I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come......

Collection or Obsession

I  LOVE  cookbooks and you may not think it to be that unusual but when you consider I no longer cook it is a little odd.......I have them everywhere...

On the counter as a display

A shelf in the dinning room..see that one on the right? It was my Mom's 

In a basket

                                                                       On top of the  kitchen cabinets

On top of the microwave

On top of the refrigerator

Shelf above the sink

But this is only a fraction of them because there is a cabinet reserved just for them above the little desk area

 

Notice the box on the bottom right....

It holds all of these.....

and see all these files?

They are filled with recipes I have cut out of other books or made copies of.

and of course I have my own recipe book I have compliled over the years

I often buy little recipe books when  trave like this one I bought in San Antonio, Texas

But

there is even more.......

I collected all of these for a specialty resturant I was dreaming about and many of these

included pictures

and when I go to the grocery store or any other place what is the first thing I go to look at?

                    Cookbooks  (I think I may have a problem)

What do you call this symbol used in e-mail addresses?

Before it became the standard sign associated with our email address it was used to represent the cost or weight of something. For example, if you purchased 6 apples, you might write it as 6 apples @ $1.10 each. Only after the world wide use of it through email did it appear on the keyboard.

There is no official, universal name for this sign but there are dozens of strange terms to describe the @ symbol.

Several other languages use worlds that associate the shape of the symbol with some type of animal....
 For example, some quirky names for the @ symbol include:
apenstaartje - Dutch for "monkey's tail"
snabel - Danish for  "Elephant's trunk"
kissanhnta - Finnish for "Cat's tail"
klammeraffe - German for 'hanging monkey"
papaki - Greek for 'little duck"
sobachka - Russian for "little dog"

Although so commonly used among us.......... the actual origin of the @ symbol remains a mystery.

Another try

I bought this sewing machine 40 years ago and have never had it worked on! Now that is getting your money's worth and yes I have sewed on it a lot over the years. It all began when I was competing in fast draw and it was required to wear western clothing (pants and shirts with a yoke on it, boots or moccasins and a hat as optional). The cost of those little tops with a yoke were way out of my budget so the best thing I could think of was learning to sew and make them myself. It was a process but  back then polyester was the rave so fit was easier to accomplish and mistakes easy to over see. I made a lot of my clothes back then and even some of my hubby's. Guess maybe I wore myself out with it because I didn't sew for years with the exception of mending and adjusting good buys from the goodwill.

This sewing machine has sewed everything I put under the presser foot and pretty much adjusted the tensions itself. It still works as good as new but the plastic casing around it isn't faring so well.....

Now I could go and buy me another one but I am just a little partial to this one.

Maybe you are in a contented place with your clothes and body but I am struggling. Like most I have acquired the over 60 fullness. I can remember saying "I would give anything to have bigger boobs!" Well, I got them but little did I know that I would have to give up the flat tummy and little waist to get them.

I recently bought this book and have enjoyed reading it so far. The author points out that we often find ourselves in new roles with no guidelines. I don't want to have surgery and diet and etc. and try to look younger than I am but I also don't want to look like a bag lady either. One of the suggestions was to set aside a small area in your closet for your "feel good" clothes.
This is the definition of feel good clothes:
Clothes that fit and flatter your body, whatever its size.
Clothes that are comfortable to wear.
Clothes that help you feel the way you want to feel.
Clothes that give you confidence.
I was surprised to find that I had very few clothes that qualified. I hate to shop and rarely find things I like so I thought I might give sewing a try again. I have always dreamed of having one of those wardrobes where you can mix and match things and I  have tried to accomplish this many times in the past with not much success but upon reading this little quote the other day
"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try"  I am giving it another go.......

Hear is a warning though...much like everything else about yourself, your feel good closet will be unique

One small accomplishment....silky to the touch, goes with several different bottoms and comfortable and it looks better on me than on the hanger:)

The belted Galloway

We saw some of these cattle in Oregon and loved how they called them the "Oreo Cookie Cows".

The “Belted Galloway”,  is a hardy breed of Scottish Cattle, and distinctive because of the belted, white band evenly distributed around the mid section of the otherwise totally black animal. Many breeders and cattle fanciers refer to the “belties” as Oreo Cookie Cows. This extremely hardy and dual-purpose breed are considered perfect cattle for the harsh and long winters. Belted Galloways are very hardy, covered in a dual hair coat that all Galloways possess. A short, velvety and water resistant undercoat acts like a downy insulation, protecting these cows from dampness of any kind. The long, course, and curly outer guard hairs protect them from cold, making these animals a wonderful breed for adaptation in Northern climates. Even their ears have unusually long fur resembling attractive fringe, protecting their ears from frostbite.
There many other great positives for these cows but just the fact that they look like a Oreo cookie

was good enough for me.

It's all over but the shouting.....

Hubby shot GREAT!!! Placed second over all and the competition was fierce.

We flew to Boise, Idaho and drove to Pendelton, Ore. about a four hour drive. We stopped at a little place called Baker, Idaho and what a quaint little town! Would love to spend the night at the historic hotel "Geiser Grand ".

My picture of the dinning room doesn't do it justice and they had the best ice cream you can imagine.

Loved Pendtelton, Ore. and wished we could stay for what they are famous for that will be happening in a couple of weeks...

 Pendleton round up Rodeo.

On our first night here we picked the  Hamley Steakhouse to have dinner....

Sat in the bar and it was so good we ate there all three nights with the same little waitress named Haley....great time. Would go back in a minute. We stayed at the Oxford Suites and although not fancy they were more than nice....wonderful fresh breakfast, free drinks and appetizers and the place was spotless.

Cowboy church EARLY Sun. Morning. It was very special.......................


The rest of the trip did not go quite as planned.....we were to drive to the  Coeur d'Alene casino which I was under the impression was about a three hour drive and that was pushing it because we wouldn't be leaving until the shoot was over...wrong, drove over  four hours to get there and it was not worth the trip other than I won $40 on a penny machine. The rooms could have passed for a motel 6 and the food was about the same caliber.

Our next plan was to drive on into Coeru d'Alene and meet a young couple we knew from our church several years ago for lunch...that went great and we had a wonderful time with them. The area there is beautiful and the Coeur d' Alene river is a sight to behold. Thought it would be neat to drive on up to the historic Wallace, Idaho I had read about and spend a night there. The pictures on the Internet were not quite accurate or at any rate it is not how we found it but there were a few pretty sights here and there.....

The historic Saloon/Restaurant where we had planned on having dinner  was closed and in fact it was for sale. Many other places were closed as well and the Wallace Inn where we stayed was nothing to shout home about.


Now I am getting a little nervous here as am batting zero on my big plans and we were to drive the scenic back way down to McCall, Idaho which was to be a long drive....around five hours.

Yahoo!!  It was worth every minute of it as the area was gorgeous!!  We had reservations at the Shore Lodge and it was more than expected and in fact the room was like a little apartment...couldn't possibly use all the space. Every where you looked was a snap a picture moment.

From out balcony

We must have hit the end of the season because we were the only people in the restaurant for breakfast....

And could you possibly have a more beautiful view!!!

Yaouzer!!!!

Now we were on a roll and our next stop was our plane home.....

Now how can two adults sit together and make the plane reservations and get the date wrong for coming back home?  It is beyond me but that we did. The only good thing about this is that we did it together so we couldn't put the blame anywhere. It was going to cost $150.00 each to change out tickets and even then the plane was full and no guarantee we could get on...so we spent another night in Boise, Idaho at the Sleep Inn.

P.S.....only stay there out of necessity not pleasure.

We will be heading to Kansas City the end of the month...note to self: Check airline tickets!