Thoughts Go Through My Head on Saturday

I passed by these little plants yesterday...hanging in the garage. It looks like some little creature has taken up residence there among the succulents. The soil is disturbed...I hope who ever it was didn't burrow down and start eating the roots. These hearty plants don't have much of a root system, however. You can pretty much break one off and just plop it into the ground and it will take root. If you remember, this is a hanging basket. I experimented with it last summer, and it was so successful that I may try another this summer. Can you tell I'm tired of snow and looking forward to the growing season?I have a strawberry jar that needs redoing and some plants for my other succulent planter are spending the winter downstairs.

I'm going to get ready for gardening starting right now. I have my exercise video ready and Joe has the Dr's. OK to go to the pool. So, this next week we start with water walking again. It will feel so good to get going and do some exercising...after being sloth like all winter. We'll swim on Mon, Wed, and Fri. Then Joe can go to therapy on Tues. and Thurs.

 Still fussing with swimsuits. Men have it so easy...just put on a pair of swim trunks and jump in. We women have to  find a suit that fits all our parts and still looks good. If you ask a man, "How does this one look?" Most likely he'll say, "Fine." You say..." Is this too tight?" He'll say, "Aren't swimsuits supposed to be tight?"  So big help that he is...why didn't we put a three way mirror in the closet? 

This morning I saw a tiny bird in the corner of our hanging shelf feeder. He was puffed up and shivering. I think that he was dying. I watched for quite a while and he stayed there. Such a sad little thing. A couple of hours later he was gone. I'll never know what happened. This harsh winter has been so hard on wildlife. I can hardly eat a meal and look out at the empty feeder on the deck. Little birds still come there...even if we fill the one in the front of the  house...they like the back one better. Not safe for me to go out there...so they will have to find the front feeders.

Well, gotta go. Today is Joe's son Dan's birthday. He and Melody are coming out for dinner tomorrow. I made the pasta sauce this morning....we'll have all the fixins along with birthday cake.

So, we've gone from planters to birthday cake. A lot of things went through my head as I sat and wrote this post.

See you tomorrow,

Balisha

Happy Valentine's Day from Joe

 It's Valentine's Day. Yesterday, Joe left for physical therapy a little early. He just recently started driving to therapy.He made a stop at the store first. He got out of the car and using his walker, walked to the floral department. He picked out what he wanted and the girl told him that she'd make it up for him. He told her that he had an appointment at therapy....she said that she would look out the window to watch for him and then she would bring them out to the car. That way he wouldn't  have to come all the way back in. After therapy, there she was, and the two of them figured out how to hold them secure in the cup holder. I told about this girl in a post... a while back...and this is what I mean about shopping in little local stores. They are all so friendly and go the extra mile for their customers.

 Most of you know that Joe had his hip replaced the day after Christmas. He was just at the doctor and the hip is fine and the incision is healed...the only thing wrong is the edema in his thigh and some bursitis. He had his knee replaced 15 yrs. ago....and of course it's on the surgery side.He's been having pain there too. So, for now, until they get the leg back to normal, he will have to use a walker. Knowing how hard it was for him to do this, makes these flowers extra special. He couldn't let Valentine's Day go by without getting me something.

I know that Joe reads this blog...so just want to say how much I love you.
Balisha

Tulips in the Window

Do  you see the tulips in my window? This window cling was part of my birthday present from my daughter last year. I put them away in a drawer and forgot about them. I found them when I was putting some Christmas things away and almost ran to the window to put them on display. I love them. I was thinking that these would be such a bright bit of spring on a winter's day. I heard a weather forecast for the end of next week...maybe the 60's...hooray! Today in the 30's and I went out without my scarf wrapped around my mouth. I saw lots of squirrels venturing out and the little titmouse pair were at the feeder. Now, I'm going to get you excited....I heard a cardinal singing this morning. Can good weather be far off?
Here's a little poem for today...

Tulips in the Window, by Balisha

Happy Birthday Mom and here's a gift for you...
Tulips for your window... when you are feeling blue.
The cardinals and the sparrows were chatting just this morn..
The other birds just waiting... looking so forlorn.
Then they spied the flowers and started singing tunes..
They sang of Spring and warmth and the merry month of June.
"The snow will have to go,"I said. Won't be much longer dears...
Just enjoy the window flowers and  sing the songs I love to hear.

Little Girls I remember Well

 I was saddened yesterday to hear about Shirley Temple's death. She was a little older than me and was America's Sweetheart. Mom and I loved her movies and I think Mom tried to make my hair look like hers....using that dreaded curling iron to make my very straight hair curly. This little girl made life easier during the depression...she brought a smile to every one's face. 

Then five more little girls came into my life. The Dionne Quintuplets. Five little  babies born to a couple in Canada. It seems that these precious little ones were used for advertising on so many household items in our country.. I only remember this calendar that hung in our kitchen. Mom was fascinated by them...as were many other  people. I was reading about them this morning and found that only two are still living. They were used to promote all kinds of products, earning their country $20 million a year during the depression. They were exploited and the two remaining have to fight for money even now. 

I was a little girl just at the end of the depression...this was such a time of little money. Simple things made us happy in those days. Sitting on the horsehair sofa, with some bread with brown sugar on top, and a cup of ovaltine, and listening to Shirley sing the classic song... "On the Good Ship Lollipop." We had a big floor model radio in those days...that along with the old upright piano were the focal points in our house.We had very little, but I thought we were rich...because of the love in our home.

Balisha 

My Winter Interest

 I don't have a lot of time to be on the computer this morning...we are going to Joe's dr. appt later today. I just thought I'd post a few pictures from the woods.

 Snowy days have been quite boring lately, but in the woods....things are never boring.

The statues take on a new look with snow all around and on top of them. Aren't they pretty with their coat of white?

Gardeners say to leave some grasses and dried flower stalks for "winter interest" My winter interest plants are under a blanket of snow. I didn't plan on showing these statues again until warmer weather, but they seem to be the perfect winter interest feature in my garden.
Hope you enjoy them.
Balisha

How I Developed a Sweet Tooth

It all began with World War ll. Dad was away in Germany and Mom and I were on our own. A friend of Mom's and her little boy moved in with us to share expenses. I was in kindergarten at the time. I've told about them bringing a toaster with them before, but that's the beginning of the story. After school...toast with cinnamon sugar on it for a treat. Some days just a bread and butter sandwich with sugar or brown sugar was waiting or a graham cracker. I don't remember having cookies at home in my younger years. I used to walk home with a little boy and he would invite me to come in to get a sugar cookie.... that his grandma had just baked. That happened many times...I hope that wasn't the only reason I walked home with him. He didn't have many friends...I felt sorry for him and walked with him most days....getting my reward when we got to his house. My mom didn't like to make cookies...though all her life she tried to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie.....or Toll House cookies as she called them. When I got older....that became my job in the kitchen. We always had cookies in the cookie jar then.Mom made pies and fudge. Edy's fudge was famous in those days.
As I grew older and married, I continued baking chocolate chips. My husband didn't like them as days went on and they got hard. I had to find a recipe that would stay soft. It wasn't until the 1970's that I found this recipe. A cookie that would stay soft until they were all gone. It tasted a little different than the originals, but no one noticed, but me. I recently found the recipe again...here it is.... These are excellent cookies and last a long time if the cookie monster doesn't find them :)

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Rated: Submitted By: Debbi Borsick Photo By: Sir Psycho Sexy Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 12 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 40 Minutes Servings: 72

"Here's an Allrecipes classic and much-loved chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses instant pudding mix in the batter."

INGREDIENTS:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 cups butter, softened 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla

pudding mix 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2.	In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Decisions Decisions....

What to watch...the Olympics, The Beatles, or Downton Abbey? What's a girl to do? This is how we handled it....I recorded Downton....we went back and forth on the other two programs.....recording the Olympics, so we wouldn't miss an event we wanted to see.This morning...I got up early and watched the recorded Downton Abbey. Our remote got a workout yesterday. Do you remember when you had to get up and change the channel? That was a workout for us in those days...today we are spoiled and many over weight, from no exercise. Some only exercise their fingers with the remote. Back to last night.....  All were good programs....what with the US skating team and the 50 yr reunion of the Beatles and "oh my" the goings on at Downton. So, blurry eyed this morning... as I sit here writing my post, I'm wondering what the day will bring. No plans except Joe's appointment at therapy.

Good golly Miss Molly...when is it going to warm up just a little? The view out the window is so deceiving...the sun is shining, the snow is sparkling, cars whizzing by on clear roads.....then I look at the thermometer and it reads -14. No walkers in sight this morning. Enough weather for today. Aren't you sick of hearing my daily weather report?

We had one of Joe's favorite meals yesterday....hamburger patties shaped like footballs... and made with a meatloaf like recipe. They are a little thicker than regular hamburgers.  I made four "footballs" and browned them in a skillet. Then I added to the pan...about 11/2 cups of water mixed with 1/2 pkg of Lipton onion soup mix. I covered the pan and let the meat slow cook until done I used a meat thermometer to test. When they were done, I took them out of the pan and thickened the gravy. Sometimes I add mushrooms to this mixture. Meanwhile, I made some mashed potatoes and we had sweet corn and a salad. We ate two...so there are leftovers for another meal later this week.Joe always smiles when there is food left...he knows that I like to cook for a couple of days at one time.He tells me it's me trying to get out of cooking.

I'm sitting here listening to Joe talking to customer service on the phone. I've never seen anything like it....he makes a regular conversation with customer service...finding out where the person is, how's the weather there, they may talk about his surgery or other things going on....and usually ends up with free shipping. I think to myself...here he is talking to someone he doesn't even know....and on the other hand,  here I am posting about my day with all of you, whom I've never met.

Well, gotta go and make breakfast...maybe I'll come back later and post my recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Have a nice day....Balisha