REALLY! I SWEAR!

PORK RIND PANCAKES

I am on a low-carb diet and have been craving pancakes. Well here we have zero carb pancakes....I kid you not!  Put some butter on them and some low-carb syrup and you're in heaven.  These three are supposed to be a single serving but they are very filling.  Share this information with anyone you know on a low-carbohydrate diet. 

Click here for recipe. 

My other craving is pizza and I am hoping to try a recipe I've found for pork rind pizza crust!!!  I'll let you know how that goes.

STILL A SECRET

Hope and Dixie on June 18, 2010

  
Perhaps it is time to let my secret out of the bag to my blog friends ....without any disclosure to our granddaughter Hope.  In case you noticed that I haven't mentioned my goats lately, we sold them in July.

It was taxing to care for them in the heat of another drought and with Ron's health needs and my own medical concerns, it was a decision that had to be made.  We had been advised at our local feed store that goats were hard to sell at that time.  Undaunted, I put a notice on Craig s List and Elizabeth, Polly, Tina, Dixie, Lord Voldemort, Dr. Cole an Ashley-Asher were sold in an hour.  It was a God-thing.

The man who bought them only lives about 30 miles from us and he has a lot of land.  He has a small herd of pygmy goats to clear his land and added our bunch to his.  I gave him the name of each goat as he and his grandson loaded them and they both looked at me like I was crazy. Oh dear.

It was the practical thing to do.  It was a difficult thing to do.  It is going to be very difficult to tell Hope because she loved the goats, was with us when we got the first four and had picked Dixie as her goat.  However I believe she is at an age where she can be bought and am thinking about giving her the money we got for Dixie when I tell her. 

Meanwhile my daily chores have been an whole lot easier to deal with since the goats moved away.  They were more labor intensive than I realized. 

NO WORDS

Martha is on the left.  My sister Elenore is on the right.  A quilt that Martha made is in the middle and Martha is giving this beautiful quilt to ME!  Why?  Because this very special quilt is made out of my mother's dresses.

Martha is my sister and bil's close friend.  I know her through them and have become her friend also.  My sister gave her all of our mother's dresses after Mom died and Martha  surprised my sister with a quilt like this several years ago.  I rejoiced in my sister getting such a lovely quilt and having such a wonderful friend.  

You can only imagine my shock and total disbelief when I received  one too on Monday.  A total surprise and a wonderful, beautiful, loving, caring gift.

I thanked Martha and I hugged her and I thanked her again.  I wanted to reach in my purse and find enough money to pay her for such a magnificent gift but there could never be enough money to cover this priceless gesture.  I see my mom in each dress from her fancy Christmas dress to her favorite house dress to her comfy robe.

It is time to write Martha a thank-you note and I have no words.

MOVING ON UP...OR DOWN

Question Of The Week 09-17-12

If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?

FAIR MY A&#!!!

You've heard this before so you can skip this rant.

They call it the F.A.P. (Fair Access Policy) and I have mentioned it before.  It is applied to our use of DISH Satellite which is the only internet available to us.  We live four miles outside of town and no other internet providers will service us except for dial up services or other satellite services that also employ these same restrictions.

It is Sunday and I enjoy watching a video of our church service from the previous week.  I cannot do that today because I have used too much of my internet bandwidth.

I subscribe to unlimited Netflix movies online and to HBOGO.  While the services are "unlimited" my interne keeps me from enjoying hardly any movies before I receive a warning that I am about to exceed my allowed broadband usage.

Word with Friends and Scrabble games were great fun until I realized multi-player games were causing me to use too much bandwidth.  I had to give them up. Thankfully Judy (kenju)  introduced me to a couple of other word games that didn't consume too much usage.

Because I could not watch movies or play word games, I returned to my art projects on the Julia Kay Portrait Party.  My new camera takes great shots that make a much better appearance on the website when posted but guess what....they use too much of my upload and download allowed usage.  The same goes for pictures that I post on my blog.

The grandchildren visit and bring all their electronic gadgets and can't use them because I can't spare the broadband.  Yes there are better things for them to be doing here, but it's just the principle of the thing.

Yet I can leave home and get unlimited internet access outside our post office. In restaurants, at the library, in the hospital or medical offices, motels, etc.  You can't leave home "without it" because you never had "it" to begin with.

Once we ever get an alternative to this satellite service there will be a mass exodus.

RULE # 1

Thank you brother dear for sending me this.  Now I'll know where to look for this guy.  He's hanging out around here a lot.

PEANUT BUTTER AND MUSTARD

Question Of The Week 09-10-12

What’s something you know you do differently than most people?






I eat peanut butter and mustard sandwiches..  I also name everything...not just  our animals.  My truck is Zippy, my computer is Lappy-Lou, my refrigerator is Blackie, my sleep machine is Tonto....etc.

LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP

I hate to miss a Wednesday post but we're off to more medical appointments so I'm going to share this quick story that I posted on face book yesterday.  Hope you enjoy it.

"A man left for work one Friday afternoon. But, being payday, instead of going home, he stayed out the entire weekend partying with the boys and spending his entire paycheck.

When he finally appeared at home, Sunday night, he was confronted by a very angry wife and was barraged for nearly two hours with a tirade befitting his actions.

Finally his wife stopped the nagging and simply said to him,

"How would you like it if you didn't see me for two or three days?" To which he replied, "That would be fine with me."

Monday went by and he didn't see his wife. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went with the same results. Come Thursday, the swelling went down just enough where he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye."

ALWAYS ASK "WHY"

Question Of The Week 9/3/12

If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?

My advice would be: Always ask "why".

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Okay there is an explanation for all that stuff in my purse

 
Yep, I'm back.  We have had a multitude of experiences over the past week.  Mostly dealing with medical appointments and visitors to our home.  With so many stories to relate I don't know where to begin.  So, here's a funny thing that happened to me one day.

I was headed for town to pick up some tuna at the dollar store. My cell phone beeped and knew I had missed a call.  There was a voicemail from my brother telling me they were on their way to visit.  I quickly acknowledged their message and continued my journey to town.

Shortly after returning home I was looking for my cell phone.  Rummaging through my purse I could not find it.  Remembering the last time I used it I feared I had put it in my lap and lost it when I got out of the van.  Perhaps it had dropped inside the van so I checked.  It was not there.

Before driving back to town, I decided to call the phone and see if maybe it had been overlooked in my purse.  Sure enough, my purse started ringing.  I dumped everything out of my purse onto the floor and called again.  My purse was still ringing.  I squeezed my purse to feel for the phone, pulled the lining wrong side out and looked for a tear where the phone may have slipped under the lining.   No phone.  I looked at the pile of things I dumped out of my purse and decided maybe it was the pile of stuff that was ringing.  I carried my purse out of the room and called the phone again.  My purse was still ringing.

Suddenly I remembered that I had stuck the cell phone in my BRA.  I was ringing:)

THE LIGHTER SIDE

Question Of The Week 08-27-12

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?



from FUNNY QUESTIONS TO ASK PEOPLE.

HATE AND GREED

We are the majority and I'm not talking race, gender or religion. 
"We" being those persons who " hold these truths to be self evident that all are created equal".  

So why does the  minority appear to be in charge at home and around the globe?  A minority made up of hatred and greed?  Those who are zealous in their belief they call religion or non-religion but actually is nothing but selfishness.

I grew up in small towns, trusting my neighbors, living without fear and believing that good would triumph over evil.  Differences of opinions were just that and we could still pass on the street and smile at each other. Now this actual majority cannot pass on the street without fear of raising a topic of disagreement.

My children and grandchildren are growing up in a world where the minority are portrayed by the media as the ones in charge and those of us filled with hope and love for each other and our country and respect for those around the world, are cheated out of our beliefs by politics that divide  

In the words of the recently departed Rodney King, "Why can't we all just get along". And the answer is "Because the greedy politicians who want their golden ticket retirement packages won't let us and neither will the journalists who need their greatly exaggerated breaking stories."

Now my friends, on this closing note, I shall be away for about a week.  Might get a question of the week ready for Monday, but forgive me if I don't.  Meanwhile, have fun dissecting my above diatribe.  Bye-bye:)

CUISINE CURIOSITY

Question Of The Week 8/20/12

Saturday Tuna Salad Sandwiches with jalapenos. No celery in mine.

Saturday grilled chicken salad with onions cheese and ranch dressing..

Sunday Meatloaf with dry onion soup and bread crumbs.

What did you have for lunch (or brunch) the past three
 days?

(Can you remember back that far?  I find that breakfast and supper (or do you call it dinner?) are easier to remember than a midday meal.)

HOME INVASION

My son Tandy and grandson Ryan were relaxing at home after both had completed a hard days work.  They were expecting our grandson Dillon to come home any minute. The front door opened and closed and Tandy turned expecting to see Dillon.  Instead he saw a stranger standing in his living room. 

My son yells:  "What the (expletive) are you doing here? 

Intruder responds: "I live here."

Tandy: "No you don't.  This is my house.  Get out!" 

And he proceeded to push the stranger out the front door, lock the door and dial 911.

911 Operator:  "Where is the man now?"

Tandy looks out his front window to observe that the intruder had climbed into my son's truck and was fumbling for keys to start it.  Tandy rushed out and pulls the obviously intoxicated man out of his truck and holds him on the ground until emergency personnel arrive.  The responders consisted of one fire truck, one ambulance and three police vehicles.  Needless to say the entire neighborhood was awake now basking in the glow of red and blue flashing lights.

The ambulance and fire department had responded in case the man was diabetic and not drunk.

I've never been clear on what our grandson Ryan was doing all this time but I'm guessing he was jumping up and down yelling "Go Dad!" 

It is a funny story. It is an interesting story.  It is a sad story.  It is a frightening story.

LET WHO HELP

Question Of The Week 8-13-12

I had to change the picture on this post.  I found this perfect illustration later.

Where do you go for advice?

Friend, family member, neighbor, teacher, doctor, co-worker, pastor, milkman?

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

George makes an exit.

I just finished reading a book by an author I have never read before. The story grabbed my attention right away. It was fast paced and well written until midway. A quick and exciting ending could have been provided at that time. Instead it dragged on and on repeating dialogue, lots of mush, and recurring events. Every time I would see what I thought was an ending, it would drone on and on. Why did I keep reading? Because I couldn't believe this could happen. I would ask for my money back except it was a library book:)

It was like being in church and believing the good sermon is about to reach a conclusion.  It has captured the attention of the congregation and most are still awake. The message has been conveyed.  Perfect stopping point.  Then suddenly the preacher decides to add something and add something, and add something else to emphasize a point that had already been made.

It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode when George would get a laugh from the group and then linger telling nonsense. He finally learned to hear the laughter and abruptly walk out of the room at the high point.

It reminded me of.......(see what I mean?)

SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND

A bit of color.

Result of a search, despite the heat, to find something colorful in this brown world of drought.  There are times we can be grateful for weeds.

Breaking News:  Glad I saw the flower and glad I posted about it and glad I was encouraged to research what it might be because now I must get rid of this horrible plant.  Click to read about Buffalobur Nightshade.

NO PEEKING

Question Of The Week 8-6-12

What would you do if you could be invisible for one day?

I would wander bipartisan-ly in and out of  Senators and representatives offices in Washington DC  and listen in on their private meetings.

IN CASE YOU FORGOT

Here is the sound of rain:)

Actually we finally had a lot of rain and strong storms last night, plus the rain is still falling this morning. Our temperatures are at 77 degrees but forecast to go to 100 before the day is over and back to the over 100s by tomorrow.

WHAT'S GOING ON

The tree outside my kitchen window.

Rooster Chicklet waking up to a new day.

Nancy (looking up)  and unnamed siblings with Mama David and Aunt Boomer.

Elizabeth and Slim having a serious discussion.

Goodnight Moon

USING THE ABOVE PICTURES, WHAT  STORY COULD YOU TELL?

added 8-3-12

THE ACTUAL STORY:
I was greeted by these early morning sounds: A constant and high-pitched noise coming from the tip-top of this tree; The sound of a rooster crowing loudly coming from the hen house.

Rooster Chicklet was awake announcing the night's hen house invasion. An unknown predator had slithered, crawled or flown in during the night and wiped out all the eggs in the nests including some that had almost hatched under Mr. Gibson. Mr. Gibson did manage to save two of her new healthy chicks.

Pursuit of discovering the tree commotion was next. It was kitten Nancy in distress. By the time I was in a hysterical state of worry pondering how to get Nancy out of the tree, she made it down on her own and sprinted to the breakfast table. She seemed to be asking me, "What's the big deal?" as I applauded her safety.

Meanwhile, Slim had a little Te-ta-Te with the goats and made sure Elizabeth remembered who was really in charge around here. Elizabeth abandoned the argument with Slim and proceeded to bully her sister Polly.

By nightfall I was able to see my dry and dying tree as beautiful again. It stood there in the dark, basking in moon glow. I went to bed without thinking about how much shorter that stately tree's life is going to be unless we get some rain soon.