5 Things On Sunday

5 Things I Need a Lifetime Supply of

I never thought I'd have a hard time answering this question.

1. Money: I mean really this should be on everyone's list. How else could you have lifetime supplies of anything else without this one?

2. Canada Dry Blackberry Ginger Ale: OK Canada Dry peeps this was a limited edition flavor.  I don't drink much soda anymore, but when I do its always ginger ale or Sprite.

3. Cozy mystery novels. Those are my genre of choice these days

4. Dove Dark Chocolate: I don't think I need to explain myself here.

5. Lambic Beer: The Belgium champagne of beers and its delicious

Booking Through Thursday

What kind of book do you like to curl up with on a snowy day?

Snow days, like today are the hardest days for me to really read. I tend to catch up on stuff that I may not usually get around to. The house gets an extra good cleaning. I clean out the fridge. That's the sort of stuff that I do on snow days.

Oh and baking....especially if its a planned snow day. You know when you know that a foot of snow is coming. That's when I try to bake bread or something I wouldn't normally be able to do otherwise.

So I'd say the first type of book that I'd curl up with on a snowy day would be one of my many cookbooks.

The next type of book I like to curl up with on a snowy day is a good historical novel. I like anything historical, mysteries, romances or books revolving around royalty.

The question now is, what book am I going read on this snow day!

Remembering My Daddy

I miss my dad.

I like to remember the little things about him...that made him who he was.

He was a hard worker. Even after he retired from Corning Glass, he worked as a custodian at the high school to keep busy.

He was good at fixing cars and he always gave our old Malibu a tune up before we'd go on vacation. The level of difficulty in the job always coincided with how many "sonfabitchinbastards" that came out of his mouth.

He loved to eat out, especially Mexican and Chinese food. I took him to Rock Bottom and he had pot pie, and I thought he was going to lick the plate. We always ate out on Sundays. When mom couldn't go with us any longer, I always took him, even if he had to lug around his oxygen tank to go to La Fiesta.

He was fond of a good beer. (Especially at Rock Bottom)

Dessert was his favorite part of any meal. He loved his sweets. Even in his last months...he wanted cookies and candy more than any other food.

He was stubborn. (With a touch of dementia from his blood and lung disorders he could be frustrating with this trait and it often caused us to scream at him, but never to stop loving him)

He was a great dishwasher. No one else could clean up like him.

He liked to break our Coke glasses. (He was good at breaking things that the rest of us liked, especially if he was doing something he didn't want to do)

He was generous. When I wanted to get my first CD player, he left quarters on the floor of my room to help me with my savings.

He was a savior. I can't begin to count the times he had to come and rescue either my sister or me where stuck somewhere with a broken down car or stuck in the snow.

He was a wonderful man, and not a day goes by that I don't miss me.

Reading Slump

I am totally in a reading slump. I have so many books that sit half finished, some are good, others aren't holding my attention and are just frustrating the hell out of me.

I very seldom leave books unfinished. That's just not how I am. I slog through most everything. (Except Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned. I tried that one 3 times and never could get through it)

I'm not even sure how to break out of this slump, since I've been trying books of all my favorite genres, and nothing is making me happy.

I can't remember when I last had a book that I didn't want to put down. Maybe it is because I have to many and I have such high standards when it comes to my books.

Whatever it is, its making me very sad. (especially since tv and politics suck too)

Sheet Pan Suppers Rock

OK, I have to admit. I'm lazy. I love to cook but I hate cleaning up, so I'm a huge fan of anything that can be cooked in one pot, pan or in this case sheet pan.

Yesterday I made a fabulous dinner of cubed potatoes, smoked sausage and brussel spouts all on a sheet pan.

The potatoes where done with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika mixture...the sprouts had olive oil and natures seasonings on them

Today was a sheet pan chicken parm, which was delicious except the chicken breasts obviously came from a chicken the size of a turkey.

My Favorite Authors

Bilbo  has a fabulous post on his blog about his favorite authors. These are authors whose books you buy, just because you know they are going to be winners every time.

I have very odd taste in books. I run the gamut from romance to mystery to sci-fi and many spots in between.

Here are a few of my favorite authors.

Sarah Morgan: Sarah is romance writer. A lot of her early books were for the Presents line, which I was never a huge fan of, but in recent years, she's stepped out of the shadows of the sheikh's and is writing longer series books and they are all so wonderful. The O'Neill Brothers trilogy is one of my favorites. (And Sarah writes the best Christmas stories EVER)

Heather Wardell: Heather is one of the only authors I have ever met. She writes women's fiction that makes you think. There's always a touch of romance there, but it isn't the gushy kind. My favorite book is Planning to Live. You can't finish this one without shedding a tear or two or twenty.

Phillipa Gregory: I have always loved historical fiction that involved the royals. My first favorite author, who is sadly no longer with us was Jean Plaidy. Phillipa's Tudor novels are some of my very favorites, after all, how can you not be fascinated with Henry VIII.

Janet Evanovich: I'm a huge fan of the Stephanie Plum series, though I do think it has gone on a little to long. We're up to book 23 now. I'm not as apt to buy her books these days as to take them out of the library, but they still are good fun, for what its worth.

Meg Cabot: Most people know her for her Princess Diaries series, but I love her Heather Wells Mysteries which are really funny and just plain fun reads.

Richard Paul Evans:  Yes, his books are sappy, but they warm my heart. I've read so many of them and if you handed me his latest, I would read it without question.

C.W. Gortner: C.W. Gortner writes some fabulous historical fiction. I've recently read his book, Marlene that was about Dietrich and it was fabulous.

There really are too many authors that I love...Amanda Stevens who writes the Graveyard Queen books which are beyond fabulous. Holly Jacobs, a PA author who writes the best romances and of course Terry Pratchett, who has gone on..as well as Joyce and Jim Lavene

Oh My Country

I have strong political beliefs.

Since November I've kept quiet. My heart hurts for my country. I thought, I hoped that perhaps things wouldn't be as bad as they seemed they would be since "he who shall not be named" was elected

Last weekend I had my eyes on the Women's march on Washington.

This weekend the ban on Muslims has just left me horrified. I understand the need for secure borders, but what is happening is not right and not what America is about.

I have never wanted to get involved in a protest so much before this.

We can't let this country change this way quietly.

Getting Back To Music

Ah music...there's good, there's bad and there's WTF.

I had one of our "plays everything" station..and then this song came on...

I'm not exactly sure what to say about it, except it probably will end up an ear worm, which is very seldom a good thing.

The old lady in me says..god...I miss when songs had meaning...or something....that definitely isn't this.

Steak Night

Oh how I love it when Giant Eagle puts strip steaks on sale.

Yum!

Some butter spray in the pan.

Some Montreal seasoning on the steaks

Baked potatoes in the oven...

And a pot of cheesy broccoli and wild rice soup in a pot.

It really can't get better than this.

My house smells divine and everything was thrown together pretty easily.

I found the soup recipe in a Taste Of Home Fast Fixes With Mixes Cookbook. Super easy and very tasty.

Life is good when the food is good

I've vanished again

Mom's heart has been acting up again.

She's been having a lot of issues on Saturday mornings which is making getting the laundry done a bit of a challenge.

Why?

Yes, I own a home.

No I don't have a washer dryer, because I don't have the money to rewire my basement and then buy two new machines.

So yeah, once a week, I trek down to the local laundromat and wash my clothes.  I'm actually kind of thankful for it, because washing and drying the four loads would probably take longer to do at home than the 2 hours it takes me when I go to the laundromat.

The only problem is there are certain times of the day when you just don't want to be there.

You know when the people that only do the laundry once a month are there and you can't get a washer or a dryer.

And today she had another spell...

Oye..

Not one that landed her in the ER...but one that kept me house bound until this afternoon.

Doing the laundry at 3:30 PM is not fun, especially when there is a greedy woman hogging all the high capacity washers.

Grrr

Happy New Year

2017 is here. Let's hope it is better than 2016 but I can't for the life of me figure out how that can happen.

There are things to look forward to this year though.

~ Doctor Who sometimes this spring.

~ Sherlock (NOW!)

Hmmmm

I can't seem to think of anything else right now.

Ending The Year With A Bang

Mom is back in the hospital.

She's getting to be like dad now. Every few months she has a spell.

She's got 1 functioning kidney which is only going at 25%

We've got her on restricted fluids.

I don't even know what I can feed her. Everything seems to work against her and yet we still want her to get nourishment.

It is beyond frustrating.

I'm not ready to be an orphan, because I need her too much. I know that I'm 42 years old and I should have things together, but I don't.

Mom is my rock.

I don't know what I'll do without her, and frankly right now I'm terrified, for my own selfish reasons. I'm just glad she's stable and dialysis hasn't been brought up yet.

Getting Organized

I'm doing my best to get my life sorted out in the new year.

I'm also going to make my life less stressful in the new year.

I plan to limit my time on Facebook, because that site has caused my nerves to spiral out of control with all the political hatred.

I can't take it.

I really want to hide under a rock for the year and just bask in all the books I've acquired in the last year.

My reading has declined in the years since my father got sick and passed. I want to change that. I want to embrace all the books in my life as they are far more important than facebook games and making my blood pressure go through the roof.

I also hope to go back to enjoying music again, which I haven't really done in ages. I probably stopped loving music, when I started writing reviews for stuff that I didn't want to listen to.

I want to get my book collection cleaned up and my TBR pile shrunk.

Are these resolutions?

Maybe.

To me they are just goals that I may or may not accomplish in the coming year.

In A Year Of Sadness...Things That Make Me Happy

OK, Debbie Reynolds dies one day after her daughter....a few hours after telling her son that she missed her daughter so much, she wanted to be with her.

So if that doesn't make you cry, you are inhuman.

So to keep myself from getting too depressed about all the death...

Things that make me happy

~ My furbabies

~ My family (though not all the time)

~ Good tv shows like Sherlock, Doctor Who and even People Of Earth for a bit of mindless fun.

~ Good books...heck at this point even bad books that can transport you somewhere else.

~ Chocolate

~ Starbucks coffee

~ Cookbooks

~ Baking

The Year Of The Reaper

My friend, Jennifer shared this on her facebook today.

How true this is.

It seems like the amount of celebrity deaths was truly astronomical this year.

It probably isn't but the ones that passed were ones that were really beloved and influential in many lives

David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Prince, 2/3 of Emerson Lake and Palmer, Leonard Cohen, Pete Burns and George Michael to name but a few of the musical deaths...

Alan Thicke, Florence Henderson, Doris Roberts, Alan Young are a few from the TV front...

And today, Carrie Fisher.

Hey, Reaper! Don't you need some crappy politicians? Washington is full of them?

Can we pull a Torchwood, Miracle Day please?

You know..a day when no one dies.

RIP George Michael

2016 proves that its not yet done making the world a dimmer place.

On Christmas the world lost George Michael, who started his career as one half of the pop duo Wham!

I remember absolutely loving songs like Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go), Freedom and Careless Whisper and I'm Your Man.

His solo career was filled with controversy starting with the single I Want Your Sex and Faith. (with the video that definitely featured George's good side) If you don't know what I speak, look up the video and you'll see.

Then there's his coming out and a sex scandal or two.

That's where I must stop and pause...because so many of the posts I've seen today have had rude comments about this man's sexuality.

I don't care who he slept with.

The world lost a talented man. If you have nothing nice to say, keep your trap shut.

2016 the year the music died.

A Semi Homemade Christmas

I always enjoyed Sandra Lee's Food Network show, back before she was the first lady of New York and had to deal with breast cancer.

This year, I decided I wanted a fairly stress free holiday, so I did a lot of semi-homemade baking.

What is that you ask?

I made quite a few wonderful cake mix cookies.

Each cookie made about 3 dozen depending on the recipe and they were really delicious.

I made the Andes Candies cookie which I found a few years back from Six Sister's Stuff. Then I did a strawberry coconut and pineapple coconut pecan cookie..and then an orange cookie...all from mixes and all delicious.

Everything wasn't all semi homemade though. I did make my mother's fudge nuggets and the cathedral candy..palmiers and my favorite cookie, Oreo cream cheese .

All in all everything worked out pretty nicely and was still fabulously yummy.

A Cool Purchase

I had to stop at my local library to pick up a Douglas Adams book that I wanted to read. There I found groups of books tied together with a little string and a bow.

Book bundles for $2.00.

They had 4 or 5 books of similar genres together.

How great of an idea was that?

I had to buy one.

Would you have expected any less.

A great way to sell used books at the library and make things cute while helping the library.

Remembering Misty

Its been 10 years and 1 day since my Misty kitty passed away in my arms. I wasn't really thinking about it, though she is a cat that I talk about often (along with my two baby Muckers that I loved so dearly)

This morning my Dewey (who is a girl...but the name suits her) crawled on my lap and I just started crying, because Dewey and Misty are two peas in a pod.

This is Misty with her buddy Oogie

This is by Dewey Doo eating ...which is her favorite activity. Its right up there with sleeping and walking across my laptop.

Two sweet girls that I love so much.

Sadness, I Has It

I think I've used this blog title before.

Its Christmastime and its time for holiday baking, only I don't know what to make and I'm always sad that there's not enough people to eat all the cookies that I bake.

My dad was the one with the sweet tooth. He devoured cookies like they were going out of style.

There's no one that eats cookies like he did and there's not that many people I can gift cookies too either.

It makes me sad.

There are so many things I want to make. Brownie Truffles....Peppermint Fudge...

~sigh~


I miss my Daddy.