errand day

Wow!! I had a really good sleep last night I had stopped taking LUNESTA three nights ago and was experiencing eye opening to check the clock every hour on the hour. Last night was great...I slept from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. with only one wake up talking in my sleep. Freckles came in and gave me a hug and gave me fresh from the refrigerator water because what I was saying was that I was very thirsty. After a few sips I was fine and drifted right back to sleep. Many of my pills say "may cause dry mouth" and they sure do.

I'm still in my nightie and must get dressed warmly for outside, our trip to the appropriate banks, the fabric store, Penny's, pet store for bird seed, and lastly the supermarket. The pooches get dropped off at home befre our grocery excursion. Freckles said it really looked like snow this morning at six. There was frost everywhere. I'm glad we still had covers on our outside plants. They are really not the kind that will tolerate cold. I think we were down to the low 30's. Time's a wasting so I'd better get a move on.

COLD, COLD AND COLDER

We knew it was coming, yes we did. After all that lovely rain it was bound to happen. As soon as Freckles got home from her shop last night she rushed out to cover our plants in the side yard and the patio. She didn't even feed the pooches first. For this they raised a great commotion, even a howl or two. With all the covering accomplished we settled down to a respectable winter meal: SAUERKRAUT, MASHED POTATOES AND BRATWURST. Yes, it did freeze last night. The hills around us and the roofs were covered with frost, even our front lawn.

I'm trying to use up all the bargains I have in my freezer so I can load up again for our after-conference guests. I'd had that bratwurst for a while. Tonight we plan to have some kind of shrimp quiche. I don't know yet whether I'll use the frozen pie crust or the frozen filo. I made a spinach tart about a month ago from the Eating Well magazine. For some reason Freckles is apprehensive about my improvising when I don't have all the ingredients, so it's been suggested that I google to find an appropriate real recipe.

It just so happened that the Acasia Business Center Compound had its Holiday Party on Wednesday. Twenty-nine people showed up, all laden with yummy food offerings. The folks gathered in the empty rooms in Building B. Freckles decorated with twinkling clear lights we often use for parties, running down the buffet table. They were nestled amongst a line of white feather boas. This is the reason we have some of the leftover shrimp. There were three offerings of those shrimp rings with the containers of sauce in the middle. How could they possibly use three when the table was also laden with smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, bean salad, potato salad, macaroni salad. They had to use our antique oak table to hold all the desserts. The sink in the side room was filled with ice and Martinelis. It was a happy time and the tenants got to chat while they ate, which is a whole lot more than a nod in greeting to and from in the morning and evening.

I've been working on my Cattle Drive story. The more I research, the more bewildered and amused I've become. So this is all for today.

Rain, rain, don't go away

So it's gloomy out there, already. We're having beautiful, steady rain. Perhaps this will help dampen all that dry stuff on the hillsides. It's sad though, that the already scorched earth leftover from last summer's raging infernos is now just great big mudslides.

So far, neither Freckles nor I have caught the nasty bug that is hovering around every corner. We wash our hands a lot. All that money Freckles handles must have been in horrendous places, handled by multitudes of people. Therefore we wash, wash, wash. That's a good habit to ingrain before conference.

Bobbie has reservations to stay with Vickie again this year. Lilly has to go to stay with Dr. Ballenger. She is so apt to attack any other dog...you know, just snap and growl. I don't think Freckles has allowed her to get close enough to bite any pooch. She has even snarled at German Shepherds on their morning walk.

Now I'm going to try to decipher the "recipe co-op" that's going around. I have a good recipe for red cabbage. If I can't do it, I'll be back.

Hello again, finally

It's 42 degrees out there on my patio. Brrrrr. I'm sitting here in my sweats and Knittery's sox and my spiffy new pink polar fleece robe that Freckles made me. It wraps all around and doubles in the front and reaches the whole way to my ankles. I don't believe it's needful to turn on the furnace as long as I can just put on another layer. Oh what a rain we had yesterday...I had Juana help me move my cypress tree/lantana pot out from under the eaves so they could catch some of that precious liquid sunshine. Yellow Bird (Luciano) is twittering away his happy song. Of course, like our last canary did, he's doing his best singing while Freckles is in the shower. Bobby went to see Dr. Ballenger, and came home with some special pain pills that he gets to take at night so he can sleep well. He sleeps most of the day, too. He still goes out every morning, but ends up in his walker's zip up windbreaker after a very short while. After all, he'll be sixteen in February, and that's pretty old for a poodle.

For the last month or so I have been trying to blog, honest! It's just that I am not very computer literate and wasn't able to get to the site. None of my maneuvers helped. When the gang got back from their walk my special friend/daughter pushed the right buttons, so here I am again. Good Morning!

My subscription to "Eating Well" has been inspiring. Last night we had roasted root vegetables along with our baked Tilapia. Yum. I just pared and quartered beets, turnips, sweet potato, onion and carrots, spritzed over some olive oil and shook over some garlic salt and rolled them in the casserole, baked at about 325 degrees for an hour. I'll use the beet greens and red cabbage tonight. Another new recipe we gleaned from Ina Garten:

Rolled, stuffed, pork tenderloin
Cut one pork tenderloin through the middle long wise, not quite the whole way through
Then cut the two halves almost the whole way through.
Place the meat between two layers of Saran wrap and pound with the end of a saucer.
One block of cream cheese, softened (flavored is fine)
One slivered in a bit of olive oil red bell pepper.
A small handful of chopped chives
two slices of rendered bacon crumbled

Spread the cream cheesee over the meat
On top put the sauteed peppers slices, chopped chives and bacon
Roll the whole business and tie.
Season the roll with garlic salt and paprika
Bake for 30 minutes, then let it set for 10 minutes before slicing.

This fed seven people for Sunday Dinner. Daniel came by and finished off the two leftover slices. Freckles had it all ready to go and put it in the oven when we got home from meeting. Meanwhile we did the salad (baby greens, pears, sauteed sugared pecans, crumbled feta and balsamic vinegar) and poured water in the glasses. Try it, you'll like it. I'm ready to try other stuffings.

Oooops, here comes the sunshine.