Hurray!

Mar 102011
 

So excited!

My friend Patty has come down from Canada to visit for a few days.  Even though she is originally from Canada, and lives in said country, she will always in my heart have her real home in my neck of the woods.

We became sisters the first time we met and just need that connection once in a while that cannot be fulfilled with Skype.  Know what I mean?

I didn’t expect to see her until tomorrow, so finding out this morning that she was “crossing the border” and on her way gave me a happy feeling all day.  We  easily got into our old routine of letting the chatter go this way and that for the past 3 hours, and somehow have the next 2 days planned on things to do.  (She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s gonna help us tap trees on Saturday before we head shopping… hehe).

So who is this mystery woman and why have you not seen a picture of this “so-called” friend?

Well, like me, she hates her picture being taken.  Don’t really blame her, I hate mine being taken too.  I hate the crappy, unexpected photos that turn up with me making some-face-or-another that is not really flattering IMO.  But I am trying to convince her to let me get a photo of her that I can include with our escapades the next couple days.

This should be fun!

For the Love of Lavender

Mar 092011
 

Sometimes work can be very stressful.  Heck, LIFE can be very stressful.  I like to think that I am pretty good at handling everything that is thrown at me, but some days, you just gotta say enough is enough.  On those days, I wish that we had a punching bag in our office.   In an office full of accountants, that thing would really get a workout.  I bet we could even make a little money on the side letting other people at the college use it.  Naw, I’m too nice for that… I like to share.

But, since that is probably not going to be an option in the very near future, I have brought a more holistic approach to those stressful situations that we often find ourselves in.

Ah, behold the beauty and calmness that is the lavender plant.

Some days, I could just swim in a field like this!

But since that is not an option, I turn to this trusty bottle.

This little baby will wash all of that anxiety away and bring you down to that calm, loving person that you know you are.  Aura Cacia (not a paid endorsement) has a great lavender essential oil that is so affordable, I give it to my fellow comrade-in-arms in the office for when she has to deal with people that are not bean counters like us.  In fact, I have dolled it out to students before they have a test to take to help calm their nerves.

Young Living (again, not a paid endorsement) provides probably the best Lavender  essential oil I have used.  One drop of this delicious oil and  you are calmer than a cat sleeping in a sunny window.

And of course, there are wonderful holistic benefits from its use!  Besides removing nervous tension, it helps with pain relief in muscles, blood circulation, digestion and relief from migraines, to name a few.  Heck, it’s even recommended to calm down pets!

And what’s more, you can cook with it!  I was passed on this nifty little tidbit by a friend of mine who used to live in Hawaii where it is very popular in butters and sugars.  Cruise the internet for lavender baking recipes and you will be pleasantly surprised at what you get for results!

So, the next time that the world seems to be totally out of control and your nerves are frazzled beyond belief, put a drop of this lovely potion on your wrist and breath in all the wonderful calmness that it has to offer.

That’s a Pizza Pie

Mar 082011
 

I know that I said this would be posted yesterday, but I wanted you to drool over the chocolate chip cookies a little longer.

To reiterate Sunday’s post, Rick was in the cooking mood.  First cookies, now pizza.

We try to support as many kids as we can when they are doing fundraisers in the area.  This happened to be what the special was this time.

The box included 3 each:  pizza crust, shredded mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce.  Since we like a few more ingredients on our pizza, we discussed what we wanted and Rick ran to the store to pick them up.

So, let’s get crackin’ by getting our fixins ready.

We always like to have some chopped onion.  Gives it a nice flavor.

Green pepper was Rick’s idea.

Green olive is a new addition to our pizzas.  It gives a wonderful little tang (trust me, you won’t be disappointed).

Many people already know this, but if you have fresh tomato laying around, use it on your pizza!  WOW!

Pre-made pizza dough.  Nothing really special here.

Glorp the sauce out of the packet.  Actually, this sauce was pretty good.  I could even smell the oregano in it.

After you spread that sauce around, start piling on the fixins!

In our house, we always make sure that there are mushrooms!  This is a “must have” in the pizza department.

Here’s where those wonderful tomatoes come into play.  If you keep them off the crust, it doesn’t seem to turn it soggy, and you get that great flavor when you bite into a piece.

Open that bag of cheese and start spreading it around.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much cheese was included with this kit.

Today’s meat topping was pepperoni (that way we didn’t have to spend time par-cooking hamburger or sausage).  Rick forgot to put it on before the cheese, but no matter, it will still get covered.

With more cheese, of course!  We take our pizza very seriously here.  The more cheese the better!!

Ready for the oven.   We could have used the Pizzazz Plus that Nichole & Corey gave us for Christmas, but the convection oven was already on from making the cookies earlier.

(Don’t worry kids, Rick uses that gadget every time he makes pizza and loves it!)

Baked at 450 degrees for 11 minutes, we had a truly beautiful pizza.

The chef and his masterpiece!

All sliced up and ready to eat.

And boy did we eat!

Poor baby worked himself right into a food coma.

He deserved the nap after all that cooking.

Darn Squirrel!

Mar 072011
 

I haven’t ranted lately about the squirrels.  Believe me, they haven’t left, they just haven’t done anything earth-shattering to require me to write about them.

Until now.

When Rick was making cookies  yesterday, I happened to glance out the kitchen window and saw a squirrel ripping up the plastic that covered the back woodpile and shoving it into his mouth!

Dude!  This guy was on a mission!!

Ripping, tearing and cramming the plastic into his mouth until he couldn’t fit anymore in there!

To say the least, Rick wasn’t very happy, and I don’t blame him.  Now we will have to replace all that plastic in the spring to keep the wood dry from the rain.

Maybe this is payback for switching the bird suet to something they no longer like.

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