It's been a long time coming...

...for me to write a post, (I know... it's been 8 months, sorry). I will get caught up to the end of last year in this post.

We took the house off the market last July so we could leave and spend time in Michigan and not have to worry about showing it. We drove to Oklahoma and spent a few days there and then, on our way to Michigan we met up with my sister and her husband (who just retired that day) who were vacationing in a cabin on a river. It was a really nice place and we spend the day and night there and had a lot of fun and celebrated his retirement - yayyy!

Michigan was great to reconnect with family and friends. We had our yearly camp BBQ, much smaller this year, but we had a great time. We also traveled up to the Copper Country and spend the night at Baraga State Park which overlooks Lake Superior, it was just gorgeous. We walked to a local pizza place and got a pizza, and ended up taking it back to the campground so we could eat it and drink a beer (no beer at the pizza place, IN DA U.P., say it isn't so).

I went with a classmate to see another classmate's puppies. They were 7 of the most adorable golden retriever puppies I have ever seen. I think they were 4 weeks when I saw them, soooo sweet, I could have held them all day. It is great to follow them as they grow; she posts pictures of the pups in their new homes and they are all gorgeous.

I flew back to San Diego in late September and hubby stayed at our camp to bow hunt and returned in October. Since it was so late in the year, we decided to wait and re-list the house after the holidays.

Christmas was good, we just didn't think earlier in the year that we would be here for another Christmas so all of our stuff was in storage that we needed to retrieve. We decided not to get a tree and on December 23rd, I went to the store to get last minute stocking stuffers and other things that we needed. As I was going out the door hubby says "Oh yeah, do you think you could grab a small artificial Christmas tree while you are out". Um, OK, if they have any left at all.

Well. low and behold all the trees were marked down considerably AND the ones that were floor models were 50% off! So I got a skinny 6 foot tree that looked great and full for $10 - score!!  I had to disassemble the tree and try to fit it in the cart, but managed quite nicely I thought. The store that I went to has 2 levels and when you go to the 2nd level, you take the escalator and next to the escalator is a cart escalator chute. You push the cart in through the gate and there is a hook on the bottom of the cart that catches in the slot and it pulls the cart up the chute to the top and does just the reverse when you go down.  Well, when I went to go down after getting the tree, someone ahead of me pushed their cart through the chute but it wasn't going anywhere so I pushed my cart into it to get it to catch and go down but  it didn't, so I pushed my cart through the gate really far to get that cart going and hopped on the escalator. Well, apparently that cart didn't have a hook on the bottom and it went screaming down that chute and shot out at the end, flipped over and spilled the contents of the cart everywhere. The alarm sounded, the cart escalator stopped with my cart partway down filled with the tree and everyone just stopped and stared at me coming down the escalator. I almost thought it was a candid camera moment. I came down and said, "wow, what happened??? Oh look, the cart doesn't have a hook on the bottom, this could have injured someone". The store manager helped the lady pick up her stuff and switched her cart real quick. That could have turned into a very bad day for me and everyone, what if there were kids standing in front of the swinging gates at the bottom? Whew!

That pretty much sums up the last 8 months, hope I didn't bore you.

Thanks for reading!

It's Friday, I mean Tuesday!

I started this post on Friday and wrote one sentence and lost interest. The weather has been hot here, so I have not been baking since the Hummingbird Cake I made last weekend. I have however, been spending time outside in the evening with the hummingbirds trying to get some good shots and I have several to share with you. I like sunset the best as more gather at one time and since it's a "last call" situation, there is less fighting it seems. The feeders in the back yard are heavily guarded, this is the only feeder that gets more than 1 hummingbird at a time.

 

 

 

COWABUNGA dude!

I'm sexy and I know it.

 

Hmmm, I must be early, no one is here yet.

All dressed up to meet the ladies.

 

Pretty in pink

In the shadows



Here comes trouble...actually I think that's Frank.

The feeder is all mine - WINNING!

Sorry I'm late for Happy Hour! The traffic was awful!

Is this seat taken??

Heeeeere's Johnny!

I hope you enjoyed these. Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!!

Cheryl

Hummingbird Cake and Hummingbirds

I was first introduced to Hummingbird Cake by my Mom and loved it. I never knew such a thing existed before that day. When my Mom came out to visit me on her 72nd Birthday, I went to the local bakery to get a cake and they actually had a Hummingbird cake so that is what I got. I had planned on making one on her Birthday, but that was the week we listed the house and we were real busy, better late than never, right? Here is the recipe, I found it on line and it's from 1978.

 I cheated and bought cream cheese frosting - shhhhh.

After the pecan pieces were added - it turned out real pretty!

...and here are some Hummingbird photos for you. The guarder of the feeder, fast Freddie. 

Even though he is such a bully he is very pretty.

I hope you had a great night, geez, it's tomorrow in some time zones. Have a great weekend and remember to honor those who have served, those who are currently serving and those who gave everything for our freedom. Thanks for stopping by, have a safe Memorial Day.

Cheryl

Around the neighborhood

On my walk this morning I was noticing what people had in their trash cans (it's trash day and they were at the curb, I wasn't snooping in their driveways). We have 3 kinds of cans, black (trash), blue (recycle) and green (lawn). It is amazing how much garbage people generate in one week, to the point where the cans are overfilled and the lids are open. I found the widowed gentlemen down the street that lives alone has 2 of each can, full, I know who has cats by the tidy cat boxes, who has pools by the chemical bottles, who has babies in diapers, what several people drink and how much based on the overflow, which one of the neighbors got new blinds, a new freezer and a new love seat. I could go on and on. The economy must be good, because the people at the bottom of the hill got a huge TV and a surround sound system. I just found it interesting how much information we put out to the curb and I wouldn't be advertising my purchases. Fortunately, we live in a good neighborhood.

So, the next time you put your trash to the curb, really look at what you have out there that people can see, and make sure to put your wine bottles in the very bottom of the can.

We are going out for dinner tonight. I am excited because, well, I haven't been out to dinner in awhile, or worn make up. When you are home all the time you have no need for make up, or nice clothes, or doing your hair, etc. so this is nice for a change.

Have a great night and thanks for stopping by.
Cheryl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Granola Bars

I planned on posting the Granola Bar recipe yesterday, but, since doing the cookies and the Granola Bars (that stuff goes everywhere when you cut them up), I decided I needed to clean my kitchen, floors and oven. I don't even know why I chose to clean the oven really, I intended only to clean the racks, but after I cleaned them, I wanted the rest of the over to match. Now everything looks like brand new, even the window is spotless! While I was at it, I cleaned the whole down stairs, leaving the upstairs to do today. Right after I got out of the shower, we got a call from a real estate agent and someone wanted to see our house at 6:30 last night, so.....I continued to get the rest of the house cleaned too.

Here is the Granola recipe that I used, http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/09/granola-bars/  In case you haven't noticed from my precious recipes, I am a big Pioneer Woman fan.

 

I made these once before and everyone loved them. They are really easy to make and are crunchy like the Nature Valley Granola Bars, to make them more chewy, you can bake them for about 10 minutes and they will come out softer. I figure if you cut the whole pan into 45 pcs they are approx. 100 calories each, not bad. Here is the finished product, it smelled like heaven in the kitchen!

 

 

I made these for da Boys and 4 friends who are going on a big hike over the weekend, so I bagged them up with an ingredient list just in case someone has a food allergy. When you cut these up, you end up getting a bonus bag of Granola from all pieces that break off and Granola pieces all over your kitchen. 

 

 

Since my house was clean and the weather was cool and cloudy, I slept in and did my walk at 9. After I finished my walk and my coffee, I decided to weed the front hill again, it's been a month and the weeds are back - damn them!

 

So, I am feeling accomplished and since a long weekend is ahead of us, I can just relax, give thanks and count my blessings. Maybe I'll get some hummingbird pictures too.

 

Have a great weekend and be safe out there. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheryl

 

 

 

Stamping cookies

Happy Tuesday! Well our weather has cooled off drastically, to the point, when you are outside and the sun goes behind a cloud and the wind is blowing, it's downright cold (for us, since we were having 105 degree weather last week). When I went walking this morning at 6 (believe that?), it was cloudy and 58 degrees, but no wind, so it was great. I even took a minute off my time :)

 

So, cooler weather means I can start baking again - yayy!. I have been dying to use those cookie stamps I got for my Birthday last month from my Sister, remember these?

I thought I would make Peanut Butter cookies since you have to mash those down anyway. I rolled the cookies in a ball and stamped them right on the cookie sheet. The trick in stamping these is you need to have a bowl of flour handy and really flour the stamps and then tap off the excess. I finally got it on the third try and you know what they say about the third time - it's a charm! Why do they even say that?

Next I used a glass as a cookie cutter to remove the excess around the edges so they would look better. I said better, but not much better as you see in the picture. I should have floured that glass better! Oh well, (note to self).

Here is an close up look. These cookies are 3 inches in diameter

 

 

They spread out a little while baking, but not too bad that they lost the imprint. In the future I think I will use these on sugar cookies and see how they turn out.

 

All in all I am pleased with the stamps and Hubby said the cookies were delicious.

I really need to take advantage of the weather, so I will be making Granola Bars next and will post that later in the week. Have a great night and thanks for stopping by!

 

Cheryl

For the birds

I haven't had much to post about, because it's been 100+ here and I have not been baking or cooking. When I went walking yesterday the air quality from the fires sucked and that was at 6:30 am and it was already 70 degrees out. So, all I have today are bird pictures that I took the last couple days in the morning and tonight - enjoy!!

You can't see me right??

The protector of the east feeder

Pretty boy!

 

First one in the pie plate feeder!!

Finches taking turns for the feeder. 3 on the rope.



This is fast Freddie's feeder and don't you forget it.

Little devil

He doesn't like it when I stand there with my camera, he gets mad!

This guy loves to squawk, must not like it on that cactus!



When I swapped the feeders tonight, he was in my face and loved my hair.



Is that a mirror? No? I better go!



This little princess was showing off, she's so tiny.

 

She just loved to flitter around.

This guy is a Western Scrub Jay, when he is around, he wants everyone to know it, so loud.

Thanks for stopping by, today is Armed Forces Day so give a shout out to those serving and those who have served. Thanks for your prayers for the people and fire fighters out here, it's not over yet, fires are still raging so keep them coming!

Cheryl