Birds and birds

I woke up this morning around 5 a.m. to a symphony of birds calls since I had the windows wide open. It was nice, it was almost like they are trying to all talk over each other. There is even a bird that chirps like R2-D2 some times. We have a lot of them and buy song bird food in bulk.

 

No sign of life in the abandoned Hummingbird nest, I was so hoping another bird would nest there. Our hummingbirds seemed to have increased a little, I was afraid many may have migrated north. There is a little male hummer I call 'scooter' because when he flies by he sounds like the spaceships on the Jetson's. I just love sitting outside and photographing them. Here are some pictures I took the other day, I think the male was trying to show off for the female, look at those moves. It's weird because it looks like a female and then when he turns you can see the red on his neck and the black face. These pics were taken all within a minute of the same bird. Sorry for the overload of pictures, but I couldn't resist.

 

 

Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Cheryl

 

 

Friday already???

Where oh where did the week go? It seems like yesterday it was Monday and I was doing laundry and patching the pin holes in the grout that I noticed.

 

We decided to put our house on the MLS on Tuesday instead of For Sale by Owner so it will be on the major real estate sites. This sparked a need for me to fill the nail holes in a wall in the family room and paint it because I was sure that someone would notice it if they came to look at the house. They probably wouldn't have noticed, I think it's just me knowing that those nails holes are there that drove me to do it. These are the things that keep me up at night sometimes I swear I over scrutinize and over think everything

 

Painting was not as easy as it sounded, the wall is about 13 feet high and requires a big ladder which I did not enjoy climbing up and down on. There is also a huge entertainment cabinet against the wall that Hubby wasn't happy about needing to be moved, but we used those furniture sliders and I could move it around myself after that. It is amazing how many cords and cables were back there that are now all neat and twisty tied together!  There were some that weren't even hooked up to anything, imagine that.

 

After about a half hour of painting I had it, it was hard for me to reach everything and I hate being on ladders and it was hot being up so high. So, since it was a cool breezy day, I traded Hubby painting for weeding our bank in front. Yup, 6 hours, 6 applications of sunscreen and 6 bottles of water later and the bank is weeded and new ice plant has been planted. It looks pretty good and it should fill in pretty quickly if that damn gopher decides not to eat it. I didn't even get sunburned, but my fingernails that I finally got to grow out took a beating.  Oh well, no pain, no gain, right?

 

I honestly don't even know where I am getting all this ambition lately. I guess I am just anxious to sell this house and move and start my new life someplace else. I want a huge garden and some chickens and I want to start canning food.  I feel like my life is on hold, as there is no use doing a garden here if we are moving. I feel like I am running in place with a carrot in front of my nose that I will never ever catch.

 

We had lunch with my in-laws today, we don't get to see them that often so it was nice getting together for some quality one on one time (or two on two time). We went to Romano's Macaroni Grill, a place we had never been to before and the food was great. Hubby had the Carmela's Chicken and I had the Chicken Parmesan and it was the best I have ever had. We will definitely go again. It was kind of sad though sitting with them because today is my Mom's Birthday, she would have been 85 the same age as my father in law. Hubby is so blessed to still have his Dad in his life.

 

On the way back home my tire pressure light came on and when we pulled into the garage we could hear the air just rushing out of it. The boys came by and removed it, plugged it, filled it and put it back on which was really nice. There was a huge nail in it, we were lucky we didn't get a flat while we were on the freeway at the rate that thing was leaking, that would have sucked big time.

 

All in all it was a very productive week,  the house is spit shined, the yard looks great, flyers are printed, just waiting for prospective buyers to come to see the house, so wish us luck with that.

 

Have a great night and thanks for reading. Happy Birthday Mom, not a day goes by that I don't think about you.

Cheryl

 

 

 

Happy Monday & Easter tip

Happy Monday!! I love Mondays now that I don't have to leave the house to go to work. There is always some kind of work waiting to be done here at the house, but better here than going there and I can work at my own pace and there is no stress. I decided today will be laundry and cleaning the floors day. I also need to fill some pin holes in the grout lines that I noticed when I was cleaning it last week, doesn't that sound like fun?? I should have marked them as I noticed them, oh well, too late!

 

We had a nice quiet Easter yesterday at home with the boys and our youngest son's fiancée. Hubby made a rack of pork and for an appetizer I made some colored deviled eggs that I saw on a cooking website. They came out pretty cute and they were super easy too.

The website says not to use more than 1 drop of dye per 3/4 cup water (unless you are doing a mixed color, then you may need 2 or 3 drops) and let soak for about an hour and stir them every 10 minutes or so. Do not use vinegar or your eggs will taste like vinegar too. Then drain, rinse very well, blot dry and then fill them with the deviled egg mix. They say that food coloring has a distinct taste and that is why you shouldn't use too much of it or you will taste it in the food, who knew?

 

I also sent the remaining cupcakes (except one) and most of those cookies home with one of the boys. He loves baked goods and I love making him baked goods!

 

TIP: I had gotten some colored dye on my hands and under one of my fingernails and I soaked them in hydrogen peroxide for about a minute and then scrubbed my hands and nails really well and it removed almost all of it. Today you can't even tell I got dye on my hands. That's my Easter tip.

 

It's a gorgeous day here right now, all the windows are open and I can hear the birds chirping and hummingbirds fighting over the feeders. I am feeling grateful that we have great weather most of the year.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!
Cheryl

Garden Cookies and Easter Cupcakes

Happy Saturday, one more day until Easter! Well yesterday I finished the tile early and got busy on making those Garden Cookies. Here are the results and pictures:

 

Cookie molds

 

Here are the cookies all molded and ready to go into the oven, The secret here is to roll the dough to the right thickness to have enough dough to completely fill the mold (but not too much or they won't touch the table to cut out) and then pack it to insure you have nice mold lines. You need to flour the molds really well so they will release the cookie. I have had a couple "do overs", but overall I think they worked great. The recipe I used came in the box with the molds.

 

 

 

Here are the baked cookies, they came out very well and held the detail.

 

 

 Here are the pictures of the decorated cookies. I could not find my large tube of icing that I bought so I used frosting and various sprinkles. It worked OK for the ones with sprinkles, but if you want any kind of detail you need icing.

 

Here is my decorating disaster. I frosted these first and then tried to add melted chocolate to make the stripes, yeah, I won't do that again.

 

 

On this one I did the chocolate center first and let it harden, then did the frosting after - much better!

 

 

I think the next time I make these I am going to divide the dough up and die it different colors (yellow for the bees, orange for the lady bugs, purple for the butterflies, etc.) and then you would only need to decorate some detail on them.

Since I was in a baking mood and had a lot of leftover frosting, I made some Easter cupcakes too. These are just white vanilla cupcakes from a recipe I found on line and decorated.

 

I hope you enjoyed my experiment as much as I enjoyed making them.

 

Have a blessed Easter!

Cheryl

 

 

Holy week and busy week

Hello! It's Holy week and it's been a very busy week so far.

 

I finally got all of the windows finished and washed all of the screens. I decided to do a 'deep clean' which included pulling out all the furniture and cleaning behind and underneath everything. Then, something possessed me to clean the grout and travertine that was looking dingy, so, with a brush and detergent, I have been scrubbing grout for the last 2 days, about 10 hours. I still have about 8 feet of hallway to go, which is going to wait until tomorrow or Saturday but oh does it look nice. I think I must have about 500 square feet of tile which I was cursing the whole time, but now that it's almost all clean I love it again, funny how that works :) It is such a great feeling when I do a deep clean.

 

CLEANING TIP: When cleaning grout, take a wet toothbrush dipped in Dawn dish detergent and rub along the grout lines and let it sit for a few minutes, this will loosen the dirt up. Then scrub them with the toothbrush and wash and rinse with the rest of the floor. The great thing about it is that it is not toxic and there are no fumes like with other cleaners or bleach.

 

I think many of the Hummingbirds may have migrated north. I have 3 feeders out, and the smallest one I have had to fill every day, now it's been lasting for 2 to 3 days and the others are lasting longer. No sign of any activity in the abandoned nest so perhaps she made a new one. I was hoping for another brood.

 

We made a Costco run late this morning to get things for Easter Sunday and since they give out so many food samples while you are shopping, we didn't even have to have lunch. I am setting my sights on baking those cookies for Easter along with some other goodies. Hubby is in charge of cooking, so I am in charge of sides, appetizers and dessert so I get to experiment.

 

It's Thursday, so we're having dinner with Da Boys tonight. Have a great night and a nice Good Friday tomorrow.

 

Cheryl

 

One more to 54

Happy Palm Sunday, one more week left in Lent. I haven't felt like writing in this  blog at all. I was actually debating on whether I wanted to continue it or not, but after looking through my posts, however boring some of them are, I think it is a good record of my journey so I am glad I started it.

 

Well yesterday was my Birthday, one more year added to the odometer to bring it up to 54. You are only as old (or young) as you feel, right? In that case, I guess I'm doing good because I feel great as well as very blessed. You just wonder sometimes how all those years passed so quickly.

 

Hubby and I went shopping for some Cowboy boots for my Birthday yesterday. I hate clothes and shoe shopping because I am so hard to fit. We went to 3 stores before I finally found the pair. I say "the" pair because it was the only pair that I tried on that fit and I love them, so it was meant to be. When we got home I kicked back with a glass of wine and did nothing the rest of the night.

 

 

 

Hubby grilled Nilgai, yams and asparagus for dinner with Cheesecake for dessert. Everything was delicious. The Nilgai is Asian Antelope also know as Blue Bull and tasted like beef. It is a very lean meat and very tender.

 

I received my cookie stamps and cookie cutters yesterday and I am very pleased with them. They are actually a gift from my sister. She sent me an Amazon card for my Birthday and I used it to purchase these. I think I will make cookies for Easter with the cookie cutters since they are so Spring themed. I am planning on dying the dough different colors to see how that turns out. I hope I am not inviting disaster into my  life by attempting that. Whether they turn out or not, I will post pictures along with a 'what not to do' list if they don't turn out well. Experimenting is so exciting, isn't it?

 

 

I think these stamps are a great way to add design to normal everyday cookies and it will look like you put a lot of time into them. I am sure I will discover other uses for them too.  

 

It was a great day all in all and the weather was perfect, 70 and sunny.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Cheryl

Empty nest and heat wave

Well, the baby hummingbird finally left the nest this morning. It makes me sad to see her go and to see that empty nest, but maybe the mama will have another brood or two.

 

 

At least I still have the ducks occasionally stopping by. You sure know if they have been here or not, they have terrible bathroom manners. They used to crap on the pool deck and we had to hose it off, but during the last few visits they 'used' the pool instead of the deck - disgusting! It's a good thing we have an automatic pool cleaner because if I had to scrape that stuff out, I would not be very happy about it. I guess I am glad that they don't visit very often.

 

 

It is very hot here today - 97! I got all the watering done early before the sun poked over the mountain. I closed up the house and drew the curtains when it was still 61 outside so it would stay reasonably cool in here, because I am not running the air conditioner. Right now we are at around 73 inside, which isn't too bad. The temperature will drop later tonight so I can open up the house to sleep. Should be 59 overnight - perfect.

 

I found some fun baking stuff this morning from Nordic Ware. They have the cutest stuff like little bundt pans, molds, you name it.  If you are planning a little party for whatever occasion and want to make little molded cakes or muffins, this is the place to get your pans and they are made in the USA.  You could also use those little mold pans to do chocolate candies too which would be neat. I ordered a set of cookie stamps and garden cookie cutters that I can't wait to receive.  If I had the money, I would probably buy 50% of everything on their website. They also sell products for stove top, oven, grill, microwave, toaster oven and kitchen. Here is the link if you are interested:

https://www.nordicware.com/store/product_detail/all-season-cookie-impressions#.U0RrIT9OVdg

(This is my personal recommendation, I am not affiliated with Nordic Ware).

I have some chicken that I plan to throw on the grill for dinner along with some corn on the cob and a baked potato. I am getting hungry just thinking about it. I really want steak, but I am too lazy to leave the house and go to the store to get it. If I did leave the house, I would just stop and get a Carne Asada Burrito and not cook at all. Now I am thinking about doing that instead of standing in 97 degree weather grilling in the sun because we all know how much I love heat and sun! Decisions, decisions.

Have a great night.
Cheryl

Birds and flowers

Had a visitor in the pool this morning. He and his lady mate have been flying by lately, spending time up the street in the neighbors pool and then fly to another neighbors yard to eat snails. From time to time they visit our pool, but I haven't been able to get a picture of them. This morning the male showed up by himself, which is unusual since they are always together. Maybe he was just testing the water temperature. After I took the picture I heard another duck quacking, it must have been his mate calling him and he flew off immediately - good boy!

The baby hummingbird is still in the nest and it's getting real big! I figured it would have flown by now, but Mama keeps feeding it, so maybe it doesn't want to move out until it's 30! (Not like that ever happened with any of my kids).

 

Here are some new baby hummingbirds that left their nest and are now eating at the feeder. They are so small and very cute.   

 

The Orioles love the hummingbird feeders too. This feeder is just sitting on a post so we had to bungee cord it so it doesn't get knocked off (again).

I love all the colors of our flowers around the yard. It's definitely Spring here, these are our wild flowers. 

 

Bird of Paradise 

 

Clivia (Kaffir Lily)

 

 

Bacopa

 

Impatiens 

Pink Ice Plant

Giant Bird Of Paradise

 

I really don't have anything else to talk about, I have been a recluse the last few days, but have been keeping up with my diet and exercise. I have been experimenting a little with healthier recipes and snacks. 

 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Hopefully it will bring some sunshine to those who still have snow.

 

Have a great day.

Cheryl