Week 20, 5-8-2016

Thoughts and Quotes:  

Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that’s not true.  Some of the smaller countries are neutral.

                                                                                                Robert Orben, American Comedy Writer

This is how I've felt this week.  Nothing seemed to go as planned.  I'm not going to cry on your shoulder, but I will explain what should have been, instead of what's here.

Time for Others:  I made a dinner to take to a friend who is having some health challenges.

I fully intended to share a recipe for one of the dishes.  It's a pineapple casserole (see below) which goes nicely with ham.  A friend invited me to her church for a presentation on sugar shakers, and lunch was served.  The lady who made the pineapple casserole baked it a little longer than she planned, but it was still delicious; however, I had never eaten it when it was baked the time called for in the recipe.  I got the recipe from one of the group (they all love it and have the recipe), but hadn't made it until Monday.  It just seemed a little soggy and greasy.  (The reason why I took grilled pineapple slices, too)  I'll post the recipe after I tweak it a bit.  

See.  It looks okay, but too much butter.  I got a beautiful handmade thank you card for the dinner, so I considered this a worthwhile trade. 

Tuesday I had my windshield replaced.  This was to replace the one which was only three-days old when I picked up a big rock on the trip to New Orleans.  The good news is that the new people put in a heated windshield for $17 less than the unheated one.  The prior people did a lousy job and the black rubber was all wavy.  You could really tell it against the white car, so they painted a black line on my car to disguise the bad job.  I've made my report, along with photos, to Consumer Affairs.  If they choose to post the report, I'll let you know.

They even did a lousy job of painting the line.

So much for windshields.  I had the work done in Joplin, and my Brother Jim lives nearby, so he came over to pick me up to go to lunch.  I was going to get tires in the afternoon, but decided to wait (another long story), so we went to Jim's house so I could see their new travel trailer.  It's a honey.  When Becky retires, they're going to go park at the Gulf while she writes her book.  So fascinating.  He pushes a button and the living room wall slides out, and then another button and the bedroom wall slides out.  It's very spacious and every inch of space is used - lots of storage.  Boo-Boo.  I meant to take photos and totally forgot.

We went to a soul food restaurant for lunch - fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cornbread, peach cobbler and AGAIN - not one photo.

Wednesday I went to the markets (never can get everything at one) and started cooking for Thursday.  I got the table all ready, because we were having lunch instead of dinner.  Robert and Joey, Kathy and David, for Cinco de Mayo.  Everyone but Robert lived in California a number of years and Robert was raised in Texas.  It's natural to eat Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo.  Of course, my Mexican food is an Americanized version.  Joey made the Hearty Spanish Rice and brought a big container of fresh salsa.  I made Library Soup (recipe posted earlier), chicken enchiladas, chile rellano casserole, bean and corn salad, guacamole, and galopita (sort of like flan).  The table was orange, lime green, and goldenrod.  AGAIN - I got so busy, I totally forgot the photos until too late.  I want to share these recipes, so we'll do it all over again - maybe for my Cooking Club Sisters, who are trained to remind me to take photos.

During lunch, my Mother's Day flowers arrived from my son and daughter-in-law in California.  They came in a box, and I didn't have time to fix them properly.

Friday, I split them up and then I could enjoy them all over the house.

I was a little washed out on Friday, so I just took time for Tales and finished my book.  One more Covington book to go.

Tidying and Tasting:  Saturday I started cleaning up the indoor patio, worked in the yard and made deviled eggs, baked beans and potato salad for Mother's Day.  I don't know why, but Mother's Day always makes me think of picnic food.

I knew that my first Mother's Day without my kitty daughter Tiki would be difficult, so I called Friend Katie (who also would be sans children) to meet me.  We went to McDonald's for tea and show-and-tell cards. 

Time for Others:  Katie is my friend who teaches card making (free) and supplies the churches and nursing homes with cards.  

There's a blog where card makers are assigned a layout and then they post the creations. You might know about it, as it's been around quite awhile.  Katie and I started doing our own version, just the two of us, using their layouts.  We just finished design 30, and the blog is working on design 235.  I doubt that we'll catch up in the near future.  Our schedule is "As soon as we're both finished, we get together".  If you'd like to check out the blog, here it is: Card design blog.  Katie and I just finished 27, 28, 29, 30, and here they are, Katie's on the left and mine on the right.  It's obvious that she's the one who's the teacher.

Cameras do strange things.  My card above has a black scalloped border around the turquoise.  It's coated stock, so it's shiny.  Somehow the light was just at the right angle to make it appear partially white, and I didn't have time to take another photo.  You get the idea anyway.

She brought along some of her other cards to show me, and as I forgot my camera (see what I mean about this week?), she let me borrow them so I could share them with you.   She's so talented.

So there you have it.  Not a very successful week as blogs go, but I'm grateful for every single day, as I have many blessings in my life.

Now I'm going to go eat my ham sandwich picnic and call it a day.

Maybe I should have some t-shirts printed which say, "Remind me to take photos" and wear them everywhere.  

Hope you had a great Mother's Day.  I was blessed with four phone calls and my time with Katie, and my tulips are still beautiful.

Speaking of tulips, I meant to share some photos of the Tulip Festival in Pella, Iowa, but time got away.  We'll do it another time.  I was there several years ago, but I'm sure it's much the same today. 

Be Safe - Be Happy

and

If your Mom is living, call her often, even if it's not Mother's Day