This morning we woke up to the doorbell ringing at 7:15. Randy told me that he had not seen me move that fast in 20 years. I am one of those that think about things like, will I have on make-up and a “wouldn’t mind being caught in this outfit” outfit in case of rapture, earthquake or unexpected visitors. It dawned on us that the painters were here to paint the kitchen back to the original blah color that it was when we moved in. What happened to the lazy guy who never shows up until the afternoon? When did people start showing up for work at 7 a.m.? I guess I am already getting use to this retirement phase of watching GMA in jammies and finally getting a shower around 10. I just remembered that when I opened the door, I was apologizing to 4 strange men that I had not even brushed my teeth and was worried about what they were thinking. Why do I do that? People that I can’t even carry on a conversation with because I don’t speak Spanish, nor they English and I am standing in my robe half zipped explaining that I didn’t think they would be there that early and I normally don’t answer the door with bad breath or in my robes. They just nodded to the crazy lady standing in the doorway and pushed they way past to the kitchen. I quickly went to take a shower, leaving Randy to answer any questions, not that we would be able to understand them, but we can nod or say “si” and look like we halfway understand what they are asking. I certainly didn’t want them to think that we are the old geezers that sit around in their jammies till noon, drinking coffee and watching The View. Of course, when I came into the living room, finally dressed and with clean teeth, what is Randy doing but sitting there drinking coffee, working on his computer with the TV blaring in the background of The View. Hurridly turning off the TV, I ask Randy “what in the world must they think?” He responded that we would never know because we can’t speak Spanish and we would never see them again, ever, so why was I so worried?
So today, we are taking a break from boxes and from the mess that is all around us. Friends are taking us to lunch. I am going to make sure that the painters see that we have a life and friends and that we eventually do dressed in street clothes. I hope they are still here around 6 when they can see us leave again with “more” friends who are taking us to dinner. That way maybe they will know that we don’t just sit around in the evening, watching Wheel of Fortune in our sweats with a TV tray in front of us. It would be just my luck that they are the ambitious types that will be finished and cleaning up just when we take a break to sit and watch Ellen. I will be sure that on their way out the door, to let them know that we are going OUT to dinner with friends. After all, you never know whose house they might be painting next and we want to leave a good impression. You know how gossipy some people are.
Category: Daily Thoughts
Saturday Mornings
I know I’m not alone in loving Saturday mornings. They are the mornings that make it feel like a holiday. It is the one morning that you can sleep in without guilt, although, it is the one morning that I seem to wake up earlier than the other days. Going to bed Friday evenings, as I am crawling into bed, I get that little “spring” in my step, just knowing that I can sleep past 7 if I want, but invariably, my eyes open between 6:15-6:30. One of my favorite things is to come into the living room and while covered up with my soft blanket, watch the sunrise coming over the beautiful houses across the street. Since we have windows from ceiling to floor, the view from our condo, which is on the second story, affords us a most spectacular site. The streaks of orange, yellow, pink and blue of the sunrise are great reminders of God’s gorgeous creation that He has given to us to enjoy. We only have 16 more mornings here in California before moving back to Texas and I plan to treasure each and every sunrise from the best seat in town…my window. It also reminds me that we are to look ahead and not behind, as I sometimes do. I need to focus on what lies ahead and know that God has something for us in this new season we are entering.
So whether it is Saturday morning, or Monday or Thursday mornings, may I trust in His unchanging grace and know that as Randy and I leave this most beautiful place, we will go with a “spring” in our step, as we ride off into the sunrise of a new beginning.
Garage Guru
We are in our second full month of retirement season. We consider ourselves very lucky in that we are still speaking, no holes have been put in the walls nor has 48 Hours had to be called out to cover a story of Southern Fried Homicide. We have actually formed a little routine of personal space and since we are packing to leave California, heading back to Texas, the energy we use packing takes up lots of vent up anger. Every day Randy heads out the door telling me that he is packing up the garage. What a guy. He spends hours out there. I never realized we had so much in the single car garage behind our condo. But he kept assuring me that it just takes time to organize the things that we had stored out there and he was trying to do the best job at packing the seasonal wreaths and left over car wax. Yesterday I began to feel badly that I was up here in air conditioning while my precious little retired husband was outside in the hot garage working his little fingers to the bone. Being the wonderful wife that I am, I thought I would surprise him with a giant glass of iced tea along with a plate of cookies to show him my appreciation. When I rounded the corner to the garage, what did I behold? There he was, sitting in a recliner that he had ordered from Ebay, watching football on a small tv that we had stored in the garage cabinet. There along the back wall was a small fridge, loaded with candy and cokes. A ceiling fan had been installed. No wonder he didn’t “mind” packing up the garage. He assured me that I just happened to catch him on a break, that he really had been packing. But as I glanced around the garage, I was still seeing wreaths nailed to the walls and the car wax was still on the shelf. I fell for the story he told me that he had begun to park my little car outside because he needed the garage space to keep the boxes for our packing,
I guess we both need a little time to ourselves, no matter where we have to go to get it. When we get settled in our new place in Dallas, I will volunteer to unpack the garage. I’m going to use the recliner to sit and read the “job posting” section of the Dallas newspaper. He would make one fine WalMart greeter!
Senior Suppers
It happened. We ate dinner before 6:00 pm. It was an accident, I promise. It was not intentional. Randy has a rule that we are never to eat dinner before 6-6:30 as only “old people” do that. So even if he is starving, he will not sit down to eat before 6. He will snack on cheese ad crackers, but since that is not defined as a meal, he thinks he can get away with that without calling that “eating before 6”. But last night we committed the “cool & hip folks” sin. We ate at 5. It all started with needing to go to Costco. Since it was Friday we knew that the traffic would get really bad around 5:30 on so he said, “if we are going to Costco, we had better go before the traffic hits. So out the door we ran. We arrived at Costco around 4 and walked as slowly as we could around the store trying to kill time. After 30 minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I told him that if we were really going to get a hot dog for our dinner, then let’s get it and finish here and head home so I could finish off our coconut cream pie. He was not happy with me. He informed me that it was only 5 and he couldn’t eat that early. What if someone we knew saw us? What would they think?
I really didn’t care at this point. I told him that we were going to be arrested for loitering, just standing around waiting for it to turn 6. So he gave in. We finished our hot dogs and ran to the car before we ran into anyone we knew. Thank goodness it gets dark early. On the way home, at 5:30, he reminded me that I was to tell no one how early we ate. That if I did, he would not be taking me to Costco anymore on a Friday evening for a hotdog. Well, that got my attention. After all, how can a girl live without going to Costco Friday night for a $1.50 hotdog?
Tonight we had some friends text us to see if we wanted to meet them for dinner….at 4!
We declined since we had just finished lunch 2 hours before. We have decided that we need to get younger friends. Either that or skip lunch so that we can tell ourselves we are just having a very late lunch at 5.
Packin & Puddin
I know, I know, I kept saying that I was going to post soups everyday. Then yesterday I posted Preacher Cake instead of soup, BUT, because I felt so guilty about not following through with my plan, today I am posting a soup and a dessert. Since we are in the middle of packing and like Abraham, we don’t have a clue where we are ending up, but that does have a ring of excitement to it! After 3 years of living in California where it feels like you are on a continual vacation, we are going to go travel a couple of months visiting family and friends. We hope that after we stay with them a few nights, we can still call them family and friends. Since we are headed to the East Coast, our goal is to eat at Paula Deen’s restaurant and her brother’s place,Bubba’s. That will be a thrill for us both. But before we head out, we are trying to use u everything in our cabinets. Last night a friend of ours, Lorrie, came over to eat dinner with us as her husband was out of town. Randy wanted chile so she brought cornbread. About 4:30 I decided that what we needed was a coconut cream pie. I panicked. There was no whipping cream in my house. That is almost like not having toilet paper. That just is never suppose to be. You can’t have coconut cream pie without whipped cream, but neither of us wanted to go to the store. Since making meringue has always caused a panic attack, I tried to figure out what else I could do, but there was no choice, I had to make meringue. I had a little pep talk with myself and told myself that if it didn’t turn out, I would just dish up the pudding into glasses and tell Randy and Lorrie we were having coconut cream trifle with shortbread cookies crumbled up between the layers.
I got out 4 eggs and separated them. Since I had 3 egg whites already in the fridge, I got those out also. Working with 7 egg whites, surely I could make it work this time. I Goggled “how to make meringue” and read step by step how to have it come out successfully. It worked. I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept going to the fridge and opening up the door just to look at it. It turned out so pretty, I didn’t want to cut it. But we did and my goodness, it was so good. Here is the recipe
Coconut Cream Pie
3 cups milk
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup plus 2 tables all purpose flour
1/2 teas salt
1 teas vanilla
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tables butter
Whisk all ingredients except vanilla, butter and coconut, together in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick . When pudding is thick, remove from heat and add vanilla, butter and coconut. Stir until butter is melted and it is mixed well. Pour into a baked pie shell (it doesn’t have to cool before pouring pudding in) and cover with meringue. Be sure that the meringue covers all the hot pudding mixture, right up to the edge. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. I sprinkled more coconut over the top before baking. Cool completely before cutting.
Meringue
4-5 egg whites at room temp
2/3 cup sugar
1 teas vanilla
Beat egg whites until they begin to thicken. Adding the sugar gradually, continuing to beat while adding, to be sure sugar is completely dissolved. Beat in vanilla and beat until peaks form and hold their shape. Spoon over hot pudding mixture. (The instructions said to even make the meringue before you make the pudding because it will do better the hotter the filling is when you spoon it on). It did work so much better doing that.
Grumpy Gets in the Christmas Spirit
Merry Christmas to all and to all a great time of enjoying your blessings.
He did slip once this afternoon when he told the store clerk “Merry Christmas” as she ask if he would like to use the Senior discount to purchase a last minute gift.
Because of his coughing and wheezing, we are in for the night. He escaped for a couple of hours today, but think that we will watch what has become a tradition in our family each year, Griswalds Family Vacation. I just happen to have jars full of cookies that we will have beside our cups of hot tea.
Christmas for us, will be next week when some of our kids come in. They told us they are coming to see us, but we know they are really coming to watch the Rose Parade. We live on the street where the floats line up, so about 5 a.m. NY day, we go out and walk up and down to see the floats before they start down the parade route. It really is a fun way to begin the New Year and this year, we will enjoy watching the grandkids’ eyes as they see the beautiful floats of some of their favorite characters. All this to say that we are very blessed, in spite of this being a little different year for Christmas. We have not been without some family on Christmas, but just knowing that it’s not just one day that makes up Christmas, it is the knowledge of knowing that Christ came to earth as a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, to give us hope, to give us Peace, but most of all, to give us Eternal Life. That’s the best gift of all…and it offered to us 365 days a year, not just December 25th. When you gather your family around the tree, remember to give thanks for all the things that you do have, instead of thinking about the things you might not have or receive tomorrow. Having Christ in our hearts causes us to sing, Joy To The World, The Lord Has Come.
Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. We love you! Frosty and Noel
Four Turtle Doves…Cheesey Sausage Breakfast Bread
I know I am going backwards on the Twelve Days of Christmas, but I like the song better when it is counting down than up…much more fun to sing. So today, I am associating the Four Turtle Doves to this….It was cool enough to wear a Christmas tutleneck shirt while eating four chocolate Dove candies. I know, I know, ridiculous. Anyway, am posting the cheesy sausage biscuit bake that I took to church today. There was not a crumb left, and since our class isn’t Baptist, who is known for eating food, no matter what;(and since I am Southern Bapt, I can say that), the fact that there was not a crumb left let me know that the class liked it. Then several ladies ask if I was going to post the recipe. So here it is;
You know the moment that you take something out of the oven and you just know you have a winner, this was one of these recipes. Taken from Face Book, I was so anxious to make it because it sounded like a dish we would love. I modified it just a touch, well, maybe more than a touch.
1 16 oz can of flaky biscuits
1/2 can milk (I used whipping cream)
5 eggs
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1 small can of diced green chiles (opt)
1/2 lb of mild Jimmy Dean Sausage (or half a package of bacon, fried and crumbled)
1/2 teas garlic powder
1/2 teas black pepper
1 teas Lawry’s Seasoned salt
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion or green onions
Saute sausage in small skillet with onion. Drain and set aside.
Cut each biscuit into 4 parts. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whip the eggs with the cream (milk). Add the seasonings and cheese. Stir until well combined. Add the drained sausage-onion mixture and stir. When blended. add the cut biscuits. Allow to sit for about 30 minutes giving the biscuits time to absorb some of the egg mixture. Pour into a well greased 9×13 baking dish. Bake in 350 preheated over for about 45 min of until it tests done in the middle 
</a preheated 350 oven until golden and bubbly and knife is clean when inserted into middle. About 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. Serve immediately.
Will taste delish after coming in from watching Rose Parade. Serve with fruit plate and hash browns!
Sa
Five Golden Ring Recipe: Cherry Date Pecan Cake
How did it get to be 5 days before Christmas? The days just go by so quickly before I make it halfway down my “to do” list of grand ideas to make this Christmas more special than ever. I haven’t even had time to sit by the fire and look through Christmas magazines yet this year to see all the great new recipes. Last night, I actually went to pick up our Christmas cards and addressed them and mailed them this morning.. I am so proud. The salon where I get my nails done had an open house today. They had trays of egg rolls, spring rolls,meat pies and cookies and invited all the customers to come by to say Merry Christmas. It was a very nice gesture and makes it feel like Christmas. Enjoying the festivities today made me want to do something nice for someone so I am going to really try to do something nice for someone these next 5 days. Someone who could never repay me and someone who would never expect it. .
The next 5 recipes are what I would call “golden” and have become very special through the years. They just make it feel like Christmas. This first one is Cherry Date Pecan Cake which I use to watch my mom make for years, before she passed it down to me. When I saw her buying dates and cherries, I knew it was Christmas baking time. Have just finished mixing this cake and is in the oven as we speak. Am using them as hostess gifts for several open houses we are invited to attend. My favorite way to eat them is with a big dollop of fresh whipped cream.
1st Golden Ring Recipe: Cherry Date Pecan Cake
1 lb chopped dates
1 lb candied cherries ( I live my whole, but you can chop them if you like)
3 cups chopped pecans
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated (works better at room temperature)
1 cup flour
2 rounded teas of baking powder
1 teas salt
2 teas vanilla
Cream sugar and egg yolks until creamy. Add vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt. to creamed mixture. With clean beaters, (no grease on them as egg whites do not whip up stiff if grease is on bowl or beaters) whip 4 egg whites until they are still, around 4-5 minutes. Add fruit and pecans to batter with heavy spatula. This is hard to mix but keep folding until fruit is distributed into batter. Add beaten egg whites and fold in to mixture until it is all folded in. Pour into individual greased loaf pans or a greased bundt pan . Bake until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in middle of cake. Baking time depends on size of pan you use. The batter made 4 small loaf pans and 1 long loaf pan. When finished baking, cool and wrap as gifts. These little cakes keep for a long period of time in the fridge. So make them this weekend and eat on them all through Christmas.
Retirement for Dummies
We have just completed our first week of Frosty’s retirement. All our friends have been asking him the last couple of years when he was going to retire. His answer was always the same, “I don’t know if I will ever retire” Every time we are leaving Walmart and the little old man at the door tells us “have a good day”, my sweet hubby always says, “I could do that if I ever retire”.
This past week found us the first few days trying to decide if he really wanted to look for a new adventure or truly just retire. I told him that I knew what I wanted him to do. Guess I should have not spoken that idea out loud. Actually, at the first of the week, we were both saying, “this might be great” we can go anywhere, do anything and stay up as late as we wanted, not having to get up at the crack of dawn. That was Monday. By Tuesday, we realized that even when we didn’t have to get up early or go to bed at 10, we were so used to going to bed at 10 and getting up at 6:30 a.m,.that our bodies apparently hadn’t realized that we were now in our “retirement” season. We were still falling asleep on the couch by 9:30 and waking up each morning at 6:30.
As we relaxed that first night, pondering our new season of life, we had grand plans. We would cook together, go to grocery shop together and he agreed to watch Ellen with me at 4 in the afternoons. OK, I was getting excited about having a friend by my side all during the day. We could go get pedicures together, walk around the mall, lazily in the afternoons, all the while sipping a Starbucks. We would have time to do all the things we always said we never had the time. I had this all planned. Mondays he could fold clothes while I vacuumed the house. I would now have someone to help me change the sheets. How fun, is this going to be great or what?
Tuesday arrives. It was” what”. We made it a whole day before we began to set up some rules. But…I’m sure that we just have to get used to this. This was our week, at a glance:
Monday….excited about new adventure and made all our plans of what we would do together. So fun.
Tuesday…we are still speaking, but the tone isn’t as sweet as it was yesterday; trying to remember why this was fun yesterday.
Wednesday…I’m watching Ellen by myself. He is in den watching a recorded football game from last week.
Thursday….we have yellow tape down the middle of the kitchen. He is not allowed on my half, except when he is doing his half of the dishes. Barely speaking.
Friday…just shoot me!
Maybe next week we will sign up for a class on How To Do Retirement. Our lists we made last week, of fun things to do, were thrown out the car window today when I suggested that maybe tomorrow he might want to go to Walmart to see if they had an opening as a door greeter.
If we survive next week, I will update you on our progress or ask if anyone knows a good lawyer.
Creative Christmas Cuties
Have seen several new ideas that I am going to use this Christmas season. It is fun to go through all the new magazines that arrive and see things that make me wonder, “why did I not think of that?”
One of the things that caught my attention is this:
When you don’t want the added calories of wrapping veggie sticks (such as carrots, green beans, green onions, zucchini) together, cut a yellow squash in 2″ slices. Cut out the middle, leaving only a 1/2″ shell. Collect the veggie sticks and place the squash ring around
I just took a picture of it, but for some reason it is not downloading to this post. Will work on that. Just use your usual seasoning and bake until veggies are tender.
Another idea I read, when you are wanting a really moist brownie, make the recipe for chocolate sheet cake in a jelly roll pan. When it is cool, turn upside down on waxed paper. Cut the cake in half. Make the frosting and put half the frosting on the bottom half, then top with the other half of cake then top with frosting. This will give you an amazing moist brownie with scrumptious frosting. Sprinkle with colored sugar.
Next, use your cookie cutters to shape your fruit for that Christmas morning buffet. Slice your cantaloupe, watermelon or pineapple to 1″ slices. Using a Christmas tree cookie cutter, or snowman, cut the fruit into Christmas shapes.
Last one for today, when you are serving a rich soup to company, use your Christmas mugs instead of bowls.
I forgot to post last week who won the Thumbie I was giving away to the person who sent me the best thumbprint cookie recipe. Rose sent me a great recipe for cookies and I have already made them twice. Thanks Rosie from Houston, hope you enjoy the Thumbie…..
Chocolate Castles 