Exceedingly Mundane

I am trying to get back into a groove of trying new recipes. Sometimes, I feel like I cook the same things over and over. I do try to break out of my rut, eventually.

I entered a few new recipes that I’ve made in the last couple of months in both my local recipe software (MacGourmet, that I bought last year for my new MacBook and just LOVE!), and also on the recipe section of our website (here). I’ve tried to be better about taking photos. It’s funny, because when I transferred photos, I had two distinct themes:

1. Food
2. Beau

(So expect a couple of Beau photos soon!) Anyway, here’s a few of the new things I have tried lately. I tried to give credit for where I had found them (I think these are all online), and hope I got them all correct. I tend to troll for recipes, print them out or file them, and not always cite where I found them. Ahem.

* A change on regular banana bread. This is more of a dessert, since it has chocolate inside and a great chocolate glaze on the outside. Banana Chocolate Walnut bread recipe here.

* One I made back earlier in the winter, for quick enchiladas in the crockpot. I have a recipe very similar to this that I do in the oven, which is also just basically black bean enchiladas. It was nice to do them in the afternoon and have them ready at suppertime, just having to fix some sides to go with them. Crockpot enchiladas here.

* A honey oat bread in my bread machine, here.

* A tangy, strong vinaigrette for a spinach salad - here.

* A copycat recipe for Bourbon chicken. It was good, but not quite like the Bourbon Chicken at our favorite local chinese restaurant.

I also went back and entered a few recipes for things that I have made for years, or haven’t made in years, that were on recipe cards and not in either of my software systems. One is my mom’s chili, which is just a guideline. No measurements, she didn’t measure much of anything! Another is for a “pantry cake”, a quick snack cake that doesn’t use eggs or butter. It doesn’t have a frosting so Tim does not like this one. What a shame, I had to eat almost the whole thing all.by.myself!

Chili recipe here

Chocolate Snack Cake recipe here

I am hoping to try a couple more in the next few weeks. If they turn out good, I’ll probably make another recipe post

P.S. Sorry for all the different sizes on the photos. I just didn’t feel like going back and making them all the same size. Sheer laziness, I tell ya!

Have a great day!

Happy Anniversary to my darling husband!

Fifteen years ago today, we got married in a little chapel in the Smoky Mountains. Tim’s parents drove up to be with us, and we took vows to love, honor and cherish each other all the days of our lives. I’ve been so blessed to have Tim every day since, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with him, feeling the love he bestows on me every day.

I love you sweetheart, with all my heart. Happy Anniversary Tim!

It rained, it was colder, all of which make for a nice weekend for me!

Not a whole lot going on here, but we had a nice weekend (or at least I did, Tim prefers 70 degrees, and hours spent on the golf course). It rained most of the day Saturday, so we stayed in and watched tv, and movies, and I read some. That’s a pretty perfect late winter day for me. Much better than the early spring we were having the last two weeks of February. Warm weather will be here plenty soon, so I don’t prefer to rush it.

Tim worked on our deck last week, and it looks really great. He used a new type cleaner on it, then put protectant on it, so it looks really good. So nice to have a useable space outside.

Sunday, we went to church, then to Fresh Market, then to the movie “The Grace Card.” It could have been a rental, but we like to support faith-based movies that come out, so we went to our theater to see it. It was a good movie, with a good message. Grace is easy for the people you know and love, it’s bestowing grace on the unloveable, the hate-filled, that is so very hard to do. We had also watched “Like Dandelion Dust” on Friday night (Netflix), another faith-based movie based on a Karen Kingsbury book. A really tough movie to watch, but a good topic and it ended well, so that is also a big thing with me, LOL!

The weekend ended on a bad note. Tim was outside hitting balls at dark, Sunday evening. When he and Beau came in, Beau was bleeding. Tim didn’t hear him get in a fight, so he probably got into some briars or something sharp. That dog loves to roam and wander. His ear is cut and it was bleeding profusely. It’s hard to put pressure on a dog’s ear to make it stop bleeding It finally slowed up and we put some Vaseline on it. I hope he heals quickly I keep finding little droplets of blood everywhere, poor baby. He obviously doesn’t feel good today, he’s been laying around and very subdued. My sweet Beau-baby.

Here’s to a good week ahead - I hope to get a few more things cleaned out around here, I’m hoping to try a new recipe or two (we bought brussel sprouts at Fresh Market, going to try roasting them), and I am looking forward to reading more on my Kindle. Have a great week, everyone out there in bloggity-ville!

Have you ever heard that phrase about “don’t go to the grocery store hungry” ??

I can vouch for that, first hand. Today, I went around lunch time and I wasn’t hungry when I left to run errands. By the time I got to the grocery and all that food, I was ravenous. I wanted to eat everything I laid my eyes on!

I rarely splurge and get things that aren’t on my list. And I tend to not buy junk food and have it in the house, because I will EAT IT.

Today, I came home with two boxes of cookies. Ay-yi-yi!

Let the sugar coma commence!

Time for another Question of the Day! Do you take your car to the car wash? Do you wash it yourself at home? Does someone else wash it for you? (This sounds like a good job for teens and pre-teens!) Do you pull through an automated place or drive up to one where you get out and wand that sucker yourself? LOL! Or do you never wash your car?!

I admit, we don’t wash our cars very often. One vehicle sits out all the time, so it gets rained on, but it does pick up pollen and stuff. The other stays in a garage and doesn’t get that dirty. Neither Tim nor I really like washing cars. Years ago, when we were first married, we would get out on the driveway, with the hose and some car wash detergent, and wash them ourselves. It’s either age or laziness or something, because these days, we drive them to one of the local drive through places that has the automated machines that wash it for you. It’s more expensive, yes, but it certainly is very convenient! As I said, we don’t wash them a lot, so we don’t spend too much money on this particular endeavor!

Tim worked on our vehicles on Saturday. He changed the oil in both (that saves us a TON of money, him doing it rather than taking it in to a car care place), and he also rotated the tires on both vehicles. Tim grew up working on cars and farm equipment, so he’s incredibly handy in that way. It is a wonderful trait to have in a husband, believe me! Anyway, we took both of them to a drive-through car wash place ($10 each), and got them both cleaned up. They’re all shiny and clean, and set for a while.

How about you? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Is cereal a staple at your house? It is at ours. We have a whole deep drawer devoted to just cereal and granola bars. I’m not sure why I have so much space devoted to one food category, or why we keep so much cereal. Probably because I’m all about options and having choices. I really could probably use that space more wisely and efficiently for something else

I eat a lot less cereal than I used to. I have made a concerted effort to transition to oatmeal in the last couple of years, to try to keep my cholesterol numbers down. I try to eat oatmeal 6 or sometimes 7 days a week, most of the year. It’s really easy in the winter. July and August are a little harder, although I usually succeed. Most of the time, I “splurge” on Sunday mornings and have a bowl of cereal before early church. It takes less time and gives me enough energy to get through church. I tried skipping breakfast a couple of mornings, and got dizzy one time, getting up and down to sing during church. Now, I make sure to eat something!

Tim is a breakfast kind of guy. But not cereal. He grew up with his mom fixing him a “big breakfast” before he left on the school bus. Tim’s idea of breakfast is biscuits, eggs, bacon or sausage, and grits. Every. Single. Morning. Me, I can’t cook very well when I’m sleepy and I just don’t think it’s that healthy to eat that every day, first thing. So, he’s had to compromise over the years, and eat breakfast for dinner about once every week or so. In the mornings, he’s pretty much stuck with cereal or oatmeal.

I only buy “semi-healthy” cereal. I keep cornflakes, for when we have bananas (or I need them for a coating of some kind). I keep Raisin Bran Crunch for Tim, and two kinds of Cheerios for me (he eats them sometimes too). I also keep granola bars for Tim, he likes to take them to the golf course.

So, are you a cereal eater? Do you stick to one kind or do you like options or variety? Do you eat the sugary, good kind from childhood (Fruit Loops, Cocoa Pebbles, etc), or have you switched to a semi-healthy kind as an adult? Leave me a comment and let me know!

I wish I had something exciting to blog about. Here we are already half way through February, and it seems like just yesterday we were getting ready for the holidays! Time really does fly!

Let’s see:

* We never do much for Valentines Day. In the early years of being married, we both went all out (although Tim only did so, to make me happy). I was cleaning out some stuff in a closet the other day and ran across a box full of cards we sent each other the first couple of years. My goodness, Hallmark and American Greetings made a ton of money off of us, LOL! The longer we’ve been married, the more I’ve come around to Tim’s way of thinking. He loves me 365 days a year and doesn’t need a certain day to tell me or show me. He’s wonderful about doing it every day. I don’t want to wait for a day in mid February to get flowers or chocolates or a nice dinner out. I get those all through the year!

* We got AT&T Uverse installed last week. So far (knock on wood), we really like it! The Internet seems faster (although Tim had to do some work to bypass their combo router/cable modem - our equipment is better and faster and serves our needs, and they try to shut stuff off, which doesn’t work for us). He has everything running now, including all of the stuff for our website (my blog, mail, recipe databases, etc). The cable portion is miles above what we had with Comcast. I can now get all channels in the bedroom (via a second box that is $7 a month). I can watch any show in there from the main DVR, even while he’s watching something in the den. We have all of the channels, and tons more high-def ones than we had before. We’re tv addicts, so we’re both pretty happy!

* A new season of Survivor starts tonight, hooray! We miss Human Target but are enjoying other favorites like NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles, Fringe, White Collar, V, The Mentalist, Hawaii Five 0 and others.

* I’ve been reading more this year than last. I’m slowly adapting to the tinnitus and learning to read with the buzzing in my head. I’m really enjoying my Kindle and all of the free books I have downloaded on it. This year, I hope to surpass my reading goal from last year (the lowest I’ve had since I started keeping track). So far, I’ve read 12 books this year, which is a good start for me. (If you’re interested in what I read, let me know. I use Goodreads, and can hook up with you there). I’m currently reading “A Proper Pursuit” by Lynn Austin, free on my Kindle. And I’m REALLY enjoying it!

* After really cold temps most of January and February, it feels like spring this week. Last week, we had some ice and snow. The second day, the temperature never got above freezing, so none of it melted. Weird for us. This week, it’s sunny blue skies and temps around 70 degrees! Tim is getting “golf” fever, his version of spring fever. I’ll lose him soon to the lure of the golf course

* I’ve been making homemade pizzas fairly regularly. I go through phases with my cooking. Otherwise, I’m not a huge cooking kick. I’d like to be making breads and sweets, my favorites, but we’re both trying to watch what we eat and Tim keeps talking me out of brownies and bread Anyway, this is the last pizza sauce I tried, which we really liked - recipe here. Please note, I don’t claim this to be my recipe, I adapted it from AllRecipes.com. I named it that on our website, to distinguish it from sauces anyone else would enter

* Sadly, there are apparently no Girl Scouts any longer in our neighborhood. They’ve all grown up and no new ones have moved in, apparently. No one rings my door to buy cookies. Sniff sniff. Of course, Tim would guilt me into not buying any, hehehe, so there.

Anything exciting going on out there in blog-land? Just keeping on, keeping on here!

I appear to be a seasonal eater. These days, if we go out to eat lunch or dinner, I seem to want to go somewhere that serves a nice variety of soup choices Especially at lunch, I love places that offer a combo of say, soup and a half a sandwich. I guess because we’ve had quite a bit of cold weather lately, I am drawn to soups, both at home and eating out.

In the summer though, I’ll do a salad and a half a sandwich. I love places like Corner Bakery, Newks, Sweet Peppers, McAlisters, etc — good soup/sandwich/salad places. I love paninis and get those a lot. I rarely order a caesar salad, for whatever reason. I also don’t love places that just have iceberg lettuce for their salads. (Have you noticed a trend, I appear to be quite picky!)

I admit, when I eat out, I tend to favor “fattening” foods. Especially this time of year, with soups. Something like a broccoli cheese or a loaded or baked potato soup. Or at Newks on Fridays, my favored lobster bisque. Yummy and fattening. At home, I tend to make a little healthier soup, a turkey or bean chili, a Cooking Light recipe for potato soup, etc.

How about you? Which do you prefer - soup, sandwich or salad? Are you a seasonal eater or does the weather not affect what you eat? Do you have a favorite place to eat this kind of food, and a combination that you like? Leave a comment and let me know!

So, today’s Question of the Day is about dreams. Do you remember your dreams? Do you dream a lot?

Me, I think I’m an oddball. I might dream, but I rarely remember them. I actually don’t think I dream much, but I’m sure, scientifically, I probably do. I am getting to an age now where I rarely sleep through the night. With the tinnitus, once I wake up, I have a really hard time getting back to sleep. But, right when I wake up, I never remember anything about a dream. Only once in a blue moon. If I do, I only remember a tiny bit, just a snippet, not a long or drawn out series of events or something. And mine are usually odd. Like a mixture of something from the distant past, mixed with something recent from my life, or a tv show or movie or something I’ve seen. Like they got thrown in a blender and came out, not making any sense! LOL!

Tim often tells me about his dreams, he remembers quite a lot. His retelling is pretty vivid and usually full of a lot of detail. And my mother-in-law is the same way. She seems to remember them and be able to recount details of what she dreamed, what she said and did, etc.

What about you? Do you dream a lot and do you remember any of them? Are they good, sweet dreams or really weird dreams?

Six years ago today, I wrote my first post on my little blog. It was just an experiment, something I thought wouldn’t last long. For the longest time, it was just my sisters that came by and visited. Then, slowly, I had other lovely people stop by to visit. Now, six years later, I’m still blogging, which is a bit of a surprise to me! I’ve taken several breaks, some quite long, but I’m still sticking with it. I think it’s a wonderful way to chronicle our lives, share ideas and thoughts, ask fun questions about the things we all have in common and that we’re different about, etc.

Happy Anniversary to my little blog, Exceedingly Mundane

I don’t normally do book reviews, per se, or recommend books. I read a lot of books, and I generally enjoy everything I read. I don’t step far outside my comfort zone. I know the authors and types of books I like, and I tend to stay within those parameters.

I had to blog about these two books though, the Marta’s Legacy books by Francine Rivers (the first is called “Her Mother’s Hope” and the second, “Her Daughter’s Dream). For one thing, these two books were most enjoyable to me, and I highly recommend them if you like Christian fiction, or enjoy big epic books that span generations, following the characters through trials, triumphs, relationships and the course of their life.

Second, I believe I set a personal best record yesterday! I picked up this second book, “Her Daughter’s Dream” from the library on Saturday. We had a family reunion to go to at lunch, and were gone for several hours. I read a few pages in the car, then read some Saturday night before bed (my preferred time to read). But, then, on Sunday, I read. A LOT. I read about 500 pages, which has GOT to be a new record for me! I finished this book, all 564 pages of it, in basically a day. New record for me!

Now, my biggest concern is deciding what to read next! I downloaded “The Inner Circle” by Brad Meltzer to my Kindle, for Tim. I’m trying to get him to like my Kindle, it’s an uphill battle So, I’ll be working on some “real” books from my bookshelves while he’s reading on my baby!!

P.S. Have any of you seen Meltzer’s TV show on the History Channel? We’ve been watching it too. It’s called Decoded and is a mixture of history, obscure facts, conspiracy theories and the like. We’re oddly fascinated by it!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since the Challenger disaster. I suppose there are events in ones lifetime, where you always remember where you were and what you were doing. I’m sure 9/11 is for all Americans, and for me, the Challenger accident is, as well.

I was in college. Every Tuesday, we had chapel (I went to a small Presbyterian college). I remember before they started the chapel service, they told us what had happened. We prayed for the astronauts and their families, and after a short time, they dismissed everyone. I lived in the newest dorm, which also happened to be close to our chapel area. Our lobby was packed after we were released from chapel. (Notice I said lobby, guys were not allowed upstairs in the girls dorms and vice versa.) We watched the coverage for a long time. I think I even skipped lunch that day, but had to leave after for either a lab or an on-campus job, I don’t remember. I just remember being numb and so shocked by what had happened.

Do you remember where you were or what you were doing when this accident happened?

As seen on Kim’s blog, from the original source, Miz B:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

OK, I haven’t talked books in a while, and I have been trying to read more. I LOVE my Kindle, and have read a lot of books on it since I got it for my birthday last fall. I’ve been trying to get Tim to read on it, so I loaned it to him a couple of weeks ago for him to read a free book I had gotten and really enjoyed. That gave me time to read a couple of “real” books that I had on my bookshelves.

Let’s see, I’m currently reading: The Justice Game by Randy Singer on my Kindle. It’s another freebie from Amazon, a Christian legal thriller. I’m really enjoying it so far

What did I recently finish reading? While Tim had my Kindle, I knocked out three “real” books from my bookshelves. Two I had won and one I had purchased. I read “The Swiss Courier” by Tricia Goyer & Mike Yorkey (WWII story about the Swiss Underground and the fight against the Nazis). I also read “Mystery at the Inn”, last fall’s offering of the Grace Chapel Inn set of books by Guideposts. Lastly, I read “Secrets” by Robin Jones Gunn, a freebie I won online. It’s the first of a series, but I probably won’t purchase any. They were all good, and I enjoyed each of them (all Christian fiction).

Lastly, what I might read next? That’s always hard for me to pick, as I’m a moody reader. Right now, I’m leaning toward the sequel to “Gone To Green”, that I got free recently from Amazon, called “Goodness Gracious Green” (by Judy Christie). I might read “Always the Baker, Never the Bride” on my Kindle instead. If Tim wants to read on my Kindle again, I’ll probably read “Under the Cajun Moon” by Mindy Starns Clark, which is languishing on my bookshelves.

How about you? Have you read any good books lately? Are you reading one now? Happy Reading!

This is the time of year that I get the most cleaning out and decluttering done. I think it’s a combination of two things: a) post holiday, wanting to get pared down and back to normal and b) the weather dictates that I stay inside and the grey days lend themselves to cleaning out and purging.

I finally started today! Not a lot, but a good start. Tim took the day off to go deer hunting, but decided at the last minute not to go. So, we got up in the attic and cleaned out a large cache of boxes and stuff. I tend to “collect” empty boxes (say, from Amazon!) all through the year, so I will have empty boxes to use for birthdays and Christmas presents. I also have the tendency (being the packrat that I am), to keep boxes for certain kitchen items and other gifts that I receive. Today, we cleaned a lot of those out, and broke them down for the recycling bin. I also took a couple of big bags of stuff to the Goodwill store.

It feels good to get some stuff cleaned out! I still have a lot left to go. Receipts and paperwork are the worst for me. I still have some closets and drawers to go through,too. But at least it’s a start!

Have you cleaned out or decluttered anything since the holidays? Leave me a comment and let me know!

I normally go grocery shopping today (or the middle of the week, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday). But looking at the thermometer, it’s 29 degrees outside, with a wind chill of 19 degrees. Really too cold for a shivering girl like myself. I really think I’d much rather stay inside, all wrapped up, with some hot raspberry zinger tea, my Kindle or maybe a movie on TV. Doesn’t that sound better that schlepping groceries in below freezing weather?

Thankfully we never lost power over the weekend, nor did we get as much ice as I expected or they predicted (thank goodness!). I took some pictures, but lazy old me hasn’t loaded them yet. Probably not very scenic pictures. Snow photographs a lot prettier than ice!

So, I’ve about talked myself into staying inside today, and will procrastinate on going to the grocery store. Luckily, we went at 11 PM Saturday night (to stock up in case we lost power), so I’m not out of anything. I just hate to go on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, because it seems like everyone and his brother is out buying groceries.

Which leads to today’s Question of the Day: When do you do your grocery shopping?

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I normally do mine during the middle of the week, across the middle of the day, to avoid the crowds and be able to get what I want and get in and out. A lot of times on the weekend or evenings, the shelves are missing something I want or need. I hate that! How about you, when do you grocery shop, why then, and do you even like to go grocery shopping? Leave me a comment and let me know