Exceedingly Mundane

Today’s Topic: Just Wild About Harry

Okay, love him or loathe him, you’d have to live under a rock not to know that J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out on Saturday… Are you going to read it?
If so, right away? Or just, you know, eventually, when you get around to it? Are you attending any of the midnight parties?
If you’re not going to read it, why not?
And, for the record… what do you think? Will Harry survive the series? What are you most looking forward to?

OK, I love doing this meme because I consider myself a pretty above-average reader. But, {gasp} I have never read a Harry Potter book. And {even worse}, I’m not sure I want to. I’m sure they are wonderful books; they wouldn’t be the phenomenon they are if they weren’t. It’s not like me to not jump on a bandwagon like this, but I’ve just never been interested in them. I’ve never seen any of the movies, either. Now, I don’t rule out reading them in the future, but they are not high on my list. I know, I know, don’t throw things at me 🙂

P.S. For those of you who do read these and are looking forward to this last book – enjoy it! If you’re going to a party, have fun! Come out of your hole this weekend at some point and eat some food, though, ok?! 😀

Today’s Question of the Day is short and sweet – what kind of beverage do you drink with your evening meal? Water, tea, milk, juice, lemonade, soda, nothing, or something else? And while we’re at it, do you call your evening meal “dinner” or “supper”? Inquiring minds want to know!

OK, my answers. I’m trying to be good and drink water with my evening meal (which we usually call “supper” around here). However, being good doesn’t always work for me. A lot of the time I end up drinking tea. Which is something I’m trying to break myself of for one reason – I’m trying to limit my caffeine intake in the evenings. I think sometimes it affects my sleep, or my ability to fall asleep. I drink a fair amount of caffeine during the day (coffee in the mornings, sometimes Coke Zero or tea at lunch and then mostly tea with supper). I think I fall asleep easier when I don’t drink as much caffeine, especially in the latter parts of the day. However, I really don’t like drinking water with my meals. I really like a little flavor of something 🙂

How about you? What do you drink at meals, and what do you call the nighttime meal in your house? Leave me a comment and let me know. 🙂

I’ve finished a couple of books recently that I wanted to write a quick blurb about. As per usual for me, I don’t write particularly good book reviews. It’s always the same, I read this book and surprise! I liked it!

First up, I finished another book in a series I’m reading, “Blue Shoes and Happiness”, book number 6 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, by Alexander McCall Smith. I believe I only have one more book in this series to be current. Alas, McCall Smith has two other series I want to eventually start reading – the 44 Scotland Street series and the Sunday Philosophy Club series. This, of course, is in addition to the 20+ sets of other series books that I have on my list to read one day (and yes, you KNOW I have a list of these!)

Next up, I finished “The Tea House on Mulberry Street” by Sharon Owens. This was a book I had seen mentioned last year sometime on someones blog (although for the life of me, I can’t remember whose!). Sharon Owens is a new author to me, in fact, she’s one I had never heard of. But, the book jacket looked good, and I thought that since my library had it, I would give it a try. I liked it, and it reminded me quite a lot of most of the books I have read by Maeve Binchy, another Irish writer. Their styles were similar, as well as the fact that the books are character driven. I enjoyed “meeting” the owners and patrons of the Muldoon’s Tea House on Mulberry Road, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I liked seeing where their stories were going, and how it all ended. If you like Maeve Binchy, you would probably like this book.

I also read a Christian fiction book by Liz Curtis Higgs (whose book “Thorn in my Heart” I read recently and enjoyed), called “Mixed Signals”. This was a contemporary book, set in Abingdon Virginia, at an oldies radio station. There are several wonderful characters, and we get to follow along as they start new jobs, fall in love, form lasting relationships, learn to want and ask for forgiveness from long lost family members and friends, etc. This was a really good book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The only negative to this book (as well as to the other Higgs book I read) is that I think this author is a little long-winded for my taste. Don’t get me wrong, I really like her, her books, her characters and the stories. And believe me, I relate to the verbose way of saying things, being guilty of that myself. But, it just seems to take so long to tell the story, her books are a bit on the long side for me. Which is not bad, just a personal preference of mine; I would prefer a bit more brevity.

For the record, that makes a total of 51 books read so far this year, with a total of 15, 880 pages read. Up next is another library book, “Firstborn” by Robin Lee Hatcher. Hatcher is another Christian author I’ve been wanting to try, so picking up a library book is always a good option for me. Most of the books by her in my public library are part of a series, and as much as I love and adore reading series books, I really want to finish some of the series I have in progress before I start anymore. So, I found this book, which appears to be a standalone. Or at least I hope so!

Happy Reading!

Last week’s menu included a couple of new recipes (that I posted about here). Both were hits in our house, so on the strength of that, I thought I’d be brave and pick out a couple more new recipes to try. Here’s hoping they work for us too!

As always, thanks to Laura, for hosting this every week!

Monday – new recipe for a Beef and Noodle Bake (I’m going to try it with whole wheat egg noodles), corn, broccoli

Tuesday – another new recipe, this one as seen over at Laura (Org Junkie’s blog) – Crockpot Sweet and Sour Pork Chops, rice, green beans

Wednesday – Light Night before Tim weighs in – Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Thursday – Chicken-Olive Calzones

Friday – Fish Sandwiches, oven fries, coleslaw

Saturday – Date Night or Pizza

I tried a couple of new recipes last week and they were both “keepers” in our house. I’ve also been making bread the last two weeks, using the dough cycle on my bread machine. You know, my 7 year old breadmaker that has been languishing in storage in the garage for a couple of years. I wasn’t even sure it would work, but so far so good. 🙂

The first recipe is for “Honey Lime Chicken“, and it’s one I swiped from my blog buddy Dawn, over at “Thoughts from Along the Broken Road“. I used 5 chicken tenders for the two of us, but I’m sure you could use regular boneless skinless breasts and double the sauce to serve 4. This recipe fit us really well, with it making 2 servings. It’s not often that happens! The recipe is posted over at our main site, Hambones.org, click here. (Oh, be sure to read my notes at the bottom – I almost always make some kind of change or modification, or suggestions for the next time I make a recipe, and I always put that in the notes at the bottom 🙂 )

The second recipe is one that I found in my new Taste of Home “Great American Cookout” cookbook I bought recently. It is for Teriyaki Kebobs, and we used a piece of sirloin steak for the meat. I posted a photo of the kebobs on the grill over on my photoblog (check it out here). The recipe is posted here at Hambones.org 🙂

The last recipe is for “Light Oat Bread“, and is one I found while blog-surfing (photo). The original recipe is at AllRecipes.com, here. I made it almost as-is the first time I made it, except I substituted bread flour for the all purpose flour, and I added vital wheat gluten. That’s something I have always done to my dough in the bread machine. I think it makes it rise more, and produces a better loaf. The first week I made this bread, I used all white flour. The second time, I used 2 cups white bread flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour (and I added a bit more vital wheat gluten, since wheat doesn’t rise as well for me as white flour dough). The loaf is not as high and light, but it’s still good. And hopefully a bit healthier for us. I’ve posted my version of this recipe here.

I need to work on my menu for this upcoming week… and maybe find another new recipe or two to try 🙂

randomness…feed your mind and your blog
Week of July 8: Vacationing

1. What is your favorite vacation spot? Of the places we’ve been, I loved Washington DC, and I love going to the mountains (Gatlinburg)
2. Would you rather drive or fly? We actually really like to drive. We get to spend the time together, talking, listening to music, talking about our trip, etc
3. Have you ever been on a cruise? Would you want to go on one? I went on a cruise when I was a senior in high school. I’d like to go on another Caribbean cruise (this time, with Tim of course!), but what I REALLY want to do is take an Alaskan cruise. One day… one day!
4. What has been your best/worst vacation? They’ve all been pretty good. I loved going to Disneyworld and to Washington DC probably the most. Tons of things to do there 🙂
5. How long do you think is long enough for a vacation? For us, 3 or 4 days in one spot is usually enough to see what we want to see and do and not be bored. It depends on the place though, if we’ve been there before, how many tourist or other attractions are there, etc.
6. Do you spend alot of money while on vacation? Do you buy alot of souvenirs? What’s the coolest one you’ve gotten? I don’t tend to spend much money, because I’m usually worried about what we’re spending on food, lodging, traveling expenses, etc. 🙂 What I do like to get is either a refrigerator magnet or a Christmas ornament or preferably both from where ever we vacation. Helps me remember each vacation in a fun way
7. If money were no object, where would you go on vacation? England, Scotland and Wales. France. Italy. Austria. Alaska. Australia. And it goes without saying that we plan to visit all 50 states together. Tim has already got a big head start on me with all of his traveling while he was in the military, but we’re going to visit them all together, eventually 😀

Just a quick update – I haven’t been on my computer hardly at all for the past two days. I need to do a lot of catching up, on email and blog reading, on housework and laundry. We’ve spent the better part of the last two days at the hospital. Thankfully, Tim’s grandmother is doing a lot better. She had the permanent pacemaker installed on Thursday and was moved into a room yesterday afternoon. The doctor was hopeful that she might be able to go home today. She seems to be doing better; when she came out of surgery, she said she was starving and asked for some eggs and bacon. 🙂

I was going to post earlier in the week about some new recipes that I’ve made. I’ll try to do that later today or really soon. Two new recipes on my menu this week were a hit at our house, as well as a new bread recipe I made (using my bread machine for the dough). 🙂

Thanks so much to all of you who stopped by and left us all of the wonderful comments, thoughts and prayers for our family. It was very, very much appreciated!

Hope you’re all having a good week and will have a great weekend.

Feast One Hundred & Fifty One
July 13, 2007

Appetizer
What is your favorite fruit? I love fruit! I don’t think I can pick a favorite one. Some of my favorites are green grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, plums and bananas. I don’t think there is any fruit I don’t like 🙂

Soup
Who is someone you consider as a great role model? Tim’s Dad. He’s been a wonderful role model to his sons, showing them and teaching them how to be good men – loving and kind, decent and hardworking.

Salad
If you were to spend one night anywhere within an hour of your home, where would you choose? At a bed and breakfast in a town about 45 minutes away

Main Course
Name something you do too often. Say “I’m sorry”. I say it all the time, to everyone, for everything. Tim called me on it just this morning.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I really like ___________ because ____________. I really like all this rain we’re getting because it keeps me from having to water my grass and flowers!

Did you miss me? We’ve been at the hospital all day. Tim’s mom called this morning and said her mom, Tim’s grandmother, had had a heart attack and they were on their way to a hospital about an hour from our house. She lives in a rural area, and it turns out that at the small town hospital they took her to, she didn’t stay long; just long enough to stabilize her and transport her to a “big city” hospital. Which, thankfully, is in the city we live in. At first they said it was congestive heart failure, then later we heard the term “heart block” or “heart blockage”. Once she was stabilized, they took her in for surgery. They went in through her neck and inserted a temporary pacemaker this afternoon. Tomorrow (Thursday) sometime, they will go back in and insert a permanent pacemaker. At some point, we were told, her heart rate was down in the 20’s. So, a very tense, very scary day, but it is looking better. We had the waiting room packed (this is the side of the family that has the big family get-together on the 4th of July, with dozens and dozens of people attending). Tim’s mom is one of 8 children, and they were all there, along with a lot of the grand kids. Most of them went in to see her briefly, during ICU visitation, including Tim and his brothers, and said she was tired, but doing ok.

So, no Question of the Day today, or anything else witty or exciting. We’re just going to chill out and think happy, healthy thoughts for Tim’s grandmother. I had planned to post about a few things going on with us, on this Hump Day (specifically about some recipes and some movies), but that post will just have to wait 🙂

Hope you’re all having a good day!

See a penny, pick it up; all day long you’ll have good luck.

Have you ever heard of that old saying? I have and I totally pick up money if I spot it on the ground. The other old saying, the one about heads or tails and it being bad luck to pick it up doesn’t work for me. Money is money 🙂 My favorite little saying or story regarding pennies these days is something I got in my email a few years ago. A year or so after my mom had passed away, someone sent me an email forward that had a little poem about guardian angels and how they toss pennies in your path. That story gave me a lot of comfort, and knowing my mom is in heaven watching over me, I always imagine that it is her tossing me the pennies down. I couldn’t find that email, I apparently didn’t save it, but I did a quick Google search and found one very similar to it. I’ll paste it on the extended page.

Oh, and here’s another old saying – “A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned”. I can remember my grandmother telling me that one. I think a lot of this “stooping over to pick up money” stems from my parents. See, my mom and dad were children during the Great Depression. They both were raised during extremely hard times, and as a result, they were very thrifty, frugal people. My mom probably even more so than my dad. He’s at least a little free spending now, though not much. My mom was a scrimper and a saver all of her life. I definitely got that from her. Call it cheap if you want, I prefer to think of myself as thrifty. Oh, and my favorite – environmentally friendly (when it comes to recycling and not throwing things out, you know; bad for the environment).

Anyway, let’s see, where was I going with this?! Oh, I know 🙂 We are doing our best to get back into our walking routine. We’ve been going 5-6 days a week, in the mornings, for the last week or so. Sometimes I spot some change on the ground and I always, always pick it up. Even if it’s just a penny. I know some people won’t bother to pick up pennies, but me, I’ll pick up any change. I’d much rather find a quarter or a dollar bill, don’t get me wrong, but I’ll pick up a penny too. Heads or tails up, doesn’t matter to me. I had a banner day today – I found 4 pennies on our walk this morning! 🙂

So, how about you? Will you stop in a parking lot or aisle in the grocery store to pick up money you see laying on the ground? Or anywhere else for that matter? Will you pick up anything or just something with more monetary value than a penny? What’s the most money you’ve ever found and picked up?

That’s today’s Question of the Day, mundane though it is! Leave me a comment and let me know.

Click for guardian angel and pennies story… Read the rest of this entry »

Another one of these little quizzes that is right on target for me. We are totally not beach people. Something about fair skin, freckles, burns in 10 minutes, doesn’t like to sweat. Something like that. In fact, in the eleven years we’ve been married, Tim and I have never been to the beach! “Been to the beach” as in a destination choice, vacation spot, some place we intended to go. We’ve stopped as we’re passing by or stuck our feet in the sand or water for 10 seconds, but that’s it. We’re totally and completely “mountain” type of people, so this quiz was spot on for me 🙂

You Should Spend Your Summer in the Mountains

You’re quiet, introspective, and a great thinker. You need a summer vacation that gets you away from the crowds and the heat. So retreat to the mountains, where you can clear your head.

OK, how about a quick “Question of the Day“: Are you more of a beach person or a mountains person? You can just pick one! Leave me a comment and let me know!

I’m feeling a bit uninspired as to menu planning, but I’m going to try to branch out and try a couple of new things this week. I have so many recipes that I’ve found in cookbooks, magazines, and mostly online. Including several from fellow MPM participants 🙂 As always, thanks to Laura, for hosting this every week!

Monday – new recipe for Dawn’s Honey Lime chicken (thanks Dawn!), teriyaki noodles, asparagus stir fry

Tuesday – new recipe for Sirloin Shisk Ke Bobs (from Taste of Home Great American cookbook), rice

Wednesday – Light Night before Tim weighs in – Sandwiches or Eggs, oatmeal and toast

Thursday – not sure; maybe Crockpot BBQ chicken, baked beans, mashed potatoes

Friday – Sandwich night (we’re going to eat a big lunch out, so I’m hoping for light at suppertime)

Saturday – Date Night (eat out) or Pizza

I’ve been tagged recently by several bloggers for different memes, tags and such. I’m sorry to be so late posting these, but I have been in a bit of a blogging slump lately, as well as a non-tagging mood. I’ll try to get out of that here 🙂

The first was by mamichelle and KathyM, who both tagged me with this one:

If you had the opportunity to do a 1-year internship in a company or field completely unrelated to your current career or specialty, what would be your top 5 choices?

Well, I must admit, I think I have the dream job right now – no stressful job to slave away at all day, every day any more. Thanks to my hardworking husband, he provides for us and I’m allowed to stay home, relax, stay healthy, take care of us and the house, do the things I love and need to do, and spend my “spare” time with him. It’s not for the career-minded, driven, Type-A, people, but I love it. I call it early retirement 🙂 Thus, this “coming up with a job choice” is a difficult concept for me!

If I had to go back to work, I would like to think I’d try the following:

1. Paralegal (I like research)
2. Librarian (duh, I love books!)
3. Scenic photographer (I love to take photos of neat buildings, churches, cemeteries, flowers, trees, etc)
4. Food Taste Tester (duh!)
5. Book Editor/Reviewer (not that I can write good reviews, but I’d love to be able to have a legitimate excuse to read new books!)

I was also tagged by Amy, over at Laughing Through the Tears, for an eight random things about me tag. I’m going to wimp out on this one and refer you to a post I made a while back, about 9 weird things about me. Believe me, I could probably come up with a lot more of these. I’m really rather an odd person – just ask anyone who knows me (Gail and my husband would be MORE THAN HAPPY to tell you about all of the odd things I do, eat, watch, think and feel!) 😀

I won’t tag anyone specifically for either of these, but if you’d like to play along, please do so! Just leave me a comment to let me know, so I can come visit and check out your answers.

What color are you? Go take the test and see! I would say this one is right on for me 🙂

You Are A Gold Girl

You’re dependable and hard working. You never miss a deadline – and you’re never late. You have a clear sense of right and wrong. You’re very detail oriented. You get frustrated when your friends are sloppy – or when they don’t follow through. You’re on top of things, and you wish that everyone else was!

The Chef is away this week, so no new questions were posted. I surfed a bit through the archives and found one I don’t think I had done (but I didn’t look, and my memory is atrocious). Anyway, I’m going to answer these from way back in October 2005. Fun!

Feast Sixty Seven
October 21st, 2005

Appetizer
Do you button shirts top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top? Top to bottom, I’m pretty sure. I’m a very orderly person 🙂

Soup
What is your favorite sandwich? I’m not a big sandwich eater. I think that comes from growing up, brown bagging it to school every day. I got tired of sandwiches and didn’t eat them at all in college or afterwards. I like them better now, and I love a good french dip, layers of roast beef with a good au jus, on a big crispy bun. I even like grilled cheese, especially with tomato soup 🙂

Salad
What was a family project you helped work on as a child? I don’t think we had any family projects when I was a child! I used to love to work jigsaw puzzles at Christmas and New Years, with my sister. I like to do that still, and beg Tim every year to work them with me 😀

Main Course
When have you acted phony? Probably when I’m around people I don’t like or feel really uncomfortable around. I think I try to just stick a fake smile on my face and try not to open my mouth and insert my foot.

Dessert
Do you write letters or postcards? If so, to whom? Not much anymore. With the advent of computers and email, I do most of my personal and business correspondence electronically. I do still try to send postcards when we go somewhere fun on vacation. I can’t remember the last time I sat down and wrote someone a letter though. It’s been several years.

Have a great Friday!