Tuna Spread

1) Sandwich with Tuna Spread (light tuna, light cream cheese, capers, lemon juice and smoked paprika) and pickled onions (blue box)
2) Trader Joe’s French Village Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt, black cherry flavor (green box)
3) Roasted Brussels Sprouts (orange box)
4) Grapes (other blue box)
5) Leftover crustless quiche (outside)
Verdict — this tuna spread is great, and I love the pickled onions. It was a lot of food though - sprouts are filling! I definitely didn’t need the quiche. And the predone yogurt lasted much better.
Here is a blog with more lunch ideas:
http://amusebouches.wordpress.com/category/lunchbox/

mmmmmmm, looks good

May have to try this one day. would be good in those backed taco shells I saw earlier today.
http://savour-fare.com/2009/03/19/carolina-barbecue-pulled-pork/

"retiring" today...

Was changing clothes last night when a someone knocked on the front door. Zoe and I opened it to find a nice neighbor who was out walking his dog and heard a hissing from the van when they passed by it. So, he said I was going to have a flat if I waited till morning to fix so hopped in drove to Sears Auto...closed 2 minutes before I arrived...went back home picked up Cindy, the Accord, Belle and Zoe for a caravan to AC Auto where I left the Odessey.

As I expected they called and reported I need a new tire...no...four new tires for $540.00, I asked how about just two...that would be $270.00 for thier top rated ones...I said, well I "better call around" and he said....oh, let me check another place. And, yes we have four tires for you there for just $383.93 and then I asked...how much for two??? so I am getting two tires for the rear for a whopping $199.24 out the door price!!!! $380.oo less (including sales tax) than the first number he whipped out. Pays to ask and negotiate.

bulliten board idea

chicken wire and clothes pins.....

more favor ideas...

gum balls

favor boxes

Yummmm!

I need to make me some of this!
http://butteryum.blogspot.com/2009/02/homemade-chicken-stock-pennies-per.html

Cake Pops...looks like fun!

should try to make one day...
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/how-to-make-cake-pops-078637

Jenny Law Wedding Invitations

Finished these invitations today. They have a translucent vellum wrap around the invitation. Very soft and pretty with a touch of a Victorian feel the bride wanted.

Peggy always says what I am thinking/feeling...

in today's column she did it again:
... many see our leaders as "selfish and dishonest," that "our institutions have been revealed as incompetent and undependable." People feel "unled, overwhelmed," the situation "seemingly unsalvageable." ...

Yesterday at the store....

Easter is April 12, 2009

BFF (best friend found)

Cindy found my friend of years and years that has been missing for months and months!!!!

Life is better now....

APHORISM

Kris emailed me this list today and I want to remember it.........

APHORISM: A SHORT, POINTED SENTENCE EXPRESSING A WISE OR CLEVER OBSERVATION OR A GENERAL TRUTH
1. The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.
2. Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.
3. If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.
4. Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.
5. A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.
6. How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?
7. Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without.
8 Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?
9. Scratch a cat and you will have a permanent job.
10. No one has more driving ambition than the boy who wants to buy a car.
11. There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.
12. There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 AM. It could be a right number.
13. No one ever says 'It's only a game.' when their team is winning.
14. I've reached the age where the happy hour is a nap.
15. Be careful reading the fine print. There's no way you're going to like it.
16. The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket.
17. Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? (And rap music will be the Golden Oldies!)
18. Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Corvette than in a Yugo.
19. After 50, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead!!
20. Always be yourself because the people that matter don't mind, and the ones who mind, don't matter.

Aunt Mary's Dash...

110 GOUCHER CIRCLE - OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE

Aunt Mary went to join Nana, Dada and her little sister, Louise, last night - March 8, 2009.

Cindy and I will make a dash to her service in Oak Ridge on Wednesday. We must honor this lady who never said a bad word about anyone, gave birth to nine children, was a single mother who worked and raised all these children to be smart and accomplised people...and still had time to play amazing bridge. What a dash she had in her eighty eight plus years on this earth. Rest in peace, Mary...you deserve it.

No time like the present....

"Make it special". Techniques and tricks for making the most ordinary gift oh, so special.

snipped from: http://acottageindustry.typepad.com/a_cottage_industry/let_me_entertain_you/

Winter One-Pot Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

- 1 whole clove of garlic

- 1/2 white onion

- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)

- 2 thick strips of smoked applewood bacon

- 1 pound of chicken thighs, cut into small pieces

- 1/2 teaspoon celery salt

- 1/2 cup white wine

- 1 (14 ounce) can of chopped tomatoes

- 3 bay leaves-

-1/2 teaspoon sugar

- 1 (14 ounce) can cannellini beans

Method

1. Pour some olive oil in a large saute pan on low heat, add a whole clove of garlic, the onion, and the rosemary and stir until the onion is slightly translucent, but not browned, about ten minutes. 2. Add the thick cut bacon, and fry for a few minutes. Increase the heat to medium, add the chicken and celery salt and stir for a couple of minutes, until the outside of the chicken is white.
3. Pour in the white wine, and cook for a few minutes until just simmering, then add tomatoes, bay leaves and sugar. When it comes to a bubble, properly, turn it down slightly, simmer for 20 minutes, and then turn in a can of canellini beans, until they warm up, and it’s done!
Serve with a nice hunk of bread, and a little green salad. Delicious!

Snow Day 3/2/2009

Behind the window blinds....looking up and down the street.....
after the power returned at 1:00 pm... the house heated up

so did Belle and Zoe!

out on the deck it was a little chilly for morning coffee...

and down below you could "lose an eye"!

Snow Day March 2, 2009