Ah! Summer Means It's Time for BBQ!

At Knot-y Ladies embroidery class tonight, we started chatting--as we're wont to do--about this, that, and the other. Gran is very good at fostering communication among her students--in other words, we're invited to talk a lot while we stitch, and we often go around the table, taking turns showing off our current projects and discussing whatever's on our minds. One of our ladies is a mom with a two-year-old son who loves to eat plants from the garden. Needless to say, she has the telephone number of the poison hotline memorized and is continually amazed--but grateful--that children's protective services hasn't paid her a visit thus far. Anyway, tonight she told us she and her husband have been working to replace all of the potentially poisonous plants in their yard with edible plants for their little budding vegetarian. (Can't you just see the kid growing up to be one of those wilderness survivalists? I wonder if Bear Grylls ate his parents' garden when he was an infant?) The discussion brought back fond childhood memories for me, and I thought I'd share.

I think I must have been about five or six years old when a family moved into the house across the street from us. They had a little girl around my age, and we soon became friends. Even to my young mind, the family seemed different from mine--poorer, not as clean, and fairly lazy. As a result, life across the street was a bit more haphazard and unstructured--which meant that it was a lot more fun playing across the street than playing at my house.

One of the BEST things about playing across the street was that sometimes the mom would make homemade French fries for us, piling a paper plate full and serving them with lots of catsup. Yum! My mom wouldn't dream of serving us between meal snacks, except maybe a cookie and a glass of milk right after school. My mom also never used paper plates.

But French fries weren't the only slightly illicit treats. The family also enjoyed barbecuing when the weather was nice--again, something my family didn't do very often because we only had a small Hibatchi grill; the people across the street had a large, metal half-drum. And for us two young girls, our favorite barbecued snack was ivy leaves. Yep, you read that right. We would collect and wash large ivy leaves, and the dad would brush them with barbecue sauce and grill them until they were slightly crisp and crunchy.

From what I can recall, the barbecued ivy leaves tasted pretty good and I don't think I ever got sick afterward. Not that we would be allowed to eat many though--usually two or three each was the limit before the dad got tired of barbecuing leaves for us. And how they came up with the idea of barbecuing ivy leaves? Well, I'm not certain, but I have my suspicions. Remember this?

"Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
Yes! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey
Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy"

Oh! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you-oo?
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?"

Dinner anyone?

Got Corn?

Here in Northern California, this year's corn crop is at its peek--sweet, lovely, abundant ears at a price that makes me want to fill my grocery cart FULL of the stuff! And while corn on the cobb with a little butter and salt and pepper is a thing of beauty all on its own, I've found several other ways to serve it, and I thought I'd share them with you.

The other day, Paula the Quilter mentioned the Eating Well website. Since the recipe she mentioned in that particular blog post sounded pretty good and since I'm trying to introduce healthier food choices into our diet, I checked it out--YUM! And while I could certainly rave about the recipes we've tried over the course of the weekend (finding only one recipe we didn't care for), I won't bore you--you can go over there and look for yourself if you're interested. But really, who doesn't like corn? So I WILL show you two of the corn dishes we had this weekend--I hope you won't be bored!

Lemon-Garlic Glazed Corn. Simple to make; yummy to eat. It cooks in a covered skillet. We had it with chicken breasts and broccoli.

Corn and Basil Cakes. I diced up about half an avocado and a tomato, added some chopped garlic, and squeezed in a little fresh lemon juice; a couple tablespoons of "salsa" on top of the cakes made them especially tasty. I served them with tempura-style prawns. To. Die. For.

Can you stand one more? I haven't made this one yet, but I have a little leftover basil I need to use, and the rest of the ingredients are on hand as well.

This one's Roasted Corn with Basil-Shallot Vinaigrette. I actually planned out the week's menus a few days ago, and this recipe isn't on the chart, but I'm sure I can fit it in somewhere--it seems to me it would make a great lunch. One nice thing about the Eating Well site is that you can click on comments by people who have tried the recipes, posted tips, and rated them.

Sadly, the weekend's over and it's time for bed. Glad you could stop by!

(Kind of creepy, huh?!)

You Gotta Love 'Em

Tonight's topic, ladies, is men.

A couple years ago, a friend of mine wrote a blog post about "man answers." (Click HERE--we'll wait.) "Man answers" are those answers or theories men seem to pull out of thin air. Sometimes they make sense; sometimes they don't. But for the most part, the confidence with which men impart these gems lends "man answers" a certain feel of truth. Know what I mean?

Sometimes we're given "man answers" because men like to make us think they know what they're talking about. Sometimes "man answers" are the result of men trying to get out of addressing problems. And sometimes "man answers" are myths perpetuated among the gender.

Some years ago, at the start of the summer, our air conditioner wasn't keeping the house as cool as it should. The thermostat was set at 73, the outside temperature was hovering around 95, and the actual temperature in the house was around 80. I was hot and cranky. I pointed out the problem to Hubby, and I believe that was the first time I heard the 15-Degree Myth--a common "man answer" repeated for the last couple generations.

Hubby informed me that air conditioners cannot cool a house more than 15 degrees below the outside temperature. For two days, I was hot and cranky. Because Hubby had said the air conditioning was working as it should, I was hesitant to call the air conditioner repair company myself. When Hubby finally got tired of me being hot and cranky, he made the call and the air conditioner was repaired.

The other day, I overheard a friend of mine tell someone that her husband said an air conditioner can only lower the temperature by 15 degrees. I held my tongue. Sure enough, though, I later learned their air conditioner had needed repairs. See what I mean? Man answers!

Still, you gotta love 'em, don't you? 'Cause killing them's against the law. Or is that just a man answer?

I came across this video on someone else's blog today--it's so good, I had to pass it on.

She'd Better Buy a Lottery Ticket

Have you seen this woman?

She's AnnieO of Annie's Quilt Orts. If you see her, tell her she needs to buy a lottery ticket because she's obviously experienced an amazing run of luck lately!

For my little giveaway, I had 74 entries. A random number generator told me the winner was entry number 64--which, of course, was AnnieO. When I popped over to her blog to capture her address to provide a link, I saw she had just won another giveaway on another blog--what a lucky gal!

Well Ms. Lucky Britches, please email me your snail mail address and I'll get your winnings in the mail to you early next week. Congrats to Annie O. and thank you all for taking the time to share some of your favorite newer blogs with the rest of us (except for Gran, who didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by leaving anyone out and thus refused to play along--I swear I don't know what I'm going to do with her sometimes).

Diet and Other Stuff

Personally, I like a well balanced diet. Sure, I did the Atkins Diet back in the '70s, but I got a little tired of eating no carbs. Still, if you prefer or require a high protein/low carbohydrate diet, I've got just the thing for you!

At BigHotDog.com you can get a 7-pound hot dog for only $39.95 plus shipping. Too bad the 4th of July has passed--it would have made for the perfect holiday barbecue treat; but there's still the rest of the summer left, so you have plenty of time for grilling big meat. Better stock up on relish and mustard though. Try BigRelish.com and BigMustard.com. (Stay away from BigBuns.com though--it could be ugly.)

When I mentioned the other day watching what Hubby and I ate and trying to stick to a healthier diet, some of you commented about various health issues you face and diet programs. While I've never formally joined Weight Watchers, I DO have a few of their cookbooks and I like several of the recipes. And this is another book in my diet cookbook library that I've found particularly helpful:

It's an older book, but it can still be found through Amazon--used copies and maybe even a few new copies are still out there. You've probably never heard of it, though, right? The diet plan doesn't necessarily promote a HIGH carbohydrate diet (although it says that on the cover); rather it takes into account that some people CRAVE carbohydrates and won't stick to a diet that doesn't include them in some fashion. So the diet allows for a 200-calorie carbohydrate snack at some time during the day, and other than that, the meals are fairly well balanced, and most are low in fat and calories with all the necessary nutients.

I've taken a college nutrition class and been on enough diets in the past to know what healthy eating is--but most of the time, I go for whatever's the most tasty and self-indulgent thing around. I wonder how many of us do that--eat without really thinking? I know it's silly, because when I'm eating right, I feel so much better.

Well, except today. Today I have some kind of stomach thing going on. Maybe it's just a body cleansing thing--that's what I'm thinking. And as uncomfortable as I've been off and on today, I bet I've lost a few pounds!

This morning I was feeling creative and enthusiastic, but I never quite made it into the Sweat Shop before the stomach thing hit. Still, it worked out okay--after all, I had plenty of blog recommendations to check out. So that's what I did instead, and I also went through my own blog list and checked up on old friends and eliminated the ones that were no longer inspirational to me or active.

And while I'm thinking of it, I meant to mention awhile back that one of my quilting friends, Julie-Julia (long story about the name), started a blog. She's really just getting started and has only posted a couple times so far, but I know that if her blog turns out to be anything like SHE is, she'll have lots of stories to tell and quilts to share. If you'd like to welcome her to Blogland, you can find her HERE.

If you haven't already done so, please check out the little giveaway in the post below this one; and if you HAVE already entered, you might be interested in going back to read the other comments and see if there's a new blog or two for you to discover! As for me, I'm feeling a little wiped out tonight, so I'm heading off to bed. I hope this little bug will have left me by the morning and my feeling of creativity and enthusiasm will have returned.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Some of my favorite blog giveaways are when the blogger asks the commenters to include specific things in their comments in order to be entered. Like asking the commenters to tell about the most embarrassing thing they ever did. Or how they began quilting. Or whether their husbands wear boxers or briefs and why. Or who their favorite Twilight character is. Whatever. Because not only is it fun to have a chance to win something, but it's also fun to read all the previous comments for their sheer entertainment value.

Now, let me backtrack a second. Remember a couple posts ago, I told you it was my 1,234th blog post? And that I'd missed my three-year blogiversary? And that I was unprepared but would do a belated giveaway soon? Well, it's soon NOW.

And so I thought, and thought, and thought again about what I could ask YOU, the commenters, to include in your comments in order to be entered into the giveaway and to entertain all the rest of us, and I finally decided that rather than come up with an original idea, I'd just sort of tweek the giveaway question another blogger posed a couple years ago--and gosh darn it but I can't remember who the blogger was, so I can't really give her credit, but it was a pattern and/or fabric designer--that's all I can remember. So here's what I want you to tell me in your comment in order to be entered into the drawing (winner will be selected by random drawing rather than excellence of answer, but non-compliance will result in non-entry):

What are your two (or three) favorite quilting blogs that you've "discovered" in the last year or two and why? (To be clear, why are they your favorites [i.e., because they're funny, inspirational, the blogger's your best friend, etc.]; not why did you wait so long to discover them.)

So that's the question, but here's what I'm trying to find out. I know the number of quilting blogs has increased dramatically over the last couple years, and there are a lot of blogs out there that I've never heard of. So what am I missing out on? I could probably blog surf all day and not come across all of them. And I figure if you like MY blog, you obviously have superior taste and sensibility which may well coincide with my own. In other words, if you like something, I might too. So save me a little time, okay? And don't tell me MY blog is your favorite. Brown nosing will not win you points this time.

Are you wondering what the payoff might be? How about two of these?

(12 Days of Christmas Charm Packs.)

And quite possibly a couple other little surprises as well?

I will pick a winner on Friday night, and the winner will be announced on Saturday's post. You must come back here to see if you've won because I'm lazy, and I don't want to mess around with trying to figure out if I can email you and/or get to your blog to alert you. And since I'd really like to kind of limit this to my regular readers if possible, no extra entries will be given for linking from your blog or announcing the giveaway to your readers. Let's just keep this fun all to ourselves, okay? And yes, the giveaway is open to persons from other countries. Even to those from other planets--like men (although in the case of a winner from another planet, prize pick-up will be required).

Good luck!

COMMENTS CLOSED--WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY!

Hey! Is That ANOTHER Shoe?!

Here's a little recap of yesterday--(1) the electricity to the freezer tripped off, resulting in melted ice cream, and (2) the drip line to the new tree and two plants wasn't working correctly. Because bad luck comes in threes, I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ha! Not long after I first published last night's post, it happened: I noticed the water pressure in the house was low, and I soon found the low pressure was due to some kind of break in the pipes in our front yard, which was flooded by the time I discovered it. At midnight. Yep, I had to wake up Hubby.

Okay, so this morning, I got up and ran water for my bath and guess what? When I stepped into the bath, the water was absolutely, positively COLD! Apparently bad luck runs in FOURS, and even Imelda Marcos doesn't have this many dropped shoes. ARGH!

Hubby was still sleeping, so I had to wake him (again), and before long, he noticed the hot water pressure was super low (deja vu, huh?), but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the hot water heater. It was a puzzle. The cold water was fine.

In the meantime, I had only 30 minutes or so before I had to leave the house to meet up with Gran, and I seriously needed to take a bath and wash my hair. Yep, in the end, I took a cold bath. DOUBLE ARGH! I was able to add a little bit of hot water, but it barely warmed the bath (imagine getting into a swimming pool in April--like that). But do you know what? I was SO seriously in need of spending time with a friend and getting out of this house of horrors, that I just kept thinking how really worth it it would be in the long run, and that helped me take the plunge.

So where did our adventures take Gran and me today? Benicia!

See, nobody really goes to Benicia. Nobody I know anyway. The areas bordering Benicia are pretty ugly with industrial and shipping views as well as an oil refinery. The "mothball fleet," made up of the Navy's retired and rusting WWII ships, is anchored in the nearby Carquinez Straight. Who'd want to go to Benicia?

Well, since the Camelia Tea Room is also in Benicia, Gran and I wanted to go there. And guess what? We found Benicia is a cute little town with all kinds of shops and restaurants, parks, and historic markers and monuments. Who knew? We had a lovely lunch, and then we spent an hour or two exploring the town. Let me show you what we saw.

The Camelia Tea Room. Our waitress (no photo) Beth was super nice and very helpful!

Gran had the traditional English tea.

I had a shrimp and avocado salad--yum! We also both had a cup of tomato bisque soup, but we were served the soup first, and because we were pretty hungry, it was gone before we remembered to take photos--it was awfully good soup though!

After lunch, Gran and I drove down to the water. Above is a photo of the view looking toward the north--you can seen one of the bridges off in the distance. Below is a photo of the view looking toward the south. This bridge and its surroundings looks a bit more industrial.

Then we saw THIS view and decided this is exactly what we need for our future excursions!

And because no trip is complete without visiting a quilt shop or two (and a Starbucks, for that matter), when we left Benicia we visited Thimblecreek Quilt Shop (in Concord) and the Cotton Patch (in Lafayette). On the drive home, we also detoured to the Vacaville Outlet Shops. All in all, a good day spent with a wonderful friend!

By the time I got home, the plumber had gone and we had hot water again. And Hubby had fixed the pipe fitting that broke and flooded the front yard. Unfortunately, the flood seems to have drowned the drip line controls, so the drip system isn't working, but Hubby thinks he can fix that tomorrow. Yay!

Best of all? I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and a couple errands to run, so I won't be home to listen to Hubby fuss while he's trying to do the last of the repairs. You guessed it: Priceless.

Joy No Luck Club

I was going to ask whether you ever have one of those days when everything seems to go wrong, but I already know the answer: Of course you do. We all do. When it's happening, though, we tend to feel personally persecuted by whatever power governs the course of events. Today was one of those days for me.

This morning I went out to the garage freezer to look for some frozen French toast but found instead that the electricity to the freezer had been tripped off, and all the ice cream was liquid--but oddly enough, nothing else seemed to have melted. Diet karma, perhaps? Very frustrating!

Later in the day, I looked out at the front yard and noticed the leaves of our new crepe myrtle tree looked a little "crispy." Sure enough, when I checked, it seemed it wasn't getting any water. As it turned out, the drip line that waters the tree and a couple other plants isn't working correctly. Again, it's very frustrating, particularly since Soccer Son likely won't be back to do any troubleshooting until the weekend at the soonest, Hubby isn't very proactive about these kinds of repairs, and I know virtually nothing about this watering system--it's Soccer Son and Hubby's baby. So that means hand watering by me for the next few days, I think.

"They" say these kinds of things always happen in threes, so now I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then again, it's probably just an old wives' tale, right?

There IS one bit of good luck though--I finished the Joy Luck Schnibbles quilt today!

I don't really have a place for this one--I don't use these pastel colors in my home. But wouldn't it make a terrific baby quilt? It sure would be nice to be ahead for once, instead of trying to get something made by a deadline!

ADDENDUM: Yep, the other shoe dropped. Right after posting the above, I went out to the kitchen to wash my hands and had very little water pressure. When I investigated further, I found our front yard was fairly well flooded, with water running off the yard and down the street. I got Hubby out of bed, and since it was too late and too dark to figure out what the problem is, he ended up turning off the outside water. ARGH!

It Could Have Been Worse

Isn't it funny that once you finally start on the path to healthy eating, it always seems like temptation's waiting right there with a foot stuck out to trip you up? For the celebratory anniversary dinner, tri tip was on the menu, and with Soccer Son and Hubby sitting down to eat, I knew better than to leave potatoes off. I figured, though, that if I threw in a salad and some fresh corn on the cobb and limited portion sizes, dinner wouldn't be toooooooooo bad. For dessert, there was a choice of angel food cake with fresh strawberries and light Cool Whip or sugar free jello and light Cool Whip--but Soccer Son and my Lovely Daughter In Law To Be Someday thought the better option was Hagen Daz ice cream balls rolled in candied nuts and topped with a sprig of fresh mint. Oh, well, I suppose I'll never have another 30-year anniversary again, so I guess it's okay to splurge a little, right? And I did limit portion size, although Hubby's balls were much larger than mine. And really, that's as it should be.

I decided for my 30th wedding anniversary, I should buy myself four yards of background fabric for the upcoming quilt along. And Hubby decided that for his 30th wedding anniversary, he should watch World Cup soccer and relax in his recliner. And really, that's as it should be too.

Thirty years ago, Hubby and I drove from San Jose to Reno for our wedding. It was kind of a hurried affair because one of us was pregnant, and the other one of us had some minor involvement as well. Now I look back and wonder why we thought it was important to hurry, but at the time, we did. From proposal to wedding, we had less than two days to get ready. Hubby's parents, his aunt, and his sister attended the wedding along with two of his close friends. On the way to Reno, we were pulled over by the highway patrol, about a mile or two from where we now live, and were given a ticket for speeding--Hubby was going about five miles an hour over the speed limit. After the wedding, we left Reno, heading back to Nevada City where we were spending our honeymoon night. Not too far across the border into California, we received a second speeding ticket. You'd think it was a bad omen or something, wouldn't you?

I didn't like my dress. It was the disco era, and my dress was a sheer mauve polyester with a layered skirt, a handkerchief hemline, and cap sleeves. Hubby bought a mauve, short sleeved, plaid dress shirt to match. That was the best we could do when we went shopping the evening before the wedding. AND I wore spiky-heeled shoes that kept sinking into the newly-laid sod during the outdoor ceremony.

I have no idea whatever happened to my dress, but during his late teen years, Soccer Son came across that mauve, short sleeved, plaid dress shirt still hanging in Hubby's closet. (Men!) Soccer Son started wearing it, and oddly enough, he still wears that shirt--in fact, he wore it tonight in honor of the occasion. And really, that's as it should be too. After all, if not for Soccer Son's conception, who can say whether we'd be celebrating our 30-year anniversary?

Life is funny sometimes in its unpredictability. And really, that's as it should be too.

Milestones and Beginnings

I've been kind of keeping an eye on my posts, and this is post number 1,234. Cool, huh? I missed celebrating my blogiversary back in March because I was deeply enmeshed in carpal tunnel problems, so I thought this was the next best thing. I was thinking about having a giveaway, but then I got distracted and forgot, so I don't have anything planned. But maybe I'll do one soon, okay? Kind of a belated celebration. Watch for it.

Hubby and I got married on July 11, 1980, so I guess that means we've been married 30 years today. Kind of a long time, isn't it? I'm not one to celebrate anniversaries much--or New Year's Eve, for that matter. I don't know why, but they don't really inspire or excite me. I think maybe it's because anniversaries simply mean we're still plugging along, doing what we said we'd do a long time ago, and we haven't killed each other yet. And yes, that's a good thing, but the same thing could be said EVERY day. I dunno; I guess I'm just odd that way. This year Soccer Son and his Lovely-Wife-to-be-Someday are going to join us for dinner at our house, and I know we'll have a nice time. Oh, and Hubby will likely spend much of the day in a celebratory mood anyway since the World Cup final will be televised. So it's all good.

Hubby, by the way, is up and walking again. You may recall that earlier in the week, his doctor released him to bear weight again on his previously broken leg, but his muscles were too weak to walk. Being the stubborn and determined fellow that he is, by that night he'd managed to get up and walk a little bit, and his walking time has increased since then so that now he's fairly mobile around the house, although the muscles are still weak and his back hurts quite a bit. Still, I know he's pleased with himself.

Back around March or so, I told Hubby it was time we started to pay more attention to what we ate and try to cut back on the unhealthy stuff. It seems we can do pretty well for awhile, but then we start slipping, and before we know it, we're sliding downhill quicker than an Olympic luger--and with about the same braking ability. With that in mind, I suggested we permanently "diet" during the months that don't have an "R" in their name. Of course, that meant May, June, July, and August, which really are the best months for fresh fruit and veggies and all the healthy stuff anyway. Hubby agreed. Did we do that though? No, of course not.

I think back in April and May, I was more concerned about getting ready for surgery, and the idea of making dietary changes at the same time was somehow mentally crippling. And yes, I know it's really not THAT big a deal, but still . . . . Then, too, I went though a period when it seemed like I was hungry ALL THE TIME. Nerves, I think. I also found myself craving a cigarette several times, so I think it was just some kind of urge to stuff things in my mouth. Eventually that feeling passed--thank goodness! In any event, here it is July, surgery is over, and I'm starting to think about getting back to my "normal" life. So, at the grocery store today, I decided it was time to get serious about making healthier food choices. I'm not sure what we'll do when September rolls around--after all, it's spelled with an "R"--but I suspect we'll keep it up, at least until the holidays hit. And if we can do that, I know we'll make better food choices during the holidays as well, and that's really the goal--to be more conscious of what we chose to eat.

I briefly toyed with the idea of starting a "diet" blog, but that seemed like too much work, and I don't really see this as a "diet" anyway. I'm really not that obsessed about the whole thing. Instead, I think I just might occasionally share some of my yummier healthy recipes here when it strikes me to do so, and I hope you'll find something to try out that your family will enjoy. And since I don't measure "success" by weight or inches lost, I won't bore you with how many pounds or inches have disappeared, although I may get a little excited if my clothes fall off and I need to buy new things. And hopefully if my clothes fall off, at least I'll have a funny story to tell you.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!