Zumba Will Be The Death Of Me

Ok, I'm trying to get back into a shape other than a roundish pear. So I shelled out $60 for a Zumba set. I was ambitious the first day and tried a regular workout. Bad idea. I'm 41, fat and uncoordinated. So last night I decided to look through the dvds and found the basics disc that teaches you the moves for all the areas they work on in the other discs. It proved to me, I have no coordination and that I now understand why Richard Simmons did so well with his show. Why? The dancers on the Zumba videos are all teeny tiny, which doesn't make a fat girl feel too good and the moves are way more complicated then they make them out to be. I guess I'll be doing the Basic Steps Workout for a few weeks before I can build up to anything else. ~sigh~ I probably should have bought the discs for the Baby Boomer Set.

Its Been A Rough Week

I feel like my life is one big "woe is me."

Mom is home from the hospital. She's eating better now, but because those idjits at MVH decided to do all her PT in her hospital bed, she's not really able to stand, which means potty time isn't fun, as she's preferred a couch to a bed for the last 8 years. In fact, she's miserable in the hospital because she's in a bed.

Hopefully we'll have PT coming to the house soon, because I don't know how I'm going to deal with it otherwise.

I know we may be hitting a point again when things won't be getting better and frankly I'm scared to death of that. Losing my dad was hard enough, I'm not ready for anything to happen to mom.

Life Interruptus AGAIN

Mom is in the hospital again.

I had great plans of blogging on a more regular basis again.

No luck there.

A whole lot of craziness though.

Mom has an infection, possibly just a UTI or a kidney infection and she was dehydrated, possibly from her own trying to keep from retaining too much fluid and possibly from the infection.

We cant win for losing.

I need a vacation from my life.

TV Shows I'm Sick Of

Thanks to all the strange channels that air classic tv, I'm reminded that tv used to be funny and good. There's very little that I watch these days that are on the big 4 channels.

The Big Bang Theory used to be a favorite of mine, but when they started marrying everyone off the show started to lose its luster. In fact, if it weren't for one of the guest stars I probably wouldn't even watch the rest of the season, because I haven't found it funny in a very long time.

Modern Family was another show I used to adore, but now it isn't fun anymore. I still like most of the characters, but when Lily started growing up, she just became too obnoxious.

Fresh Off The Boat was cute in its first season, but it got old pretty fast.

I've totally given up on any and all cop dramas...Law and Order, Criminal Minds, CSI, & NCIS...as much as I love some of the characters on these shows, they've all overstayed their welcome.

I wish there would be some new show that showed some originality.

TV sucks.

Pennywise Goulash

I'm trying to revive the blog and I found a page with writing prompts, one of them is "A food that reminds you of your youth."

Pennywise Goulash was something my mom made all the time. It was made with stew meat, tomatoes, ketchup, onions, mushrooms and bow tie pasta. I think it was something my grandmother made before

I've made it many times since I started cooking but something wasn't the same.

It was the bow tie noodles. They aren't the same. When my mom made this dish when I was a little girl those bow ties were huge and round. Now they aren't even really called bow ties, they are called farfalle and they are getting smaller and smaller.

The dish is still fabulous and one of my favorites, but I still love it.

Here's the recipe for anyone interested

Pennywise Goulash

3/4 lb lean beef
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 med onion sliced
1 small can mushrooms
1/4 cup ketchup
1 1/2 cup canned tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 package farfalle noodles


Cut meat in very small pieces (or use stew meat that's already cut)
Melt butter in skillet and brown meat slowly for 10 minutes
Add onion and brown 5 minutes longer.
Add remaining ingredients and simmer gently for 45 minutes
Serve over cooked noodles.

We prefer to mix the sauce and meat mixture with the noodles. My mom made her's with fresh tomatoes from the garden so this was usually a summer dis for our family.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today would have been my Daddy's 90th birthday. He passed away Nov 16, 2014. It was one of the worst days of my life, because my daddy had become my life. I, along with my nephew, Raymond took care of him in his last year.  My mother's failing health made it impossible for her to be a primary caregiver.

But lets talk about my daddy.

He served in the Coast Guard during the second world war.

This is my parents official wedding photo

But this is my favorite picture

This is my mom and dad with my uncle Leonard and aunt Delores.

Now for some of my favorite pics of my daddy through the years