Exceedingly Mundane

No big news from this little corner of the blogosphere, just a few odds n ends

FREE BOOK: I received my free book from Karen yesterday, via Amazon. Wow, how I love to get presents in the mail, especially right before my birthday. For those of you who were asking, I asked for and received the second book in the Abram’s Daughters series by Beverly Lewis. It’s called The Betrayal, and I’m so looking forward to reading these books. Once I complete my Fall Challenge reading list, I hope to get started on these books. I can’t wait! Thanks again Karen

If you’re looking for something to bake, a better choice would probably be the French Toast Loaf that my sister Gail made and posted about here. It looks yummy! I’ve got another recipe for more cookies that I’m going to try soon, so maybe the next batch/kind will be better In the mean time, I’ve got plenty of candy corn to eat, hehehe!

OK, how about another Question of the Day… yesterday, I asked if you liked Candy Corn or if you had bought any Halloween candy. Today’s question is along the same lines – do you decorate for Halloween or fall? On any level, inside or out. It could be pumpkins and mums outside, carving pumpkins, decorating with fall colors inside your house or apt, etc. Leave a comment and let me know

Have a great day everyone!

I have a long standing love affair with candy corn. It goes back as far as I can remember. I guess it’s because it’s basically pure sugar. Maybe it’s because I only have it during October and November every year. Who knows. But I love and adore the stuff.

I’ve been trying to be really good, but the last few days I’ve been failing miserably. I have put off buying actual Halloween candy to give out to all of the trick-or-treaters we get. I’ll have to break down and buy that soon. In the mean time, I caved and bought my first bag of candy corn. No, this picture is not of that first bag. It’s of the second bag. And never fear, I have a third bag in my pantry, ready and waiting to be gobbled up by yours truly before the end of the month.

It’s a sickness I tell you. A sickness.

OK, how about a Question of the Day: Do you buy Halloween candy at your house? If so, have you bought any, and what kind did you buy? And the biggie – have you had any of it yet?!!!

I thought I would post a quick update to my fall reading challenge. You can read the original post here. I originally had 10 books (all fiction) on my list, then I picked up an extra one from the library on my last trip. So, I currently have 11 books on my list, and I have finished 4.

The latest two I have finished are both part of series books that I am reading. The first one I finished is “204 Rosewood Lane” by Debbie Macomber, which is the second book in the Cedar Cove series. The second one I just finished is also the second book in a different series, the “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series by Alexander McCall Smith. That book is entitled “Tears of the Giraffe” and follows the story of Precious Ramotswe, lady detective in the country of Botswana. I won’t do individual reviews on these books, as they are both part of a series. I will say this – I do like both of these series. I love the Cedar Cove series, which I expected, because I really like Debbie Macomber and the “women’s fiction” that she writes. As for the other series, the Ladies Detective series is really starting to grow on me. I wasn’t sure about those books, but about 3/4 of the way through the first book, it started to grab me and grow on me. In this second book I read, the characters continued to evolve and I guess I’m getting more attached to them. So, I will keep on with both of these series, and I look forward to reading more. In fact, up next to read for me is the third book in the Cedar Cove series, “311 Pelican Court.” It’s also on my Fall Reading list, so I’m slowly working my way through the books I had planned to read.

For the record, with these 2 recently completed, that makes 59 books read so far this year, with a total of 20,708 pages read. After I finish “311 Pelican Court”, I plan to go back to the library (albeit, a different branch) and get more of the books on my list. There are 3 more on my list that I own, sitting on a bookshelf, and I will get to them last, I think. The pull of the library and bookstores is really strong for me, so this is going to be a constant struggle to stick to my list and not deviate and buy/check out more and different books to read.

Once again, thanks to Laura over at OrgJunkie for sponsoring this meme each week. Be sure to go check out her blog, as well as all of the other yummy menus that everyone is posting!

OK, here’s what is planned for this week:

Monday – Mexican wraps (tortillas with this chicken made in the crockpot), Pinto Beans, Spanish Rice

Tuesday – Grilled Chicken (Tim) / Grilled Salmon (Stacy), baked sweet potatoes, butter peas

Wednesday – Light Night (before Tim weighs in at work on Thursday AM)… eggs, oatmeal and toast

Thursday – Cheeseburger Soup, homemade bread, salad

Friday – Date Night or Slow Cooker Thai Chicken over whole wheat noodles, veggies

Saturday – Pizza or Eat Out

Sunday – Game Day Food – Pigs in a Blanket this week!

More great questions from our fellow Monday Madness members! Have fun, and thank you all for playing, and for the questions!! Have a great week! =)

1. From amaranth:
Name three people you would pick (and why) if you could choose who to be stranded on a deserted island with. Well, Tim is a given. Maybe it should just be the two of us! hehehe!

2. From julie:
What is your favorite genre of film and what is your favorite movie from that genre? I love chick flicks, and some of my favorites are You’ve Got Mail, Notting Hill, Princess Bride, Sound of Music, The Notebook, etc. You get the idea!

3. From tiffany:
Which country would you like to visit and why? I have tons on my list… England, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, etc. I would probably pick some of the European ones first. I love history and want to see so many things like museums, castles, cathedrals, etc

4. From wil:
What are you driving these days? What’s it’s (their) good and bad points? Would you buy another one, and why or why not? I’m on my second Explorer. I love it and am so glad I finally got another one. I drove my first one for 8 years and hated to let it go!

5. From cindy swanson:
“Lost,” “24,” or both? Both!

6. From lady starlight:
You’ve been very good this year. What should Santa bring you for Christmas? (the sky is the limit) Well… if the sky is the limit, see #3, travel to some European or foreign destination.

Oops, I missed a day blogging again! It’s getting to where that is happening more on the weekends, sorry about that. I had a goal of blogging every day, as long as we had Internet access. We didn’t while we were gone on most of our vacation a couple of weeks ago, and I guess I sort of got out of the habit. Plus, we stay really busy on the weekends this time of year, and I just haven’t had much time to blog on Saturday or Sunday.

We had intended to be home on Saturday (there was a festival I wanted to go to near our house, and we wanted to work in the yard), but we ended up being gone all day. My dad was having trouble with his computer, so we drove down to help him out. And it turns out that it’s really good we went, he had the power supply go out in his new computer, so it was “dead as a doorknob”, as they say

I had a couple of other random things I had wanted to blog about, mostly TV and books. I’ll save the books for tomorrow, but go ahead and babble a bit about TV.

The last two of “my shows” premiered this week – Lost on Wednesday and Battlestar Galactica on Friday night. I must say, I was mildly disappointed in both. I really like Lost, and I like that they keep you jumping and guessing, but come on people – you have to give us something. We just keep getting new characters, new scenarios, new dilemmas. Ack, it bugs me some. Battlestar was just ok, it didn’t go in the direction I wanted, or maybe they are just going to be slow about it. Tim was really disappointed in it, and I’m worried I may lose him as a viewing partner. I may have to start taping it and watching it on my own, which I don’t want to do. Boo-hoo.

Friday, October 06, 2006
Feast One Hundred & Fourteen

Appetizer
Name a song you know by heart. Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton (and a couple hundred more, probably, I have a knack for song lyrics)

Soup
What will you absolutely not do in front of another person? Hmm, some bathroom-oriented issues I’d rather not discuss!

Salad
How often do you use mouthwash and what kind do you like? A couple of times a week, or when I think I need it. I need to use it daily, but then again, I need to be flossing daily and that doesn’t usually happen. We use Listerine, one of the mint ones, I think it’s called Cool Mint

Main Course
Finish this sentence: I am embarrassed when… I do something clutzy and someone sees me! Like stumble when there was nothing on the floor, or open a cabinet in the kitchen and then run into it with my head

Dessert
What was the last food you craved? Chocolate always, and shrimp while we were on vacation!

I won, I won! Karen, over at Write from Karen was having a drawing for a free book. Why, you ask??? Because she’s a wonderful person, a gifted writer, and an avid reader. Oh, and it’s all a part of the Buy a Friend a Book program. I had never heard of this before, but it’s a great idea. I’m all about books, reading, and the love of reading being passed on to everyone, especially kids. Karen drew my name this morning in her drawing, and is sending me a book from my Amazon wish list. Isn’t that sweet?!

Be sure to go check out Karen’s blog, it’s one of my favorites, and also the BAFAB program

Sandra, over at Diary of a SAHM mom, sponsors this each week. I played for the first time last week, and am really enjoying seeing all the great recipes! Be sure to check out this week’s entries… click here. I love cooking with my crockpot and hope to do more as the fall and winter progresses.

This week, I’m posting a creamy Italian chicken recipe. I think this recipe is fairly common on the Internet (that’s where I found it), but I made it last night and we really liked it, so I thought I would share. I add more seasonings, see my notes at the very bottom. Enjoy!

Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 envelope Good Seasons Italian salad dressing mix
1/2 cup water
8 ounces cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
4 oz can mushrooms — drained
seasonings (see notes)

Place chicken in a crockpot. Combine dressing mix with 1/2 cup water. Pour over chicken. Cook on low 3 hours.

In a bowl, mix together soup and cream cheese. Stir in mushrooms. Stir in into chicken and cook 1 more hour or until chicken is done. Serve over egg noodles, rice or with mashed potatoes.

Stacy’s Notes – Made this August 2005. I used 2 boneless skinless breasts (frozen), and halved everything else. I didn’t have quite a half envelope of dry dressing mix (had used most of it in another recipe), so I squired some bottled Wishbone FF Italian dressing on top of the breasts. I cooked this in my regular crock-pot for about 3 hours or so, till the chicken was done, then added the soup/cream cheese mixture. Served this over linguine. It needed a little something, maybe more seasoning. Next time, try adding some dry Italian seasoning or maybe some garlic or something. Pretty good, like an easy chicken fettucine.

More Notes – made again October 2006. Used 3 breasts this time (having company), and the full amount of everything else. I mixed the one envelope of Good Seasons to 1/2 cup water as recipe states, but next time, consider using a little less water (since I put my breasts in frozen, there was some water from them, I think). I seasoned the breasts with garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, oregano, dash red pepper (and when I added the soup mixture, a bunch of freshly ground black pepper). Need to mix the soup and cream cheese with my hand mixer, then stir in mushrooms. We love mushrooms, so next time maybe add two cans. Really good! Oh, and I took the whole breasts out and chipped them up, easier to eat and makes the dish go a little further too!

Thirteen Things I’m Looking forward to this October

1. Cooler weather
2. Getting dark earlier
3. My Birthday!
4. Eating Italian for my birthday
5. Splurging on Tiramisu for my birthday
6. My birthday afternoon, complete with a trip to a coffee shop for a coffee concoction
7. The state fair comes to town
8. I go to the fair to eat two “pronto pups”
9. Halloween
10. Candy Corn!
11. Planting mums and pansies
12. The return of Lost
13. The return of Battlestar Galactica (Friday night!)

OK, I convinced myself yesterday that I had posted all of the pictures from our vacation that I wanted to post here. But, I had a few “people pics” that I wanted to post, and a couple of cute pictures I took of odd things. So, even though I posted a boatload yesterday, here’s a few more!

Here’s a couple of tropical birds that were at the Butterfly Conservatory at Callaway Gardens. I was so enthralled with the butterflies that I didn’t take very many of the beautiful birds!

Blue and Gold Macaw:

Is this a parrot of some kind?? I can’t remember!

More on the extended page….

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I just realized that my blog buddy Susie tagged me with this meme. Thanks Susie!

Preface: Memes that revolve around memories are tough for me! If you’ve read my blog before, you might have picked up on the fact that not only do I have a terrible memory, I remember almost nothing from my childhood. Before age 18, I have almost no memory of my life, and very little before I met my husband. It’s like my life started over when I fell in love with Tim. However, in the spirit of doing this lovely meme, I’ve put a lot of thought into it and come up with this….

1. Favorite memory of your mother? One strong memory I have of my mom is that she worked crossword puzzles every morning. She used to sit at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the paper, and work the crossword and the jumble. And of course, she was smoking. My mom smoked all her life and it ended up taking her life. Other fond snippets of memories I have are that she always cooked for us, we rarely ate out. I never remember going to a restaurant, not even on birthdays or special days, we ate at home all the time. I realize now that I’m older what a good thing this was, and a gift she gave to me. I think my love of cooking comes from that. Also, I have memories of watching certain shows on TV with my mom. We used to watch “The Love Boat” and my dad would not watch it with us! She loved “Wheel of Fortune” too, and we’d watch that, and try to compete to get the puzzles first.

2. Favorite memory of your father? My dad used to love to work outside in the yard in the house I grew up in. He had this beautiful rose garden out front, and he tended those roses and they were just gorgeous. I used to come home and my mom would have cut me a rose and put it in a vase in my room. My dad also would plant vegetables, although I don’t remember much about those. But the big thing was the yard, my dad took wonderful care of the grass. Our front yard looked like a golf course. He was very particular about how it was cut and cared for. It was a HUGE deal when he finally let me ride the riding mower and cut the grass. I can remember being excited that I was finally going to get to cut the grass! I remember one time I came down at too sharp of an angle on one little rise in the yard and scalped his grass in one spot, and he was NOT a happy camper! But, he loved working outside and still does. He is 83 and just now, in the last couple of months, has given in and gotten a “yard man” to come cut his grass.

3. What one skill would you like to wake up tomorrow and be able to do (though you’d never learned it)? Wow, another tough one! When I was growing up, I wanted to be a pilot, so I guess I’d love to be able to wake up tomorrow and fly an airplane. Or the space shuttle, or the Starship Enterprise Another thing I’d love to wake up and be able to do is play the piano or play an acoustic guitar. Then, I’d have something to cover up my terrible singing voice

4. Which one of your dreams has come true? That I found someone to love, who loves me. Tim is a gift from God, he’s my soul mate. When I met him, I realized what I had been looking for all of my life. My heart felt whole and that’s because I realized he had been carrying around half of my heart with him, and when I found him, I felt like I’d found my other half.

OK, I’m going to tag my sisters (Gail and Suzanne), and my blog buddies Cam and Trista

Well, it’s nearly two weeks since we were in Savannah, and I’m still working on pictures! Geesh, I’m slow! Sorry about that… there are a lot that I want to show, so I’ve included a bunch on the extended page. Enjoy!

First up, a favorite I took down at the Riverwalk. We were sitting on a bench, watching a boat navigate up the river, and these buildings were behind us. I loved the contrast of brick and stucco and whatever else was showing in spots on the facade:

When we decided we were going to Savannah, I knew that two things I wanted to do were see Bonaventure Cemetery, and eat at Paula Deen’s restaurant, The Lady and Sons. I’m sorry to report that I did neither! I had not read great things about her restaurant (2 hour waits, good but not spectacular country cooking, which we get all the time at home). I really wanted to see several of the historic homes that are open to the public (for a fee) and also Bonaventure Cemetery (even though I never read the book), but Tim was so not into that! He really didn’t want to go and I didn’t want to make him miserable on vacation, so we skipped those. Click on the -more- to see some of the other stuff we did though, including some churches and one cemetery in the historic district, our trip to Fort Pulaski, and our trip to Tybee Island.

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Last night, I finished a library book I got on a whim last week. I went looking for two of the books on my Fall Reading Challenge list, and since they only had one, I picked up this book instead. Since I just loved and adored “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant, I had high hopes for this other book by her. But, either I wasn’t in the mood, or more likely, I just didn’t like the subject matter as much, because I didn’t enjoy this book nearly as much as Red Tent. It’s about the people living in a dying area of Massachusetts called “Dogtown”, in the early 1800’s. There are several interesting characters, but the book just sort of meanders and basically all of the inhabitants die or move, thereby leaving Dogtown to a memory. It was a bit depressing, and not all that interesting, really. I am not sorry that I read it – it does me good to break out of my mold of only reading women’s and Christian fiction, so good to broaden my horizons a bit. But, I don’t think I would recommend it to anyone.

For the record, that makes #57 for the year, with a total of 20,102 pages read. Up next is a book on my Fall Challenge reading list, one that I am really looking forward to, called “204 Rosewood Lane”. Since I discovered Debbie Macomber last year (“The Shop on Blossom Street was the first I read by her), she has since become a favorite. I recently started her “Cedar Cove” series, and have read the first book. The sixth book, “6 Rainier Drive” was recently released in paperback, so I look forward to reading the next 5 books in this series. They should be quick reads, and if the subsequent ones in the series are anything like the first one (“16 Lighthouse Road”), I will thoroughly enjoy them.

Once again, thanks to Laura over at OrgJunkie for sponsoring this meme each week. I love getting ideas for menus, recipes, and just basically getting hungry reading everyone else’s menus!

If we can stay on track, here’s what is planned for this week:

Monday – Grilled Chicken Salad, with the Muscadine Vinaigrette I bought at Callaway Gardens, it is deeee-licious!

Tuesday – Teriyaki Grilled Pork Chops, baked sweet potatoes, cooked apples, salad… (unless I decide to throw the chops in the crockpot with some italian dressing)

Wednesday – Light Night (before Tim weighs in at work on Thursday AM)… eggs, oatmeal and toast

Thursday – Pretending it’s fall here (high’s in the 90’s all week is forecast!)… Homemade Chicken and Noodle Soup, homemade bread, salad

Friday – Ribs, potato salad, baked beans

Saturday – Date Night / TBD

Sunday – Game Day Food – wings, oven fries, maybe pasta salad