Thursday, April 17, 2008

Healthy Foods

I just ate the best applesauce I've ever tasted, plus it's organic and has no sugar or anything else added to it - it's just apples. It's from Eden foods. I didn't find it in my local grocery store - I ordered it online. I only ordered one bottle because I just wanted to try it. I had a number of other things in the order, so it came in a big box. The applesauce is packed in glass jars, but there was no breakage.

I will definitely order some more, or look for it in the local health food store.

On a somewhat related note - we have some blossoms on our apple trees this year. They were planted in 2004, and are not all that big, but we should have a few apples to harvest. I have to go read about spraying them. DH had been pruning them too much in the past, so we never had blossoms (well, just one).

We have 3 grapevines that will probably be bearing fruit this year. The year before last was the best year, last year was awful. Well, I should specify that the 2 older vines did produce fruit the year before last. The newer one was installed last year as I recall. The newer one is a green grape, the older ones are red and purple varieties, all seedless. The red ones are more edible than the purple ones, but the purple ones have a great flavor. I will use the purple ones to make grape juice this year. I stand ready with the mason jars and canning equipment. I look forward to trying this.

Also, this year I will attempt to plant strawberries in the bed on the side of the house. I will also be planting tomatoes in the other half of the same bed. I hope they can co-exist together.

I am thinking I need to buy some marigolds and impatiens for the window boxes out front. It always cheers me when I see pretty flowers outside.

We have some great looking tulips growing right now. I have to move some of them up to the mailbox flower bed. There's also the whole big rectangular bed out front that needs to be moved to the one in front of the house wall.

I need to plant some sunflowers somewhere, too. I love those, and so do the birds.

I got my hair cut today for $6, plus a $3 tip. I went over to the Frederick Beauty School. I asked for a razor cut and the girl did a decent job. Now I have to wash it again, and use some product. My hair is lighter in weight now and I'm hoping for better shape and volume.

MIL is here to visit from UT. Bonus for me - we get to take her out to eat. I really want to go to Dutch's Daughter, but DH wants me to make reservations for Monocacy Crossing. We wanted to go to Old South Mountain Inn, but it is not open for lunch on weekdays. DH is taking off on Friday.

Now I am dreaming of a crab cake lunch, no matter where we wind up eating. All of these places have great reviews. Dutch's Daughter is famous for their crab cakes.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

The Dog in the Grey Flannel Pants

Every once in a while I see someone in my neighborhood walking a very large dog. I do not know what kind of breed the dog is, but from the back, he or she looks like a man wearing grey flannel pants. Silly, I know, but every time I mention it to my DD she laughs, because it's so true. The dog does look like a man in grey flannel pants. We just saw the dog and it's master a few minutes ago, and the dog was doing his business.

I said "Look, the man in the grey flannel pants is pooping on someone's lawn".

DD - uncontrollable laughter.

DD: That person might think I'm laughing at them.

Me: Didn't you see them? They're too busy picking up that really big poop to notice you laughing.

Oh, well, you just had to be there. Or not. I think the dog's master must wish they had chosen a smaller dog when they have to do poop duty, or doody duty.

Me? I have an easy to maintain cat. He does like to be let out for a walk, but we don't let him outside unless we hold him, and he likes to do his doody in a box inside the house. I still want a dog, though.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Tagged by Miss Hippo

The directions:

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

So, the nearest book to me (there were actually quite a few to choose from because I read about 5 a week) is 'A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose'. You know the one Oprah is taking classes on.

Page 123, 5th sentence:

"People unknowingly sabotage their own work when they withhold help or information from others or try to undermine them lest they become more successful or get more credit than "me"."

Hmmm, 5 people? Cygnus, Puffy, Kimmah, History Detective, and Debcapsfan

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Spring break vacation



Well, we got back home last Wednesday about 2:30 PM or so, and were very glad to be home again. I know I will have to convince DH not to drive so much and to settle into a place for several days and just chill. He really doesn't know how to do that. I think his memories of family trips are of driving long hours across the country to get to Utah, where his mother's relatives lived. They stayed at cheap little motels along the way, and the cars were bigger back then, and kids did not have to wear seat belts. I remember those days.

I'll start posting about the trip the next time. We went to Cleveland, OH, then to Indianapolis, IN, to Nauvoo, IL, then to St. Louis, MO, to Nashville, TN, Pigeon Forge, TN, Christiansburg, VA, and then home. All of this in 8 days time. Whew!

It was good to be home again after so many hours on the road. We missed the cat, too, and it seems he did miss us, because he asked for extra loving when we got back. We had our friend Tim come in to see how he was doing while we were gone.

Oh, and 1st the food picture on the right? Is a the big burger at Bennigan's that DH ordered. We started eating our food before I took the picture, but you get the idea. The second picture is my big burger with onion rings (one of my favs, not on the upcoming diet, though) and DD's plate is in the background. She ordered chicken miniburgers and she loved them. Bennigan's is now one of her favorite places.