A Little Rant!

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This is a rare post with no photos but I have a reason! I won't give these politician's names space on MY blog!! My rant is that while fall is the loveliest time of the year, as I ride around looking at the beautiful trees, and trying to enjoy the last few days of mild weather, what do I see on every corner and vacant space??? Political signs!!!!!!! I hate them. Of course I'm not running for anything and I know it's a cheap way to have your name seen however, what good are they other than that. They don't tell you where they stand on anything. I think I'm still overloaded from the last elections!!!!! OK, that's my rant and I'm sticking to it!

Maybe I should vent about once a week!! That felt pretty good : ))

Shirley

New Crock Pot Book!

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Thank you Debbie for this Crock Pot Wednesday every week! http://diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com/

Since it's only me here, I'm able to stock up my freezer with leftovers for this winter : )) A good thing!

Yes, I got a new cookbook. And I found it right here while blogging. It's Stephanie O'Dea's new book. You can find her blog, A Year Of Slow Cooking at : http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

I really like her book not only because of the good sounding recipes but it's a fun read. I got my copy through Amazon.

Here's the recipe. (Click to enlarge to read better.)

Here are the ingredients. I forgot to take a picture of the chicken but I used 1 1/2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Oh, oh, someone's not very happy!

Nope, not happy at all! He wants to be picked up. I'm dumping things in the crock pot as fast as I can.

This is how it looked before I put the lid on. It cooked on low for 7 hours which was a little long but the babies were still here so I turned it off for about an hour then just reheated a little before serving.

All done. I would've liked to thicken the sauce some, but it smelled so good all afternoon that I couldn't wait to taste it.

Here it is ready to eat. Yummmmm. I served it with potatoes and acorn squash from my garden. It's sort of all the same color; lucky I used a green plate! I give my self a "D" for presentation!! But Stephanie gets an "A" for her delicious recipe!!

Happy Wednesday everyone. I'll be babysitting again!

Shirley

Rocky's Mosaic

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Thank you Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday and getting me to play more with my photos. Everyone can visit Mary's blog, Little Red House at: http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Here's Rocky's special mosaic all of his own! This doggy is a real character!

Click to make the image large so you can see his expressions!

Have a great day.

Shirley

Down to the river to pray

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Thank you Charlotte for hosting this beautiful site. God bless us bloggers everyone.

http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/

My spiritual gift to you this Sunday morning is the music "Down In The River To Pray". Please click on it in my playlist near the top and to the left. Have a joyous and peaceful day. God is good, all the time.

Shirley

Keeping track of kitchen decisions!

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Thank you Chari for the Sunday Favorites postings. Here is where you can see all the participants at Happy To Design: http://happytodesign.blogspot.com/

My "new" hutch!!!! To go in my new kitchen scheduled sometime in January!

The hutch will go on that wall where the old cabinet is with the breadbox on top. Of course, they'll be no more paneling. No more anything! GUTTED!!!!!!

Oct. 24th

Today was the exciting day that I bought the hutch for my kitchen that I found on Craigs List!!!!!!! (That's saving me about $5000.!!!!) It's pictured above.

This post below was originally put on in August of this year. I have made some big decisions with my contractor since then. I am definitely doing an entire kitchen re-do : )) I am having a white tin ceiling. The flooring will depend on whether the original flooring under many layers of stuff is salvageable. If it is, I'll have it refinished. If not I'm having a wood floor laid. Stainless appliances. A window seat under my kitchen window. I've picked the white, distressed custom cabinets with inset doors that look like the period. And most importantly, I secured the loan!!!!!!! Still many more decisions to make. Like lighting. Soapstone or granite countertops, etc.

Here's the August post.

It's Metamorphosis Monday. Thank you Susan for hosting this terrific event. Somewhere to show people ideas who might just understand! So everyone go to BNOTP to see the participants. Just click this: http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

See this kitchen? It's not mine!! This is sort of the idea I have for mine. Below this picture are photos of my kitchen now. Don't get scared, it's not a pretty site.

I hope there's a metamorphasis coming here! I have been pretty careful not to show any photos of my kitchen. It is not good. It doesn't go with my 1850 house at all. I have had a contractor out that I want to use and I've had the first meeting with the kitchen designer. I just want the kitchen to look like it goes in my century farm house! I have lots of expensive ideas so I hope I can pull this off. Everything needs changed from floor to ceiling; from cabinets to lighting. Oh My. Gives me palpitations just thinking of it.

My lovely refrigerator loaded inside and out!! And that's the door to my little kitchen porch.

This is the island with a little sink and my dishwasher. You can also see part of the half wall that looks into the family room.

Now, that's all you get to see of the old kitchen. I don't know when (or if) this will all get started but The kitchen designer has some great ideas so we'll see. (If I don't chicken out!)

If I go ahead with this renovation, I will take lots of photos! I want to be one of the ones with the sledge hammer like on HGTV!!

Shirley

A few more PINK things!

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This is for Beverly's Pink Saturday Party. I managed a few more. I bet there's lots of participants though that have tons of PINK! Go and visit: http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

This is the lace cap hydrangea. So pretty and quite different than the normal ball type.

This rose bush is trying to squeeze out a couple more roses before the freeze!

Some of my last hydrangeas. A pale, pale pink.

Well, there's a little pink in the stems! These are pokeberries; a weed really but the birds like them.

Awww, pretty in pink! Sitting next to her is Curious George.

OK, now we're getting down to the bottom of the barrel!! Here is my pink hammer. My husband bought me a whole set of pink tools when we had a shop, way long time ago. I still use this if I don't need a big heavy one!

Buy for now. Happy Saturday everyone!

Shirley

My Easy Foodie Friday

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Thank you Michael for hosting Foodie Friday every week. I just love coming to your site and seeing Mister's little face. Makes me smile every time! Go to Designs By Gollum and see the list of participants: http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Here's my no muss, no fuss dinner the other night!

This is one very big skinless chicken breast. I cut it into good sized pieces.

I pounded the chicken flat and sprinkled with seasoning salt, onion powder and pepper. (Go lite on the seasoning salt.)

I sliced up some onion and green pepper. (from my garden : ))

Sauted the onions and peppers till tender.

Browned the chicken. It cooks up very quickly when its pounded thin!!

Here's the no fuss sides!

And here it is, nothing special; quick and easy. Do you believe I got 3 meals out of this one huge chicken breast!! (Well, rice is filling I guess!)

Have a good Friday everyone.

Shirley

Stayin' out of the stores, kinda . . .

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Don't you love seeing what everyone has found for practically nothing in the thrift shops?? Well, stop in at Tales From Bloggeritaville and get the list!! http://lbratina.blogspot.com/

Only a few things this week. I've been trying to stay out of the "shops" after I added up what I was spending a week. And I really don't "need" any of it. But it's just such fun. I suppose it's the cheap entertainment value and the sense of the BARGAIN!! : ))

I liked this big candle holder right away because it has wavy glass that makes the candle glow nicely. ($2.00) And it's the season to love leaves!!

This shows 3 more finds. A large canning jar with attached lid ($2.00), A little wooden ball (50 cents) and a nice heavy stainless steel fry pan for $2.50.

And lastly, this copy of "The Secret Garden". I have a couple other copies of this book but this one is illustrated nicely and I love the story! The neat keyhole cutout got me : ))

Have a nice Thursday everyone.

Shirley

After Procrastinating! The Cellar

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Thank you Melissa!! I would've never gotten this awful job done with out this big added incentive!! Visit Melissa at: http://theinspiredroom.net/ to see all the other "after pictures".

Just in case you didn't see the "before" photos, these first 2 are them!! Scary isn't it! Anything I didn't know what to do with came down here. It wasn't easy getting to the washer & dryer! Can you even see them over there??

Quick, get to the 3rd photo!!!

Here it is!!! The miracle of cleaning and de-cluttering!! It's so satisfying!! I hope I can keep it this way!

I have shelving now! I'm going to use these empty shelves as a pantry. I couldn't do it before my cellar was waterproofed with french drains etc. but now my cellar is nice and dry. The boiler room is on the other side of that wall so it's actually warm down here in the winter. When they re-did my septic, for some reason they put that pipe right in the middle of the room at "knock yourself out" height! That's why I have to keep that shelf there. I truly stood up under there once and saw stars!!!

A view across to my washer and dryer. I can actually walk from the stairs to the laundry area now!

Another view. These things in the corner are necessary saves. Like paint and painting supplies.

Washer and dryer all clear (and clean!) Now it's not so bad having to come down here to do laundry.

See, after cleaning off the table, I have a place for all my laundry stuff. (Better than on top of the dryer!)

This was a huge job for me alone because I had to get rid of so much stuff. I don't even know what half of it was! The worse part was using the shop vac to clean everything including years worth of cobwebs and spiders plus the bees are still getting in down there.

Without this inspiration of the Procrastinator's Party it still wouldn't be done! Thanks Melissa! When is the next one??

I feel so productive : ))

Shirley

My Blue Stuff 10/18

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Thank you Sally for hosting Blue Monday every week! After peeking here, everyone head over to Smiling Sally's blog to get "the list". http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

Here are my Blue's for this week!

I love this little blue cupboard. It sits on the counter and keep all my teas in there.

My kitchen clock with it's blue edge.

Well, this is exciting. A recent buy . . . a coupon holder, since I've just recently started seriously cutting coupons!

A cute little jar that sits on a big grain scoop that I have as a wall decor with the old little flag.

Awww, my bread basket with it's blue liner!! I use this all the time.

Well, my little bunny pillow has a lot of blue in it. I threw it in the washer and dryer and it kind of got a little miss-shaped but I still love it!

Yep, still my dining room table!!! Haven't found those windsor chairs yet. Now I think I'll wait till after my kitchen redo which is due to start in January.

This is kind of yucky but this is the fly swatter I've been ushering the bees out of my windows with. (Not hitting at them!!) If you've kept up with my bee problems, most are gone but I still have a few getting in from somewhere??? everyday. They are big so they might be the queens trying to find a warm place to winter!!! Not my house!!!!

That's all for this week.

Have a great Monday, and don't forget that monday night (Tues.) is when I have the big basement cleanup reveal !!!!! Stop back and see!! I worked really hard for The Procrastination Party"!!

Shirley