ten in a day ... june

Happy end of June!

Where on earth did this month go??!!

Here it is Thursday nearly dinner time. 

I came home from work to a clean house and the last load of girls' laundry spinning.

The youngest cleaned her room!!!

If you only knew what a challenge that can be.

Yesterday we spent what felt like half the day at the doctor.

It really wasn't that long, but patience in the waiting room is not one of my strong points.

Tia and I both saw the Doc.

She got an order for an xray of her arm that turned out fine.

Thank goodness. Don't know where we would have fit in an Orthopedic visit this month.

My swamp slogging head was the result of an inner ear infection.

Not eager to repeat the experience of last fall in MN, being sick as a dog,

I'm chugging antibiotics.

My turn to spin a load or two of laundry and finish packing a bag.

Check to see if the dog food was purchased today.

Make a list of things of things that need doing around here while we're gone.

Figure out what else I need around here ....

and hit the road bright and early.

I'll see if I can do some blogging along the way ....

if not, I'll be back in several weeks!

i have a yen ....

I've been doing a little too much of this.

Today at work my head felt like I was swimming under water.

No amount of attempted ear popping was working.

My head continued feeling like it was slogging through a swamp.

I asked Jari if he was interested in a candle lit evening.

My kids thought that meant something different than ear candling.

Silly of them.

Ears are candled, vitamin C & echinacea are chugged down, Thieves applied ....

and now I'm sneezing.

Forget the fact that in a mere few days we're trekking out of town for 2 weeks.

I don't even know if I have luggage.

Oh boy.

I did sit on my tush this evening and work on uploading photos to Costco to print.

I have my own office at work now and the walls are bare.

My place of employment wouldn't qualify for any fabulous interior decorating magazine layout.

The artwork is all mauve or light blue matted or framed.

I'm scared that if I don't hustle and get something up on the wall in front of my desk .....

someone is going to do it for me and it will be incredibly nauseating.

So I bought 4 12x12 frames yesterday and starting hunting through my external hard drive

to find photos that I would prefer to enjoy.

With serious help from Blogger, I paged through photos on Living the Alaska Dream

to find approximate dates I took the shots.

It made the job much easier.

Each of these shots will be printed 12x12 and ready tomorrow.

I'll be able to change the scenes when I'm in the mood for a different season.

In the heat of summer that is getting unbearable during the days (as far as I'm concerned),

I'm having a serious yen for the places these images depict.

A serious yen.



just wondering .....

If you live in a posh neighborhood in Paradise Valley

and you receive mail .....

is it really necessary to have a mail box that says U.S. Mail?

What if the box said Swedish Mail or Some Island in the Carribean Mail?

Is there really a chance that this box might get some French Mail by mistake?

Just wondering .....

*******************************

Friday morning and I've just spent an hour playing with potting soil. 

Stopped at a yard sale this morning and got a stack of landscape pots (?) for $5, including 3 nice big ones. Now I just need my planted seedlings to sprout into trees big enough to fill them!

Pulla dough is rising.

The pool is clear and ready for a swim.

The job list is incredibly long. 

Leaving on vacation a week from today and haven't even started thinking about what needs to be done.

Must be time to make a list with little check boxes next to the 153 items to be done.

The bright side includes a fridge that is starting to look a bit emptier. 

noodles

Doesn't this look just inviting?
I've been spending time in the pool, working with the noodles.
Working on the middle, the "lunch lady" arms ... all that good stuff.
The other day I was out there.
Eyes were closed with my face into the sun.
The noodles and muscles were having a gentle meeting.

All of a sudden something hit me in the face.
I figured someone had come outside to give me a hard time.
Until I opened my eyes and took a look.
I discovered there is something worse than bird poop on laundry.

It's when the bird's flight path directly crosses the left side of your face.
Yuck!!!

I'm not willing to give up the noodles though.

**** Finally hitting the post  button on this one and I can't even get into the pool. Looks about as green as fishes gills right now. Crud!

Happy Father's Day!

To the dads out there who share my life I'm wishing you a fantastic day.
You work hard for us in so many different ways.
You're the role models for our sons.
You love your daughters and by example teach them how a man should treat a woman.
You do it all selflessly ... day after day ... year after year.
We keep expecting and you keep on giving.
It isn't often enough that we say Thank You.
Thank You for all you do.
Thanks also go to God today.
For it was He, in his infinite wisdom, who saw fit to bring us together.

Jari visiting with parents and family in Minnesota via Skype on Father's Day with Alanys & Trina standing by.

Going nuts about type

Blogger is driving me absolutely nuts!
I come back to look and the type has changed ... again!
What's up with that?!

cream of something soup

Thanks again to Pinterest!

This time Pinterest brought me Cream of Something Soup.

Although I am a serious fan of Campbell's, I finally found a way to avoid buying the cream of whatever you need soups that so many recipes call for.

Mix together: (I doubled my recipe hoping it will last awhile!)

1 cup non-fat dried milk

3/4 cup cornstartch

1/4 cup bouillion (if you have cubes you have to smash them up) (found mine at the dollar store)

4 Tbsp freeze dried minced onions (found mine at the dollar store)

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp pepper

To make the equivalent of one can of condensed cream soup, mix 1/3 cup dry mix with 1 1/4 cup water ...

and then cook until thick.

You probably don't need a red hot burner.

I sometimes prefer to cook that way. :)

Add cream of "something" soup to your recipe and voila!

Tator tot hotdish!

voluntary line ups

For the second time in as many days, I was witness to this line thing going on.
Monday evening it was a line for donuts.
Tuesday evening it was a line for birthday cake and ice cream.
I'm thinking it is a sign that school just let out.
They're still in line up mode.
Will have to watch and see what happens by the middle of August!

We helped Lindsey celebrate her 11th birthday Tuesday evening along with a houseful of other family.
Next year ... she rings in the Golden Birthday!
Happy Birthday dear Lindsey!

spooning up salmon chowder

We buffet style meals at our house. I have a nice counter that works well for serving, so my family has never really learned the "please pass the peas" thing.
I should probably work on that before they're all grown and gone, hey?
So when it comes to serving things like soup and chowder, I have to set out spoons.
Soup spoons or teaspoons?
I like a soup spoon for everything, including ice cream.
Not everyone does.
It's probably wierd.

 My dishwasher leaves something to be desired in the spot removal department.

Yesterday was chowder evening.

I don't know that there is anything quite like the aroma of sauteeing onions, celery and garlic.

Throw in some red potatoes to save the peeling job.

Save all the energy you can for the taste bud department instead.



And then open the last can of salmon.
I can't hardly believe that we are down to only 2 cans of salmon loaded with jalapenos.
This was the last of the regular stuff.
I use to only make chowder with grilled salmon (or halibut), but then I learned something.
Don't stir the chowder like it's cookie dough, rather stir it gently ... and it turns out perfect.

Topped with cracked pepper makes for an easy dinner that is absolutely delicious!

**********************************

Salmon Chowder

3 Tbsp butter                                1 tsp salt

3/4 cup chopped onion                 1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery                1 tsp dried dill weed

1 tsp garlic powder                      2 (16oz) cans salmon

2 cups diced potatoes                  1 (12 fluid oz) can evaporated milk

2 carrots, diced                            1 (15 oz) can creamed corn

2 cups chicken broth                   1/2 lb cheddar cheese, shredded

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onion, celery, and garlic powder until onions are tender. Stir in potatoes, carrots, salt, pepper, and dill.  Bring to a boil, and reduce heat. Cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

Sitr in salmon, evaporated milk, corn, and cheese. Cook until heated through.

*** I use more than 2 cups potatoes on a regular basis and add liquid and vegies to make the pot fuller depending on the size of the group enjoying the meal.

Sluggy

I'm feeling sort of like a slug.
The dishes need doing and today I really don't care.
I've been whittling away at projects over the past week.
That feels good.

Am getting ready to head out the door and had a few minutes to pick up the computer.
Front page of Yahoo had something I just had to peek at.
I felt like so much less of a slug after reading it that I had to share it with you.

If you're having one of those days ... check this Shape Up Quiz out!

Off to:
- return a purchase that I didn't like when I picked it up.
- see a child.
- pick up a child.
- drop one off at home and in a little bit ... pick up another child.

Today we're hoping to pick up a car from the shop for one of those children.
Cross my fingers. His are nearly arthiritic from all the crossing he's been doing!

ten in a day .... may

hope for humanity

This evening I ran up (right. i rode.) the hill with Jari.

He went to work on something for Juha and I didn't check first to see if Annette was home.

I just hopped in and then asked as we were leaving town.

That usually doesn't work any better than it did this evening.

So, while the guys did their thing, I logged onto the internet and started

working on CEUs for my nursing license.

Flip flops and a sweater.

It was delicious!

Much better than the topic I chose to study.

Multiple Myeloma.

I am not an oncology nurse and have no clue about chemo drugs.

Guess I learned a few tidbits this evening.

To be honest, I learned more than I ever expected to.

We stopped at a gas station on the way home to add a wee bit of diesel to the tank,

grab a cup of coffee and use the rest room.

This was a first for me and I just had to get a picture of it.

As I read the bathroom writings, I sort of sat in wonder.

The only things written in that stall tonite were of a political nature.

Perhaps there is a bit of hope for humanity after all.



serving size

Sorry guys and gals. It is Pinterest again.

I sort of feel badly for the folks at Aunt Audrey's.

This guide for serving sizes of cakes and how many they feed comes

via Pinterest from Aunt Audrey's.

I seriously think that we should introduce her to Taytekakku.

Well. Maybe that isn't the problem.

Perhaps we should introduce her to

Taytekakku + Anita = cake serving size of double portions.

I'm having a craving.

the other week .....

I learned that I had missed the Peach Festival at Schnep Farms.

My boss brought me a few peaches. She's too sweet. 

Thanks to Russell, I loaded a new app (that would be application) on my iphone.

My artwork is of doodle quality.

If you're interested, it is something like Sketch Book Mobile X.

Super fun.

I nearly had heart failure when I went to open my wallet and found several cards gone.

Then started the mental trip of where have I been and where did I last use them?

Then I remembered ... and had to wait for the washing machine to finish it's cycle.

I learned that I didn't have a clue what a Sum of a Sequence of a Geometric Series was.

I didn't even know such a thing existed!

I made potato salad for the first time in positively years!

Lately I've been caught reading about the Glycemic Index of foods.

(I've sort of skipped looking at the GI of things like desserts.)

Red potatoes are horrible for your blood sugar and send you straight to the weight gain zone.

I'm going to try using sweet potatoes which are much lower on the GI.

I'm not going to tell the hubby or the cherubs.

Let's see if they notice.

maybe a little insane?

After a wee few hours of sleep on Wednesday nite, I did a most amazing thing.
I've never done this before.
I had coffee with a friend at 6:30 in the morning.
It wasn't over the phone, seated in our own homes.
I was actually in hers.
On my way home to take a shower and boogie off to work, I was thinking that I could be on to something here!
Share a cup of coffee in the morning, work a short banker's kind of day and then ....

go fishing with my family.

I have to say that it felt rather strange to be heading out to Bartlett Lake in this rig without pulling a boat behind it. It has been a very long time.

It amazes me how we appreciate different things depending on where we're at in this world.

In Alaska, we waited for the sun.

Waited for the long days filled with light.

Lived every minute of that light.

Here, at this time of year, I enjoy the cool of the morning before the sun greets my face.

Even more so, I appreciate the setting of the sun.

The time when it dips low enough on the horizon to cool off the day.

When 95 degrees feels comfortable because the sun is no longer baking you.

Few places are better at that time of day than the waters edge.

*** I really need to start packing my camera along with me and quit relying on my phone!