Accidently luxury

It is so hot here in the summer that we don't use the bedspread and it usually gets tossed on the floor and we just sleep under the sheets and in the morning I pick it up and make the bed. I got to thinking this was not making a lot of sense and I should maybe just get a set of sheets that were pretty and matched my color scheme so I went looking. I couldn't find anything that suited me so I gave up but soon after I got a add for a big sale on sheets and it was just the colors I wanted so although it said 100% polyester and I have always bought cotton sheets I decided to give it a try, after all it was only $14.00 for the entire king set!

These are the most luxurious sheets I have ever seen!!! and they go perfect with the two swivel chairs.

and how fun to switch it out for summer and winter but think the sheets are going to stay year round:)

  

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Happy Sunday

Sharing my first bloom on my African Violet

Tues. night dinner

Cooked a kielbasa and cabbage dish like before but in foil packets. I think I prefer the other way best but the real hit was the side dish. I bought a package of precut melon slices and then I saw this package of almonds and cranberries

and sprinkled some over the fruit....yum!

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Cat's claw

I took this picture early one morning

and called it a sun peeking morning. See all that green on the bottom? That is called cat's claw and it grows like a weed but funny thing this huge weed was growing right up the middle...

 and they get these huge roots..

so pulling them is out of the question and you constantly have to cut them back but it wonderful to have something so lush green that endures our heat and stays green year round.

This is the other side of the wall:)

Tues. night dinner

This was our last Tues. night dinner and I won't be sharing the recipe because it wasn't' that good and was a lot of work. It was called "Crab-stuffed shells with parmesan cream cheese sauce". The sauce was good and maybe if you used chunks of crab instead the canned it called for it may have been better but as is we could tell we were eating any crab just sauce.

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Tues. night dinner

I used recipes from Mari a fellow blogger for this nights dinner.


Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken
4 chicken breast cut in thirds (I used only two)
Bacon slices
garlic powder
Chili powder
brown sugar
Cut each breast into three pieces, season all the chicken with all the spices then wrap a bacon slice around each piece and roll in brown sugar and place into an oven proof dish. Add two or three tbl. olive oil to pan and bake a 400 degrees for 30 to 40 min. or until chicken is cooked through and bacon is nice and brown and crispy.


Redskin Mashed Potatoes
3 pounds small redskin potatoes
4 oz. cream cheese
4 tbs. butter
seasoned salt and pepper to taste


Wash and half the potatoes, boil until tender. Drain and place back into pan on stove. Turn stove on to low heat to steam off any remaining water. Add cream cheese and butter. turn heat off, and mash by hand with a potato masher, leaving skin on potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Served with homemade green beans. It was yummy.

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May 26, 2018

Today is my hubby and I's 51st wedding anniversary!
I wanted to do something different so what did we do???

Went on a sunrise hot air balloon ride! and trust me, the hardest part was getting these two fat people in and out of the basket hahahah.

one of our fellow ballooners.

Phoenix gets our water from the Colo. river and it travels via the canal. This runs clear to Tucson.

Our shadow on the mountain

The basket laid on its side. The pilot in the front with four propane tanks which he switches out in flight and three people on each side in the back. Climbing in when upright is accomplished by those foot holes you see in the back but it is still a big stretch down. We landed like this and crawled out.
I leave you with a little video...

It was indeed different and so glad we were able to do it.....

Tues. night dinner

Beef Tenderloin with Creamy Risotto
2 beef tenderloin steaks
3 tbl. Kraft Sun Dried Tomato vinaigrette dressing (I could only find sundried tomato dressing)
3/4 cup chopped zucchini
1 small carrot, shredded (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped red peppers
1 cup instant white rice, uncooked
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
2 tbs. Dijon mustard


Cook steak in part butter and part olive oil in skillet on med. heat 10 to 13 min. on each side or until done to your liking. (Note: I tenderized these and pounded them out so not to be so thick and sprinkles them with garlic powder)
Meanwhile, cook veg. in dressing in a large pan 5 to 7 min. or until crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil; cover, Remove from heat and let stand for 5 min.

Served with a Asian salad and delicious!

A day at the hospital

As most of you know I have started volunteering at a local hospital in ICU and basically my job is to greet people when they come in and get the name of the person they are wanting to visit and then contact the nurse to be sure it is okay for them to come back to visit and then let them in. We are given a list with the names of the patients and nurses but sometimes there will be a notification of NINP which means "no information, no patient" and that is easy you simply have no information of that person but it gets real tricky when on top of that notification they give a password to be used to see the patient. So basically you are suppose to sit there waiting to see if the visitor will give you the password because you can't ask for it because that would affirm the patient is there. Just a little sticky... Yesterday a code gray came over the loudspeaker and that means there is a combative person, in just a few minutes there were lots of cops and a k9 coming though the elevator and a very short time later they all left with the problem solved. I find that comforting. You see so many different people, young and old and many going through such a hard time with loved ones so sick or so seriously injured. The hospital is a trauma 1 so many come there for care.  

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Pool

Our pool is 27 years old and it is covered in pepple tec which was only warranted for 10 years. We are having it resurfaced.

 

I think we got our money's worth.

Tues. night dinners

Made this old recipe:
Chicken Breast Geneva
2 tbs. butter
1/4 cup veg. oil
2 stalks celery, cut into thin 2 inch strips
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thin, 2 inch strips
1 med. yellow onion, finely chopped
2 slices boiled ham, cut into thin strips
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 whole chicken breast cut in half
2 thin slices Swiss cheese
Melt 2 tbls oil and 2 tbls butter over med. heat and add celery, carrots, onion and ham. Lower heat and cover and cook for 10 min. stirring occasionally. (the vegetables should not brown.) Meanwhile, blend the salt, pepper and flour in a small bowl.
Remove the contents from the skillet and set aside, and in the same skillet heat the remaining butter and oil. Coat chicken breast with the flour. Place in skillet and brown for 3 min. on each side.
Arrange the chicken halves on a aluminum-foil-lined baking pan, and top with the veg-ham mixture and then with a slice of cheese. Broil just until the cheese melts. Serves two


Also tried a new asparagus recipe which we did not care for and ended up washing off the sauce and eating them plain and had a bowl of fruit salad to round it off.

Dress a Girl around the World

  If you have followed my blog you know that I have knitted for charity for a long time and continue to do so but the other day I got to thinking about the pictures I have seen of the pillowcase dresses they make for children in Africa and so I googled that. To my great surprise there is this very large organization  called Dress a girl around the world and they have many ambassadors/group leaders all over the U.S.  and even internationally. I checked it out and there was only one ambassador for the state of Arizona and they were meeting within miles of my home at a local church for their once a month work/serve day. This is what was said on the facebook site: The Phoenix DAG group meets once a month to sew, sort and size dresses. We have fun and good fellowship while working together and a yummy potluck lunch is always shared. New friends are welcome, check out the Facebook page: Dress A Girl Around The World – Phoenix for details of our next Serve Day.  A goal for 2018 is to start sewing classes at the Phoenix Dream Center, teaching the residents there how to make dresses for DAG, please pray for this project as we look ahead to next year! Well it sparked my interest so I fixed a salad and went to the meeting. I can't tell you how amazing this was. There were at least 20 women all in my age group and all simply wanting to bless someone. I sorted, bagged and packed more pretty dresses than I could count. If you go to the face book page above you will see pictures of the work day and I will share one that included me at a serger machine ( I am on the right) and look at the pile of dresses in front of us waiting to be sewed. I think I have found a new heart place.
 If you go to the main web site http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/ you can find out more about it and how many lives have been touched through this  ministry. They hand deliver all these dresses around the world and who knows maybe I will be able to go on one of those trips one day.

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Tues. night dinner

Tasty Pork Ragout
1/2 lb. pork loin, cubed
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp. rosemary, crumbled
2 tbl.  butter or margarine
Salt and pepper
1 bouillon cube
1/2 cup water
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 cup sliced carrots (note: I used frozen)
1 cup hot cooked rice
Brown pork with onion, garlic and rosemary in butter. Season with salt and pepper. Dissolve bouillon cube in water, stir and add to pork mixture. Cover and simmer 15 min. Add cauliflower and carrots and cook another 20 min. or until tender. Serve over rice. (Note: my hubby likes it all mixed together so that is the way I served it)


Spinach Salad
Fresh spinach, washed and torn
2 large fresh mushroom sliced
2 green onions or finely chopped reg. onion
Chopped celery
1/4 cup Catalina salad dressing


Place spinach on  plate, top with veg. and pour dressing over all.

We went to Texas

Our kids moved to Texas so last week we went for our first visit. I LOVED it. They live in a small town called Brenham and it is so cute. They have rented a house for now until they get their bearings but oh what a special house it is and especially once my kids take over. It is a older home with wood floors and set back in a wooded area off the road, here are a few pictures...

 Looking in from the front street

 The porch that wraps around the side of the house.

Big tree in front of the house

 Looking from the kitchen into the living room (check out all the old wood work).

Pretty décor in our guest bedroom...

and the best part is that these three live here! I have always been a little scared of my Granddog but while I was there, we bonded....

He really is a sweet guy but just doesn't really know how big he is.....

We stayed with them Thurs - Sunday and then went on a little road trip before heading back home. We spent the night in Boerne, Texas (note this is not pronounced Bor ene like I thought but is pronounced Bernie!) Stayed at Ye Kendall Inn that was built in 1859 and they had two life size statures that were just beautiful...Here is my favorite

It is called (The dance) and is 7 2/3 ft. tall. James N. Muir is the creator and it turns.


Look who we saw at the Austin airport of our way home...Not a job for sissy's.

It was a great trip and so glad we were able to go.

Tues night dinners

Catching up...but fortunately there are only a few worth mentioning. One Tues. we had company and I didn't cook and the next Tues. I was not happy with what I cooked sooooo.




The thing I want to tell you about is the "Blooming Baked Potato" It was so good and so easy so here is the recipe:
2 red pot.
1/2 cup olive oil
sea salt or other course salt
4 tbl shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbl. bacon bits (optional)
Preheat toaster over to 425
Try to find two pot that are more flat and round. Cut the tops off and then with a paring knife cut rings all around the inside then flip the pot. over and holding your thumb in the middle cut all around the outside all the way through except where your thumb is. Carefully flip the pot. back over and brush olive oil over them and then sprinkle on the salt. Bake for 30 min and then take them out and put more oil and salt and return to over for 30 min. more. Top with cheese and put back in over just until the cheese melts, add bacon bits if you want them.


These were so good, they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside!

 Served with pan fried fish, canned spinach drained and with a capful of vinegar and topped with a boiled egg.

Last night I fixed Pork Medallions with a dijon-dill sauce. It was good but the most important thing about this meal is the planning ahead. I purchased the smallest pork tenderloin I could find and hubby cut off 1/2" in slices for the medallions. You simply press them down with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/4" and them cook them in a non stick skillet until done. You make the sauce (which I thought was too sour) and there you go. Served them with buttered noodles and peas.

Then we cut a few more thin slices which I have frozen for a Pork Ragout recipe I have and then the rest of the tenderloin I will use as a small roast cooked over sauerkraut.

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Whirl Wind

Had  my yearly mammogram done and it came back abnormal. Had ultra sound done and still not happy. Had a biopsy and came back benign and call it a radial scar. Still needs to be removed so out patient surgery is scheduled for May. Happy it is not cancer, wish I didn't have it and feeling guilty because my sweet friend is having her breast removed tomorrow because hers came back malignant.

The truth of my little bracelet is my comfort.

 

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Critter

Look who we ran into going to dinner Thursday night...

Now that is a cottontail!