May 2013

(Note: I've tried desperately to upload a photo, like I usually do, and for some reason blogger gets stuck after I choose a photo.  It just sits there.  So if anyone has an answer, I'd appreciate some advice on how to fix this problem.  So bear with me until then - Thanks!)

May already!  The leaves have popped out, flowers are blooming, birds are calling - especially that poor little house wren, who just sings his heart out looking for someone to love him and make a home with him.  Last year, I think he sang a month straight, all day long.  Wonder he didn't get laryngitis.
It's dry here.  We haven't gotten our spring rains yet.  We are down about 3 inches over the last 2 months.  Not good.  We are supposed to get some rain today and over the weekend - I sure hope so.  I've been transplanting a few things in the flower beds, and it's dry about 5 or 6 inches in.  I've been watering already since April.  
I'm still volunteering at the library.  I enjoy my job and the girls that work there.  And it's only 5 minutes away.  
We've had the bass boat out a couple of times - in fact, my hubby was so excited for fishing season that he was ready the day it opened - 3rd Saturday in April!  It was working quite well, but the motor has a leaky gasket issue, so it's in the shop right now.
I made Lemon Meringue Pie yesterday, along with pulled pork.  Anyone out there have a good pulled pork recipe?  I looked at several, and chose one with a dry rub which had ingredients like cumin, cayenne, chili powder, paprika, garlic and onion powder, and brown sugar.  Not bad, but I'm thinking celery salt was missing.  Then you are supposed to slow cook it until tender, which I did.  Then add your own BBQ sauce.  I did that too, and since I couldn't decide whether to go the vinegar route or the BBQ sauce, I did both.  I mixed a bit of cider vinegar with the bbq sauce, and it wasn't bad. I think liquid smoke would have really topped it off.  (of course, doing it on the BBQ would have been wonderful, but I couldn't see wasting all that propane...)
Next on my list this week is Broccoli/Cauliflower salad with dried cranberry bits, shredded cheddar, and bacon bits. And a bit of sliced onion, preferably red.
My hubby has been literally begging for homemade bread.  I made good bread, but for some reason it's hard to get cranked up to actually make it.  When I do, I tend to make a 5 loaf batch to do us for awhile.
It's rhubarb season again here in CT.  I still have a couple of packages of frozen in the freezer to use up, along with some frozen blueberries I picked last summer.  So I see maybe a rhubarb pie, or bars or something in my near future.  I really should make the blueberries in to a sauce for pancakes or ice cream.  Yum!
It's a good thing I can't afford to hire a cook, I'd be huge!! :0)
I've been trying to change how I eat, after watching that documentary 'Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead'.  Anyone watch that?  About the australian dude who came over for a couple of months to try a juice fast?  I really liked the second part of the movie about Phil.  I'm so proud of Phil!  Anyway, it was a good documentary, very motivating to me.  My diet hasn't been bad, I've cut way back on sugar and baked goods.  I'm trying to eat grapefruit first thing most mornings, and incorporate more veggies for breakfast.  I tried a greek omelet at a local restaurant, and it wasn't bad!  Feta cheese, diced tomatoes and spinach.  
So I bought a 2-pack of goat cheese at Costco (less salty) and a big container of plum tomatoes (we like them just sliced) and baby spinach, which I sauteed a bit with garlic and olive oil.  Stirred all this into scrambled eggs, made a nice tasty breakfast.  I have also gotten into gluten free bread.  It's expensive, but good.  I'm trying to cut back on gluten to see if I feel better without it.  Doesn't hurt to try, right?
I also bought a big container of Kiwi.  Kiwis are underrated, don't you think?  A nice zing in a fruit cup, or sliced on the side for breakfast.  
I've got some dried black beans waiting to be done up. I really like black beans, and they are good for breakfast in eggs too.  W
e ate out for breakfast this past weekend, which we like to do at least one each week.  I had an old favorite, Mexican breakfast burrito.  A burrito, filled with scrambled eggs, black bean salsa, cheddar cheese, mushrooms if they remember to put them in, and I add sliced breakfast sausage.  It also comes with onion and peppers, but I omit them.  It's served with sour cream and extra salsa on the side.  YUM!  Very nice, and I always bring home 1/2 of it, because it's too much, especially with the side of home fries and toast that comes with it.
Yeah.  I see that - home fries, and I dare not say I like the 'deepfried', right??! Ha!
Well, I'm making progress, anyway.
Now I'm hungry.  Better go have some breakfast. Max, my 15 yr old cat, is letting me know I haven't taken him out for his 2 minutes outside the front door and his 3 blades of grass.  That's all he gets, because if left to his own devices, he would eat grass like a goat, and then leave me a present a bit later.  Yeah. Not cool.  
Have a great week!

We gave up Dishnetwork...

How odd, and how weird, to feel relief in giving up our satellite receiver. Yes, we gave up our Dish network after many years with them.

Why, you ask?
I guess because we finally decided that there
A) wasn't much worth watching, at least at that price
B) it was now nearly $80/month just for the second tier, including a $7 DVR fee (was $6).
c) we decided that we were going to change our viewing habits, and much of the regular programing was not included in that change.

 We found that. for the most part, we only watched about 3 or 4 channels out of hundreds.  We only watched for 3 hours or so a night, plus maybe 4 hours on weekends.
We also started ruling out any 'R' rated movies.  PG-13 is getting so bad with violence and language that I can't trust that anymore either.
We calculated that we would be spending about $900/yr on tv, not including ppv movies at $5 a pop.
Let's see, what would I rather spend $900 per YEAR on?  Oh, i could think of a lot of things!! I do need a new washer and dryer, I would like to have a kayak, a horse, pay off the car, a house of our own, rent a cottage for a week or 2 each summer...and so much more.
see, there are many things I could do with that $900 (each year!).  And TV moved WA-a-y-y down the list.
So we shipped the receiver back yesterday, dropped it off at the UPS store.  I was surprised to hear my husband say later how relieved he was that it was gone!  I knew I would be, but he was a bit harder sell on this idea.  but he does really like netflix.  He says ' it's there if you want to watch something, but you don't have to if you don't want to.'  Meaning, it's at our leisure.  That movie will wait.  yes, the dvr did kind of do the same thing, but we ended up with dozens of things to watch, and no time to watch them, because we were still watching live tv too.
Do we miss anything?  Yes, there were trade-offs.  I miss the Tcm channel (Turner Classic Movies), sometimes HGTV and he misses nascar.
HOwever, like i said, we do have netflix, and there is a small selection of old movies for me to start with there. 
and, we bought a $39 mohu leaf indoor antenna from amazon.  It allows us to get several local network and pbs channels, and fox - which is broadcasting several weekends of the Sprint cup.  My hubby is thrilled.
We also bought a router and new dvd with wireless capability to make this setup work.  and it's working great!
We do want to try Amazon Prime at some point, maybe next week when our free trial at Netflix runs out.
We also can pull from our local and state-wide libraries for viewing free dvd's.  What a resource!  
we did have some up front costs, like the router and wireless dvd player, to change our viewing habits, but we are still saving a lot of money.  and funnily enough, tv has a lot less hold on us now.  and that's a good thing in my book.  there is so much of life to be lived outside of the living room.  don't you think?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a nice holiday season.  We did, except we both had colds for the whole week.  This time the colds weren't too bad, we've certainly had worse. We still managed to enjoy our families while they visited us.  They live a day's drive away, and we had this planned for some time.  It was so good to see everyone, as we don't get to see them more than a couple of times a year.
We got out to the mall for a day for the after-Christmas sales.  Mom and put together a couple of puzzles (we both love puzzles) and we played a few games of 2000. (a card game)
What's new? First I want to mention my light box and how I'm doing with that, since it is the season for it.  I'm doing pretty good, thank you.  Much better than last year.  I started the 3rd week of September, with about 5 minutes a day. Then, in October sometime, I went to 10.  Then 15. Now I'm up to 25.  Last year, it was 30, and I was sitting much closer to it than this year. (I use the HappyLight, by Verilux)
This year, it's hanging on my wall just to the left of my computer screen.  It's about 3 feet or slightly less from my face.  Usually, I have to have it within about 15 inches or so.
How do I know if I have enough?  Well, at some point I start to sigh, and feel more relaxed.  Like my body is saying 'Thank you!.'  Also, if I get too much, I get a bit edgy, and feel like I have to shut it off.  So far, this is working for me.  It falls within the parameters of using the light box.
I also can tell if I start to feel lethargic and down, that I didn't do enough.
I must mention too, that for years I had situational depression. At least, that's what my doctor said.  I just know I had depression.  So I had both, and the 'SAD' didn't reveal itself until I got the depression dealt with.
That's when I discovered I started feeling down in the fall, more and more so as the winter wore on, and I couldn't understand why.  I was worried I would have to go back on antidepressants.
During my research, I discovered 'SAD', felt I had the same symptoms, and bought a light box.  Best investment ever besides addressing my depression.
So I just wanted to update you on this, in case you too are suffering from this disorder, and hope something I said will help you or point you in the right direction.
As for other news, not sure I mentioned this earlier or not, but I am volunteering at my local library.  I started in late July last year, 1/2 a day a week, in the Inter-library Loan Dept.  I really enjoy it! The ladies are very nice to work with, I get out of the house, and I do love books. :0) 
Speaking of, I am due there this morning in about an hour, so I better get this posted.
Until we meet again, God bless!

Merry Christmas 2012

We wish you all a peaceful joyous Christmas time. 
For my family and I, we celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, God's Son.  As we remember and honor His birth here on earth, we reflect on what it has meant for mankind --what it means to me -- and where we'd be if He hadn't come.
In case you have never read about His birth, I have reprinted it below from Luke.

Luke 2:1 - 20

 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Last night, we went out for a movie date.  We saw the Avengers - it was pretty good, a bit overwhelming.  I think I'm getting too old for comic book characters.  Plus it was quite violent.  I always notice when parents bring their 8 years olds to see a pg-13 movie.  Makes you wonder. 
Also, I find there is just too much computer manipulation - makes it so unreal.  Not that there is anything real about comic book characters, lol...
But we had a nice evening out.  Spent a small fortune on popcorn and drinks.  Wow...that is definitely where they make their money.  We did go for the 'Tuesday Special', aka 'cheap night'.  So at least we saved some there.
On the way home, about 3 minutes from our house on a country road, just about dark, we saw a mother woodcock and 5 little babies!  They were SO CUTE!  She was taking her time crossing the road, so we stopped and waited.  She seemed a bit disoriented by our lights, and we didn't dare turn them off because it was getting dark and didn't want anyone to run into us. 
After a couple of minutes, we saw lights - a car coming the opposite way.  I didn't hesitate - I got out of the car to play 'crossing guard'.  I waved my arms at the car and started towards the birds.  Momma wasn't happy.  She turned around and started right for me, kinda flapping her wings and making very unhappy sounds, then tried to draw me away from her babies. Such a good mother!  I decided perhaps I wouldn't 'herd' them across the road after all.
The other people stopped and waited, but I don't think they saw the chicks, as it was getting quite dark and they were next to long grass.  They were so tiny.  I read afterward that they are fully feathered out at 2 weeks.  These little ones must have only been a couple of days old.
Well, they finally all went their way, and I waved thank you to the other car and we came home.  My good deed for the day.
I pondered afterwards our timing.  2 or 3 minutes earlier or later, we would likely have missed them.  Possibly the other car would have hit them, because they were still on the road.  Makes you wonder.  I do believe the Lord really does care for the smallest things in our lives.  And I was thrilled seeing them. 
But boy, I sure wish I had my nice camera with me...