don't know. Well this time I got his jug all shiny and sparkly, and was so proud of myself, thinking when Joe gets up in the morning the first thing he will see is the fish jug, all clean. As I pick up the jug to put back in his place of honor on the kitchen counter, the jug just barely tapped the cast iron sink. I heard a ping! Not a good sound. A hole about the size of a half dollar appears instantly and water floods out of the hole. It all happens so fast I don't even have time to react. When I realize what happened I tilt the jug sideways to stop the flow of water. Where is the FISH? I am standing in my stocking feet, water all over the kitchen floor, water all over the counter and gravel in the sink, counters and floor. Where is the FISH! I begin to panic, afraid if I move my feet I will step on it or slip. He is not in the sink, not on the counter, omg, he is laying there, on the floor, not flopping not doing anything. My first thought was I finally killed him. Poor fish. Have you ever tried scooping up a slimy, wet,little, fish off the floor in a puddle of water. I do not recommend it. I managed to get him off the floor. I think he had started to stick by now. It seemed like forever since the jug sprung a leak. The only water I had for poor Mr. Coffee now was a little left in the gallon milk jug that I use to put water in for a few days before I changing his water. Poor fish, after being scooped up from the floor and manhandled, he gets dropped into a gallon jug of water with only a couple inches of water left in it. Oh, I forgot to mention that when I finally saw the fish on the floor I still had the glass jug in my hand holding it sideways to stop the flow of water. When I see the fish on the floor I immediately sat the jug with the hole upright on the counter to let go of it. What water and gravel that was left in the jug spilled out all over the counter and floor, again. Well at least Mr Coffee was safe in the milk jug. It took 2 large bath towels to suck up all the water. The gravel stuck to the towels and fell all over the kitchen when I picked up the towels. I had to walk away for a while. That was a good thing, because it was much easier to clean up after the water had been soaked up by the towels and I knew to slowly shake the gravel off the towels.
Of course I didn't remember where I had put the old fish bowl. I looked around for a while and gave up. I found a glass in my hutch that I thought would work, at least for a few days and poured the fish into it. The next day, Mr. Coffee looked pretty good considering what he had been through. In fact, I think he likes his new home better than the big jug. At least I didn't kill him. I didn't mention that during all of this my husband, Joe, was sleeping in the recliner, just a few feet from all the commotion. I told him it was a good thing he didn't wake up. I was not in the mood to be told how to clean up that mess. I think I would have blown. As it was, I calmly went about cleaning up my mess. No Help Wanted. That was my Thursday night, how was yours?

January a new beginning 2011

Well, it is Sunday and all is quite here. We had a great Christmas night with my daughter and her husband. The big hit of the night was a Nerf dart gun. Boys and their toys.... he loved it. In fact we all had fun with it, I might just have to put that on my list of things I want. Hope you enjoy the photos of us, we had a blast.
Lacey (my daughter) and her husband got an X-Box from her mother-in-law. I swear if you don't have a video game yet you have to get on of these with no controller. I don't know how it works but it scans you and reads your movements somehow. It is so COOL! I went to her house and bowled. I just can't say how much fun it was... I want one.... bad.... guess I will just have to have more mother daughter time.... at her house, playing.
The next big project for me is to train my bulldog to pull a dog cart that I bought. Right now he hates it. I started today walking with him and I pulled the cart around the driveway so he can get used to the sounds it makes. I stopped and strapped him in for a few moments and got him to take several steps pulling the cart. At least it is a beginning, I plan on working with him a little every day if the weather permits. My goal is to take him to town or somewhere and show off the cart and him... we will see. If and when we make some progress I will post more pictures.
The new year is starting quickly and I have big hopes for this year. I hope we sell our home so we can move on to the next chapter of our lives. Four acres is just to much for us and Joe is not able to do as much as he has in the past. It all gets ahead of me doing inside and outside chores. I still have not found a job and that has put a huge strain on us. We really need to downsize and get rid of this house. I love it here and hate to leave but it is the best thing for both of us. I know where ever we go it will still be home because we are together. Now that I am unemployed we can go anywhere we want. I think that sounds exciting, I have never been anywhere and there are lots of places I want to see. I am ready to move on, just hope the housing market turns around...... for us and a lot of others out there.
Saturday a friend and I went to Wide River Winery in Clinton, Iowa. They had an eagle watch and a wine tasting. If you have never gone there you should, make a little day trip and visit them. I met the owner, Dorothy, and it is a very nice place to sit and sip some samples of wine. I like the dry red wines and they have one called Felony Red. The drive was very interesting as it turns into a little one car at a time road with cliffs on one side and the Mississippi on the other. It reminded me a little of the park in Savanna but when you reach the Winery it is beautiful. It overlooks the Mississippi and I bet in the summer it is breathtaking. I recommend a trip to see them, it is not far, there should be a wine you like, (they have 10 ) and you can finish the trip with shopping in Clinton. Doesn't get much better than that...

It's December 15!

Can you believe it is December 15th already? A whole year has gone, again. I have been unemployed for a year and a half now. The job market is terrible out there, in fact the last time I went and talked to the unemployment office I asked if I could repeat the places I tried to find work at. I tried to explain to them that I live in a rural community, but it didn't seem to set in. I said there is only so many places I can apply and still be withing a reasonable distance to drive. I will not drive to Rockford every day, that is a good hour or more away. In Lanark where I am the closest to there are a couple of bars, a grocery store, bank, eye glass place, and a few other small businesses that have been here forever, and the people who work there have been there for a long time. I am a people person, I love talking to people, helping people, I am just happy interacting with them. I was a secretary for 15 years before I was let go, I loved my job... I was good at my job, I cared about our customers.... I do not see that so much anymore...I worked in a hospital, in the medical record department. Let me tell you, it is a low paying job that you work your ass off at. I wore a pedometer for a while and discovered that I was putting on between 5 and 7 miles a day running around the hospital with charts. I did it for little pay and felt like I had found the perfect job for me, working with others who care about people and our department was mostly ladies my age, a little older but still out there doing a good job, no matter what. I was let go from this also. I still keep in touch with the ladies from that job, they were great ladies to work with, and anyone who knows women knows there are not always easy to work with. This group was some of the best gals I have ever come across. A year and a half has gone by now, I have worked a little part time here and there, but not enough to keep me busy. I have hosted at Poopy's Pub N Grub in Savanna, and because I am a people person I love it. I have met people from all over, one from France, some from Canada, all riding a motorcycle to see Poopy's. I loved it. Now weather and the economy is bad, I am not working the weekends like I had been. I am home, stuck inside with my hubby and dog, probably for the winter... don't get me wrong, it is not all bad, we save gas money, we don't have to pay to be plowed out if I am not going anywhere, and I am here, at home. I am depressed again, but fighting every day to be good. I am a good person, I have so much to offer, but where is the outlet for that? I need people, I need to be needed, that I think comes from being a mother, but this day in, day out, no hope in sight, it takes a toll, and I am not as bad off as some of the unemployed out there, so far our home is still ours, it is for sale, as many are now, I have this terrible gut feeling that things will get worse before it gets better. I see this in so many peoples eyes, I do what I can, I offer my home to friends to come and dine, I tell friends to come stay all night, take a break from the stress they have, let me help you relax, it is a small thing I can do. I want to share our home as long as we have it. My house is a home, it is inviting and warm. I feel love here, and even when I am totally depressed and feel so alone, I am at peace here. If I can share this with a friend, it pleases me and makes me feel good. It is no trouble, it is love.. it is sharing..

Sunday, Dec 12th, 2010

Our big storm was not as bad as we all thought it would be, country roads and side roads are slick and you do have to be careful. I did not have to work today so that was nice, didn't need to be plowed out or take a chance on the slippery roads out here.
I have a fire going in the fireplace, made chicken soup and had some great music playing. Times like this I could just sit here and do nothing for most of the day.
I have a review on a CD I just purchased. It is called O Holy Night, by Jackie Evancho. She was on Americas Got Talent, and I do not know how she did, if she won or was second or what, but I heard her on tv one morning and I must say, if an angel broke into song, this is what it would sound like. She is only 10, but you will not believe her voice. If you know someone who likes opera style of singing, or just loves a great voice I highly recommend this CD. It is a great gift for Christmas and will not set you back much, I paid $7.00 at Walmart for mine. I give this CD a 10. Let me know if you have it or have heard of Jackie, I would love some feedback. If you give it as a gift let me know how the recipient liked it. I almost forgot, the picture of my dog Baxter was him sitting by my chair with this great look on his face. He was listening to this CD. I watched him for a while and he just sat and looked up at the speakers. Jackie's voice will calm the savage beast..or... at least get his attention.

My chicken soup turned out soooo good. I put some of my homemade salsa in it. This batch of salsa was a little hot and really heated up the soup. Joe's and my noses started running, a sign of good spicy soup... I had two bowls and could have had another, but I think I will save some for later.

I am posting a recipe today, Oven Baked Brown Rice. I use this all the time and like the way it comes out. I can not make rice, it comes out clumpy,dry, stuck together, even the instant I have a hard time with. Since I found this recipe I stopped trying any others. It is from the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. Hope you try it and enjoy.
1 1/2 cups brown rice
2 1/3 cups water.... you can use broth if you like
1 tablespoon olive oil, I use butter sometimes

heat oven to 375: spray dish, heat water to boiling, put rice and spices, salt pepper, I use mushrooms or celery in dish, pour water over rice and cover dish. Bake for about 1 hour. take rice out of oven, uncover, fluff with fork, cover let sit for a few minutes. I divide this and make spanish rice or stuffed peppers. I do freeze it and it seems to thaw well. If you have some in the freezer it is great to grab and add to soups, or make a sauce and pour over.

first snowfall

It's Saturday December 4th and we woke to our first snowfall. The brightness of the snow was almost blinding as you emerged from your bed to the living room to see what had transpired while you slept. Newly fallen snow is so beautiful, no tracks, so peaceful, it has always amazed me how the snow takes on a secondary beauty. The beauty at the end of the day and there are animal tracks, my tracks, dog tracks and if you have kids, lots and lots of tracks, each track a foot print in time, as you walk your dog, smiling at the beauty of it all, the next time your out you see rabbit tracks all over as they run around your yard, and mabye at the end of the day as your taking your last walk outside, you look around at all that went on in the new fallen snow, the joy of waking to it, and the first tracks you put on it in the morning, to those last tracks reflected in the rising moon, shining on the end of one snowy day, that very first snow day.
The picture of my dog walking out into the snow makes me think of a rock star getting ready to go out on stage. The quiet dark hallway, away from the crowd, just feet away from an explosion of unexpected joy. He did not know what he was walking toward, but he walked on, into the cold unknown, and he liked it. Baxter rocks.